Widge

Agreed!!! as one who observed from row 20 at Lucas Oil....The synth bass was a poor substitute for just writing the same part in the Contras... Same goes for the sound of the amplified brass...(loved bloooo.....hated that they did this) just face the stands and play!! it just sounds better!!!

Anyone who has seen all shows live ( I did at Atlanta) would say Blue Stars.

Thanks Kevin.....great job as usual....Will be at all Indy shows, looking forward to a great time.

Looking forward to the 9th to 12th place matchups..... Less than a point seperates BAC, BK , Scouts, and Glassmen. BK did well at Toledo 2 nite, but g-men took percussion over BK and SCV!! we could see some shakeups in those placements at quarters and semis as we did last year.

G-men take percussion!!!!!!!......about time The battery is so much improved over recent years. It is great to see them getting some respect!!

Just got off work. Wife is at show, I am not....(^%$$%$##_) At least I can keep up with phone calls and with Kevin;s updates.....thanks

Friday, August 6: 6:30 PM - Pioneer - Milwaukee, WI 6:47 PM - Cascades - Seattle, WA 7:04 PM - Spirit - Atlanta, GA 7:21 PM - Troopers - Casper, WY 7:38 PM - Colts - Dubuque, IA 7:55 PM - The Academy - Tempe, AZ 8:12 PM - Intermission - 17 min. 8:29 PM - Glassmen - Toledo, OH 8:46 PM - Blue Stars - La Crosse, WI 9:03 PM - Carolina Crown - Fort Mill, SC 9:20 PM - The Cavaliers - Rosemont, IL 9:37 PM - Blue Devils - Concord, CA

Was just noticing that 9th through 12th place current rankings are less than a point difference (.875) in both DCI and DCP weighted rankings with BAC. BK, Scouts and G-men all bunched up. ( only 1.05 spread with unweighted scores) Should be an exciting last week to see who can tweak their shows to pull up enough to shake things up. I know that Glassmen put on a reworked opener at Fairfax thet gets the show going quicker, and they were rewarded with better GE visual and visual performance scores. We may well see some places change at quarters, and semis as we did last season.

My vote is for the entire show concept of the 2008 Cadets. Great corps ....Brass , percussion, and guard performed superbly, and were dragged down by the insipid, narration that was poorly written and badly perforned. At least one good thing came from this. It may have killed the narration trend, and Cadets, as well as the whole activity is the better for it.

The first head to head between BK and Gmen, could be interesting as well. , remembering the Gmen edged out BK in semis and finals last year, and this is their first show together since. I expect Bk to have the higher score at their home shows, but the point spread will be interesting.

Disclamer............. I am a Glassmen parent..... Now, After seeing just one live show .(Bowling Green) and seeing all the shows on fan network... this is my one prediction..... Glassmen will finish 8th , Just ahead of Boston, and slightly behind Blue Stars. Reason, When the full judging panel kicks in in the East, the improvement in the Gmen battery and guard will kick in, and up the scores that much. Also the Gmen music book is as good as anything out there. and they have the talent to execute it well ...( listen to it and you will agree). Also with Pete Weber on staff as the drill writer.... the visual scores that they have been lacking in the past will improve enough to justify that big of jump in the finals placement. I invite anyone to tell me where I am wrong. Please respond!!!

I predict more movement up for Glassmen. since they were finally able to crack the 11th place barrier. I predict that the moniker "Glass Place" for 11th will forever be forgotten. I predict Colts back in finals. With all due respect to Troopers (of which I have a lot) if the season were one week longer, Colts would possibly gone past them at semis. I predict even greater things from Vanguard, (what a beautiful show this season.) I predict that Crown will be the next new champion. Maybe not in 2010 but surely in at least the next 3 seasons.

It was not so much the sound clip but the fact that Their scores were not announced , (even though g-men outscored BK who's score was mentioned), and no one in a glassmen uniform was shown on the video. (which does not require a sound clip) it was as if the g-men didn't even make finals.

Just watched the wrap up video on Fan Network http://v2.thefannetwork.org/?network_id=1&ensemble Seems like Glassmen and Troppers were a little slighted in this video by DCI. Don't these kids deserve to be mentioned along with everyone else. Geez, all Troppers did was make the finals for the first time in HOW MANY YEARS, but at least they made the video even though their scores weren't announced. But Glassmen did make the finals also didn't they? - or was I just dreaming that last night. But no, I know that I did not dream it because I watched from the stands as my daughter "tore up" her solo - so I know it really did happen. WAY TO GO DCI......Thanks for not disappointing ALL the fans anyway.