Leakerbockers

Michael Cesario worked with the Madison Scouts in a creative role from 2003-2007. He was on tour with the corps off and on for those summers, and he presented them at their clinics and was usually the guy leading the clinics. I don't know what his involvement with The Cavaliers has been from a programming standpoint, but I'm pretty sure he was the designer of the "swashbuckling" style uniform that debuted in the early 1990's, and we still see today. Hope this helps.

That's because there's nothing to do in Norman besides troll a drum corps forum all day :P And, in actuality, I don't think Cavaliers have had a snare drummer from UT since 2005, though there are a few guys marching in the hornline this year.

How does Santa Clara always manage to look so effing classy, regardless of uniforms, "average member age," staff, show, scores, or whatever else....am I the only one enamored with this?

A few things that need to be said: As a Madison vet, I can safely say that there was no "five-year plan." The only thing you could say was a "plan" was the 3 years following the 2002 season which were designed to get the corps back on its feet financially and competitively. Even if there were a 5-year plan, your math is wrong, as 2003-2006 is only 4 years of drum corps. But whatever. Early season scores are, as correctly identified earlier, a bit whacky. The Crossmen beat The Cadets in percussion, Esperanza has a field score tie with Blue Devils; things like that happen. The Cavaliers 3-pointed The Cadets in Toledo last year, and look how that turned out. The only thing you can take from this first week regarding Coats and Scouts is that the Bluecoats are absolutely ON FIRE coming out of the gates, which is a tribute to smart designing and hard work during everydays, whereas the Scouts seem to be struggling to put it all together early on. I'm excited to start listening to Bluecoats' show, as all my friends who have seen it say that it's exciting from start to finish.

I don't really know how this one will turn out, but I am excited, as it will be a nice prelude to the Omaha show, when Cavies join the two other Top 6 corps. Both corps could experience huge score shifts either way, depending on how they stack up in first impressions, OR it could be a virtual deadlock, as these two groups have been neck and neck for the past 2 seasons, competitively. One thing I noticed is that Madison's score went up over 3 points in Menomonie with virtually the same panel as the night before, a sign that the 69.5 is a better evaluation than what was in Coon Rapids. A second reading of the show combined with a better surface (astroturf) in Menomonie accounted for the jump. This is good news, because it reinforces the idea that judges get a better idea the second time around, and could suggest that the show itself is more enjoyable as the judges familiarize themselves with what is going on. Really excited, though.