MikeBob

Yeah, no kidding! It's getting so that you can't even compare their director to a mass murdering cult leader! It's political correctness gone mad!

Then back out of the way! In that haunted by 80s!

I am, I just... God... I'm no beltway insider, as it were. Why does this "loose cannon" remain so secretive? What's he hiding? What we need is someone on the inside who can name names. That'd blow the lid off this whole thing.

Oh yes. Research. For example, it would seem that Terrance owns a ferret.

IMO, if they aren't, they're not doing it right. In my experience, critique serves two constructive functions: to understand the number you got and, if necessary, to "pitch" your show/caption to the judge in question. Non-constructive functions include discussing the weather, poking fun at them for wearing the same dirty shirt for three days in a row, exchanging information on where the local Chili's is, and, if it comes to it, having a screaming match.

That's the thing about MikeD. I don't want what he wants, but he's so #### reasonable I can't help but secretly agree with him on some level.

Exactly. What do you think critique is, a tea party?

"Did I leave the iron on?" "What was the name of that girl from 'Flashdance'? Jennifer... man, this is going to bug me all night." "Will a boy ever be born who can swim faster than a shark?" Actually, this is a fun little game.

What I want to know is, who is this one person? To me that's the crux of the dilemma. I feel that if we could somehow discover the identity of this individual, we might be in a good position to do something about it.

Though I haven't met any Cadets who marched this season, statistically speaking, I dislike eight of them.

I'm sure he is. For the record, I don't think he's the Devil. That was a lampoon.

Every time I see the title of this thread, I keep thinking the first post will say "Go #### yourselves!"

But usually it's: 4. George Hopkins, specifically, for he is the Devil.

Well, the "color" part of "colorguard" doesn't technically have anything to do with being "colorful." Modern colorguards bear little, if any, resemblance to small units who, in the olden days of yore, were in charge of ("guarded") the national and state flags ("colors") at shows and parades. To say they're not living up to their names by not being "colorful" enough ("They're a colorguard -- now let's see some color!") is a bit... fallacious. If you have an expectation for them to be colorful, it can't necessarily be justified by invoking their name. Just throwing that out there. I understand your point, but... out there. Thrown.

Oh, on topic: Take away the factual stuff, and for me, '06 resembles '91 in that they both have phenomenal 6th-place shows.

Ditto. I would've remembered that. Ditto on this, too. I don't recall when I saw them the first time that season, but it was pretty clear I was looking at a champion. Star was a subject of much interest for us on tour -- so much so that when I couldn't make the first camp in '92, rumor had it I'd gone to Star!

My favorites of these, given my admittedly limited knowledge and experience: If forced to reduce that to four, I'd keep '85 Suncoast, '91 Cadets, '92 Crossmen, and '06 Vanguard. But please don't force me to do that.

I honestly think a large part of why the MSARP performance was so great Friday night had as much, if not more, to do with who they are as what they played. There were decades of Scouts experience on the field there. No youth group can hope to match that. Moreover, they had over 120 horns -- 120 Scouts horns, to boot -- so it should be no mystery that the crowd jumped to their feet (as soon as they picked themselves up off the floor). And 21 snares? Yeah, they're gonna be loud with an ensemble like that, louder than a corps half their size. Most importantly, though, they were all Madison Scouts alumni performing in Madison. With all the Scouts have gone through in the past 10 years or so, and as much as they've struggled, it was enormously satisfying to have their alumni remind us who the Scouts were and are. That's where the emotion entered into the equation for me. As others have pointed out, you could see it on their faces. I could feel it via the Internet halfway across the world. It was the fact that it was their one last hurrah, one last chance to relive the glory days, that made it the experience it was for the performers and the fans. I guarantee you if it'd been 180 anonymous age-outs wearing unknown (or even individual) uniforms playing a collection of old-timey drum corps tunes, it wouldn't have had nearly the emotional impact it did. It got you at a gut level because it forced into submission the years of worries, complaints, and criticism of the Madison Scouts, if only for a time. Likewise, I think it's no accident Madison moved up a spot in Finals. They must've been bursting with fraternal pride after Wednesday and Friday night.

In another, more literal way, they did not.

Eleven, yes. Perfection and off-limits.

On a side note, this is the first time BD has had two consecutive years out of the Top Two since their string of 3rd to 5th finishes from 1987-1994.

I was hoping they'd do something like that and continue the show into retreat. Actually, what I think I wanted was for Mr. Moto to do slow laps around their block all night. They're definitely not the first corps to move during retreat, though. Movement with a purpose, I like. Fidgeting or screwing around... no.

Personally, I hope Academy stays Div II for a good long while and, in so doing, encourages others to give Div II/III the attention they deserve. Nobody ever says "I decided to do an all drum corps day and attend Div I Finals."

Effect reduced to 20% of the total score? That's half what it is now. Whatever else may be wacky about judging, I do think that at least they have it right in one way: nearly half the score is dependent on GE. This makes sense to me, because ultimately, every show is out to create effect first and foremost. Reducing it to 1/5th the total score puts a bit too much emphasis on the technical aspects for my tastes.

The Finals encore is my favorite show of the year....