83Crossmen

I haven't seen this discussed anywhere... Will the ESPN2 broadcast of DCI Finals be in 16:9 (Widescreen) or 4:3 (standard tv) aspect ratio. ESPN2 now has a High Definition feed (though it will not be available on DirecTV until the repeat broadcasts) and I am hoping that they will be showing it in wide screen format. I was at the Cinecast and I'm pretty sure it was shown in widescreen - meaning the picture was not stretched to fill the movie screen. Anybody know for sure...

In general the overall excellence of the top 17 corps. Specifically the great shows of Phantom and The Cadets. And I'll never forget (for better or worse) the words Yowza, Yowza, Yowza!

Haven't seen a report from the Glen Allen/Richmond theater yet... Overall a very nice show. Just had the one blip others had mentioned right after coming on the air. I would estimate the theater was about 2/3 full. This was the first year at this theater I believe. Picture quality was fair. I would like to know what format it was sent in. Was it 480i (standard definition)? It definitely did not look like a progressive High Definition format, like 720p. Like many have mentioned the Carolina Crown's uniforms looked terrible - totally blown out. Audio was fair as well - would have liked it a little louder and with a little better balance between the pit and the field. Sometimes the horn lines just sounded a little muddy and weren't projecting through the pit audio. There was a fair amount of grumbling about the narration during the Cascades show. I don't think it added to the show at all. It was fairly obvious what the corps was doing on the field without it. Loved Crossmen's 'bum rush' at the end of their opener. That really got me pumped. Glassmen's show really did nothing for me and I was surprised at their score. I would have put Spirit ahead of them and had Crossmen nipping at their heels. Favorite show of the night was Phantom. But also really liked SCV and Madison. I agree that Cadets are the leader but feel that the spread is too high. Last night was the first time I had seen the 1994 27th Lancers Alumni Corps - that was pretty awesome. Overall a fun night, I took my 9 year old son and he enjoyed himself. We drove 2+ hours to get to the theater and got home at 1:00 AM. Definitely worth the money. If I don't go to Madison next year I would definitely do it again.