barigirl78

(mid show) Blue Stars guard is barely there. They always seem seperated from the rest of the corp.

They are loud, but at times they sounded out of tune, though.

I thought Madison was a lot better than the last time I saw them. Loved the pre-show cape routine by the Crossmen. I wish the editor had gotten a closer look at Bones appearance. What was with the announcer talking over the start of the show? Was that a mistake (and penalty) by the corps or just a mistake by the announcer? When they push Russian, I got a chill. The end of the show is getting better as they gain stamina, but I wish Russian was used as the end of the show instead of as the beginning--the way it was always meant to be. I would say Madison maybe performed a little better, but the Crossmen have much more difficult material.

My head says Spirit will make it by just a small differential (maybe a tenth). Buy my heart would love to see the Crossmen pull off an upset. Even though I'm obviously a fan of the corps, I'm also a fan of surprises. I hate it when things get too predictable.

Wow, that is the antithesis of what fandom is in every other endeavor I can think of. Fans have passionate opinions. If two people are arguing about whether "Citizen Kane" is or isn't the best film of all time, no one accuses them of not being film fans. Their passion and their strong opinions makes them film fans. The Yankee fans who hate the Red Sox and the Red Sox fans who hate the Yankees are never accussed of not being baseball fans. Their passion makes them fans. Yelling negativities at a corps may (or may not) violate the accepted manners of the activity. But, you can't accuse them of not being fans. Excepted manners of activity varies greatly. Fans yelling trashtalk is an accepted part of sports like baseball and football. In football, the crowd can become part of the game by yelling so loud they interupt the other team's concentration. At tennis and golf matches, silence is expected. Though, back in the 70's when Billie Jean King tried to start pro team tennis, she wanted the crowd to be more passionate and yell during matches the way they do in other sports. Drum corps isn't golf. We do expect the crowd to show their passion. My memories as a performer are that the worst crowd is a silent one. (Note: golf crowds are allowed to react after the putts sink, just not while the players are playing) I'm not sure why only positive passion ('Go Bubby!!') is accepted and negative passion is not. I can see it if you are talking about yelling "you suck" to small, young corps of kids just starting out in the activity and are going to come in last. It's something that would discourage them from continuing in the activity. I can't think of anyone who would do that. But, the top corps are battle-hardened. They are superstars in this activity, the way that JLo or Brangelina are in their milieus. "Shut up and Play" isn't the same as "you suck". It's a statement about the content of the show. It's not a statement about the quality of the performers. If anything, it's saying "I want to hear these talented performers and not that distracting talking". Is that negative? I'm not so sure. Edited to add: The rule changes that bring in controversial "innovations" happen behind closed doors at DCI. When and it what official forum do the fans get to offer their opinion where they know officials from DCI can hear them? Not too many places. Again, this doesn't make them "non-fans", it makes them "fans".

After a slow start, the Bones have a upward trend going. Five straight shows of improved scores. 70.9, 71.6, 72.05, 72.75, 73.4. I know a lot of people focus on the top 6, but I think the fight to get into the top 12 is going to be just as interesting to watch.

I'm not sure. They didn't unveil the flags. But, the guard did take their initial red/black uniforms off and revealed a very bright aqua blue uniform underneath. I posted a review elsewhere, but I thought the corps has made some strides forward since the last time I saw them. Brass line has gotten a little louder.

I want to say a few words about the Crossmen tonight. I had seen them their first show (Toledo), a week ago (Giants Stadium), and tonight. One of the biggest differences tonight vs. those previous performances in the volume of the horn line. They are finally getting louder and it's long overdue. They really sold Russian tonight and the crowd responded. It definitely seemed to help their GE score. The ensemble score also popped tonite. They came in 5th ahead of the Glassmen.

Regarding the latest scores. A round of applause for the Brass and Percussion sections. Both their individual scores hit season highs. The 14.8 the horn section got was 1.1 higher than any show previously. The 14.7 they got in percussion was 0.6 higher. But, sadly, they got dinged in the CG caption, scoring their lowest in the season. If show flags could help, it could be the best investment made in the Crossmen to actually help them. They are ranked just below the top 12 right now and just a few points could make the difference.

Well, I'll keep doing it anyway. If you don't want to buy it or even give it any value, that's your choice. All I'm saying is that so far--and the results from Bristol continue and strengthen the pattern--there's a closer relationship between the Visual Total and the overall Total than any other caption. Again, if you want to think it's meaningless and I'm "pulling it out of my rear", that's your choice. I appreciate your opinion, but you aren't going to stop me from analyzing it for my own reasons.

You are probably right. But, by standard definitions, there wouldn't be until it's almost too late to matter. I'm just having a little fun with numbers. To date, that's the situation. The R-squared for the total score compared to the visual score is a .772. The next correlation is a .481 (GE vs. Total Score). Perhaps it's not statistically significant, but I still find it interesting. Since I'll be adding data points as we go along, it will continue to be so. IMO. Your mileage may vary.

