Bluefan

You would be hard pressed to find a panel of judges without at least one having some sort of affiliation with one of the corps performing. Sometimes negative? sure. Sometimes positive? absolutely. I trust the judges to be represent DCI and all the competing with the professionalism they deserve. Maybe that doesn't happen every time, and if that is the case it really doesn't matter until finals night. Even then, speculation on this sort of thing will get you nothing but a bad mood.

I don't want to be Debbie downer, but SCV did start the season last year with a 71.05 and looked like they were going to be top 5 for about a week. Now, with that being said, I trust the corps has adjusted to the new staff members and I trust (and hope) that they will be much improved over last year and be a contender for top 5. Also, while I'm raining on a corps' parade, BD started last year at 76.15, at the time well over a point ahead of the next highest corps. However, travelling to Europe probably dampened the corps improvement rate (actually it did, the lowest increase/day out of any of the top 8 corps with the exception of Vanguard). I think this corps will be in the top three come quarter finals and VERY tough to bump out of that tier.

Speaking of burning sensations, I have to pee

seriously?

I thought we were having a nice innocent discussion about drum corps

oh my lord

I think people have caught on to you

That's not the high tonight is it?

Did somebody say amps?

Can the Tigers please lose some games, I'm an Indians fan...

8 pages in half an hour, we can do better than that!

I can't wait to see if Crown, Boston, and the Blue Knights come out swinging and get themselves where they were last year (between Madison and Glassmen). If so, that's going to be 6 corps within 2.8 points of each other! And I thought it was obscenely close last year with those 6 being about 5 points apart... Here's to another white-knuckled, nail-biting, obsessive-score-checking-at-all-hours-of-the-morning-because-the-west-coast-scores-are-late-again season. I love drum corps.

Okay, I've been reading this thread and I just have to say something so... Would anyone care to tell my WHY anyone is arguing with anyone (while you're at it, try and use "anyone" more times in a single sentence than I just did; both feats should be impossible to just about, well...anyone). It seems that everybody is wrong, or right, it doesn't really matter. All I know is that I'm immensely excited for this season to start and I am particularly looking forward to seeing if the Bluecoats are going to do everything that I hope and believe they can.

Maybe I know that guys brother, I marched SCV for 9 years But in all serious, my brother actually did march plates for the coats in '02 and '03...let me know if I could be of help

Does anybody think a move to the college venue might be somewhere in the future of drum corps? In some ways it would be more attractive to the member: Colleges could offer "fine arts" credit (and perhaps even scholarships at larger universities). It could reduce the cost of marching and eliminate conflict with your academic endeavors. However the drawbacks would be that you could probably only march if you go to that college, which would also mean the age range would switch to 18-22ish. You can put a positive spin on that by saying you don't have to age out so soon. Some BOA bands might like by keeping members in high school all year round (maybe...I didn't come from a BOA band). College corps would be more secure by obtaining funding from the university. Of course they would probably have to take on the role of the "marching band" and play at the fall football games, but hey...year round drum corps! This also brings up the problem that colleges might not want to change their marching band tradition (like Ohio State...they love that band for some reason unknown to me :sshh: ). Corps could get money from the college as well as corporate sponsors such as Yamaha or even Gatorade, much like college football teams get money from the school as well as nike. The competitions could be televised live and commercial spots could be sold...after all what else is the viewer going to watch between corps. Some things about this idea seem very attractive to me, but I personally wouldn't like to see it come about. It is too drastic a change for any of the present corps to transition to. For instance, if Madison wanted to swith over, they would likely go to the University of Wisconsin (Camp Randall Stadium). But UW would probably demand they be called the Wisconsin Badgers...not the Madison Scouts. Almost all of their current members would no longer be allowed to march because they aren't enrolled there. And the staff would then have to be employed by the college. Realistically there are far too many reasons why this can't happen, at least not anytime soon. But maybe you care to weigh in?

Is that "11" supposed to be in there? Are you making a prediction :devin: I would say Bluecoats and Madison both have great chances to make moves into the top 4. Biggest "shaking up" in sheer number of places moved since last year will probably be out in semifinals.

Umm...I loved Phantom's "broadway" show last year. That being said, I hope Santa Clara does make a comeback. Some of my favorite shows of all time are SCV's.

Yes, I know, it surprises me too. I do love a cymbal line on the field and I am not saying that their sound gets lost on the field. I just feel that the majority of the time, more brass is more effective and thus lends itself to the competitive nature of this activity. Regarding your indoor questions: 1. Not necessarily. WGI, especially in the past couple years, is growing rampantly. There are many people involved in WGI that have never marched and never plan to march drum corps and they are still musicians and performers of the highest caliber. 2. There are a number of excellent high school cymbal lines, and I'm sure there are many more I am not even aware of. Further more, the cymbal techs for WGI are just as good as any in DCI (in many cases, they are the same people). Players regardless of prior experience are able to learn a lot in WGI and become the best performers possible. 3. I'm not sure what you mean by this...do you mean are there any cymbal lines in WGI that have no cymbal players nor techs that have ever done drum corps? I am not sure of that answer. I think Music City Mystique's cymbal tech never marched corps and they have a fabulous cymbal program year after year.

I love me some cymbals. Nothing beats checking out a battery in the lot with a sweet cymbal line...not mostly for the visual purpose, but for the very different voice it adds. However, it doesn't translate the same on the field most of the time. I would rather see more brass march. I'll go to WGI to see great cymbal lines doing great things.

I heard a while back that Danny Carey of Tool marched Phantom Regiment...any truth to that?

How is calling a loved one to try and share a moment that means so much to you an act of no class?

BLOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

First, let me say I am NOT arguing with the scores from last night. That would be absurd because I didn't see or hear the performance. I just have a question... What are the two different percussion judges looking for exactly? I only ask because of how large the difference in perc. scores for the same corps can be. Take for instance the Bluecoats last night. 19.0 from one judge and 17.4 from another - a difference of 1.5! There are other instances of things like this, I just chose this as an example because I'm incredibly biased.

They would have to have a REAL off night to have the same score they had last night?

SCV score must be a typo...I'm guessing 88.05