Bruckner8

Consider: Crown is having a down year (for them) in brass. SCV and Cavies are having down years (for them) in percussion. BD is having a down year (for them) in overall design. Bloo is competitive in all of the above. Bloo has GE and maybe a Vis caption locked up (but not color guard). Everything is right there for the taking; almost too easy, honestly. Some have compared this to 2016...but in 2016 SCV, Crown and BD were all doing their "thing." Right now, no one is doing their "thing," so Bloo had better win, or there will be some serious head-scratching. The only roadblock I see is the finals night judging panel, cuz if it's the same as 2019, then BD still has a chance. See ya in the lot at Winston-Salem! Go Bloo!

Crown certainly has the most difficult contra book of 2024, maybe all-time (Bloo 2017). When it works, it’s cool; other times yikes. also: all contras are tubas. I don’t care if we call them contras or tubas, although I strive to use the term contra to imply the drum corps instrument, no matter the key.

Cavies marching 16 again? 🙂

I say no, but I'm aware that my entire take on the Cadets (Which started in 1983), unites Cadets with George Hopkins. They are one and the same, and I have no problem seeing the organization gone, as he is also gone. So be it. I'd like to see the opposite happen: Everyone who cares about the organization, unify under an entirely different brand, and take it from there. Only then can the ghost of GH be purged. As I've said before, many former Cadets staff and membership have already gone on to do amazing things. Would be cool if they unified under a new org.

Can someone hook me up with Crown’s spring training dates and location? Internet searches have been unreliable. Is Ensemble Rehearsal open, even for old curmudgeons? Message me if Q clearance is required

My fav part of the report is where more than 1/3 of the participants answered “prefer not to say.” When that reaches 51% we’ll know we’ve turned the corner, rendering such reports meaningless. Almost there.

No. Linda Lastra for 1996

‘93 Finals. Phantom and Star. I don’t even remember Cadets, but that’s not unusual for me.

To be clear, the “prior year success” observation only applies to new champions. SCV has multiple championships and many champions on staff. Too bad their admin and board is full of goofs.

Rennick, Gaines, Riley, Van Doren Family Brass Team. SCV has plenty of CI, assuming it’s close. Thus the question will be “will the performance level/maturity measure up to its competitors?” If yes, SCV has enough CI to carry them over close competitors. More likely no. (Perc, Guard and Design will be fine.) Make no mistake: SCV is not starting over, by any means, except (hopefully) financial admin. Veteranship is lower, but that might be a good thing.

Cash easy to verify?? Ha! It’s the easiest to steal/hide/lose. I mean, I guess it’s easy to verify what's left lol. AP verification is directly proportional to the integrity of the AP Treasurer. (And surely SCV has two different people for the roles of AR and AP, right??? Not foolproof but still…) For the record, I’m not in the “yay we r back” crowd lol. The forces of darkness within me won’t allow that to happen until people are held accountable and SCV is competitive again. That will take YEARS

Debtors never forget. This number should be the easiest to verify!

There exists too much pro BD inertia in the judging community for ABBD to take hold. But yes, the ABBD contingent is strong in the fanbase, and yes, any smart bookie would take advantage of that lol. For me, as the author of Competitive Inertia (2007), and an instructor competing against BD for a long time, I’d put all of my money “on BD” every time…and it has nothing to do with “if i like their shows.” (I usually hate them, and can’t remember them, but I respect/understand their ability to “get points.”) I’d love to be able to bet on them…the easiest bet ever, with current judges and criteria.

This is the heart of my confusion: how can it be ILLEGAL TO SOLICIT donations, under any circumstance? Begging for money (in any context) is a time-honored American tradition. Even so, maybe all of those donations are Unsolicited. How would we (or a judge) even know? Who cares is the website has a donation button? Maybe they laid off the web developer in tough times. (A judge will let that go)

I love this take. Then I remembered Paul Rennick and Michael Gaines are involved, which means formula. The End. (not that formula is necessarily bad, but just that we already know what we’re going to get. It’ll be Excellent, but it will be designed for points, and nothing beyond that.)