Looking at the recap for the last show, it appears that the Visual score popped up significantly compared to recent shows. (Getting geeky: I performed some statistics (a correlation calculation called r-squared) on the scores so far and the total score is correlating highest to the visual score vs. any other caption.) I don't know if they made any some changes visually or if this particular performance just fell in place for them. I do believe the visual show has great potential and, if performed well, can score them some points. GE and Percussion also hit season highs in upstate NY.

I'm so glad the Crossmen broke 70 tonight. I remember how important it is as a marcher to see some payoff for the hard work. Since they've been stalled, I think it will be important to the corps morale to have this. I also applaud the Crown on their progress. I liked them a lot at Giants stadium. I just don't like the Cadets' show. Gratuitous narration accompanied by horn and drum exercises.

Ghenghis takes no prisoners. When he comes to town, you hide your woman and children. He conquors all. It's an old attitude we had.

I saw them in Toledo and then last night at Giants stadium. To my eyes and ears they seemed better. However, there still is a clear gap between them and the other corps--at least the corps at East Rutherford. In my mind, the quintessential Crossmen corps is "in your face" and really aggressively sells their show. But, there is something a bit too controlled and laid back about this year's corps, particularly the horn line. They are playing the show, but not quite selling it. You have to lean in and really pay attention to hear what they are doing rather than have them force you to hear it. I was with a friend from Texas who had never been to a drum corps show and when I asked if he heard the "deep in the heart of Texas" part, he hadn't. That's something you want the crowd to notice. But, it's too subtle. The performance is cleaner than Toledo, but not really better from a GE basis. They also still seem tired by the final moments of the show. But, not as tired as a week ago. Old time Crossmen may remember this reference: "Where's Ghenghis when you need him?" (others won't know what the hell I'm talking about)

Captions update after Westminster for anyone wondering what is going on with the scores. Their total score went down, but the horn score is still trending up. (scores for each competition) Total Score: 68, 67.95, 69.05, 69.15, 68.25 Horn Score: 11.2, 12, 12.7, 13.5, 13.7 Percussion: 12.3, 13.5, 13.4, 13.7, 13.7 Combined, these scores have increased 3.9 points since Toledo. The ensemble score seemed to recover a bit: Ensemble: 15.1, 13.1, 14.5, 12.6, 12.8 They seemed to get dinged in Westminster by GE and Visual. Both either were equal or near their season lows: GE: 28, 27.4, 27.5, 28.1, 27.4 Visual: 20.7, 21.25, 21.25, 21.15, 20.75

Ouch! From a Crossmen perspective: 1 The Cadets 82.250 2 Phantom Regiment 81.150 3 Carolina Crown 79.800 4 Blue Knights 75.250 5 Boston Crusaders 74.150 6 Crossmen 68.250 Division II 1 Spartans 70.050

Tell him Happy Birthday for me. I'm actually going out to the local places too around 8:30. I guess the scores will be in by the time I get back.

Well, I'm settling into the evening with a Long Island Iced Tea. What's everyone else having in the lounge tonite?

My first stab at projections. Cadets..................... 83.8 Phantom ..................81.4 Crown ......................79.6 BK ............................76.2 BAC ..........................74.2 Crossmen ................69.7

Thanks for the explanation. I'm a little skeptical that it's "normal", since other corps don't seem to be having the problem. But, I'll try to share your optimism about future improvement. Right now, this particular issue seems to be the difference between them ranking 15th and 13th. I'm seeing the corps this Saturday at Giants stadium (after seeing them in Toledo last Saturday). I'm taking someone who has never been to a drum corps show. I just was hoping to see some marked improvement in the scores by then. Positive thoughts.

(Turning attention to the scores) If you've been following the scores, there hasn't been much movement in the total score for the four shows: Total Score: 68, 67.95, 69.05, 69.15 But, there's a different picture in the recaps. Both the Brass and Percussion scores have steadily grown: Horn Score: 11.2, 12, 12.7, 13.5 Percussion: 12.3, 13.5, 13.4, 13.7 Combined, these scores have increased 3.7 points since Toledo. But the odd thing is that while brass and percussion have increased, the ensemble score has decreased. Ensemble: 15.1, 13.1, 14.5, 12.6 (-2.5 vs. 1st show) I don't really understand modern judging enough to explain how the ensemble score can decline while the individual section score are going up. Can anyone else explain it? The GE and Visual captions haven't had the kind of significant movement that the above captions have. If the ensemble score didn't decline while the brass and percussion scores rose, we'd be seeing the Crossmen in the low 70's now.

I'm really getting concerned by the lack of progress in the Crossmen scores. Does anybody know what's going on?