CorpsMan97

I just had to vote for Paula Deen... I am on the fence about the actual topic though. Chances are: No

Part of my point is to show why New Englanders give Crusaders all that crap about being from Florida. Some people just don't understand it but if you live here, you would have an idea. And I am from New England and the Blue Stars are a great corps. I don't know how you interpreted a simple reference to blue stars as a dis to them?

Having 40 people at an audition camp is a signal that they arent working with the neighboring musical communities enough. That is the point I am trying to make. Over the past 5 years I have not seen one attempt by crusaders to recruit at local high school shows or even on the college level. Rather, they choose to put it in their back pockets and not worry about it. Maybe more people in this area would treat Crusaders like the home corps if they acted like one, or perhaps go to their audition camps. That is why people give them crap for not "being" from Boston. One audition camp? In November? One? Really? That is all they do? That is not any answer. That would be like Spirit having an audition camp somewhere in Texas and then saying they're Spirit from Houston. A lot of corps out there have random auditions in other places in the US but Crusaders have what... 7 down in Florida? Yea... Florida is a whole 'nother world away.

Well, Blue Stars aren't the LaCrosse Blue Stars are they? Boston Crusaders. Having one audition camp in Boston for only about 40 people really doesn't do a corps justice when 20, 30 years ago their focus was working with membership from the community, the boston area. I'm not saying they should be pulling kids off the street like they used to but maybe 10 years ago they should have really established themselves in the region and worked with the talent in New England instead of taking an easier way out and reaching for membership outside of the region to make it into the top 12. Massachusetts drum corps fans are just bitter. That is why Crusader's get so much crap about how theyre "from Orlando" now. New England has had a drum corps dry spell for a long time when it comes to junior corps. Not counting crusaders there are only 4 DCI corps in all of New England, 6 states, serving approximately 200 kids total. Thousands used to be served. As the years go by fewer and fewer people in the area are familiar with drum corps. Crusaders had a responsibility in some peoples eyes to keep drum corps, the activity, alive in the area not diminish it even more. sure, they have a "home" show...

If the logic behind this is that within a week the judges will start to see all of the corps rather than just some corps on a specific coast, and therefore level off the score a little bit, this year it may take more than one week. With fewer judges at every show the chances are smaller that Judge A will see BD and Cadets within a week because if there are 100 dci judges in DCI to pick from and a show only uses 5 now rather than 10, or whatever, they still are picking from the 100 and chances are lowered that the same judge will be seeing a whole variety of corps. For example it goes from having 3 music judges to 2 and 4 visual judges to 2. To add to this, I am sure DCI will try to get as many different judges out for early season shows as possible because you don't want a judges first read of any corps this season to be July 7th AND so that if this new judging method sticks for years, you have all judges with experience in the field with these new sheets and slightly differently weighted scores (no pun intended).

Chances are some people will like their new image and others will hate it. Those people who like it will talk about it on dcp. Those people who hate it will also talk about it on dcp. You seem very open to the idea of people expressing their opinions AFTER they take the field in the near future. I will hold you to that. When people express their opinions in a few weeks i assume you will no longer be the kid in the school yard breaking up fights. I will be glad to not see your username littered on these threads. DCP is meant for people to both praise and bit ch. Let both happen. We can't let drum corps discussion get all "soft" anyway. I would hate to see a forum with only positive and enthusiastic posts. If that happened, soon enough every corps will be getting a Gold Medal around their neck and a championship flag. Not everyone can win and not everyone can be liked. That's just how it is. I want more parking lot fights.

Oh... you're right... 2nd and 3rd place staff and membership have NEVER thought or said these things before in the history of drum corps until Star came around! That is Sarcasm. I never personally experienced this "poor sportsmanship" from Star but I can tell you that every Corps past and present, every Marching Band past and present, every NFL team, every god dam LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM who has come SO close to winning top honors have ALL had their heads thinking those thoughts whether it is little 10 year old Jimmy who plays 1st base for the Nashville Little League All-Stars, George Hopkins, or Bill Belichick of the Patriots. Most are verbal about it and others keep it to themselves because they are very humble. It is human nature to be competitive. All of these people also greatly appreciate their experience in the run for top honors and the fun and excitement they had through the season whether it shows or not. I assume you never came to a close 2nd place finish and personally thought you had the better program. Either that or you are not Human and do not share these same feelings of competition :o) I thought the rest of your post was very good at shedding light to the clueless masses out there BUT this statement just isn't fair to say.

for their hornline size they'll need that extra brass staff. Rock the field this summer Teal!

that seems very bizarre. didn't Spartans announce they were going to be going World Class next season? would the staff who left really be that impatient? that just seems like a weird road to take if you ask me. all divII/III staff have patience of nice old grandmothers from my experience. i dont mean to say div II/III staff are easy on their kids, NOT AT ALL! my point is that D2/3 staff usually take any kids interested in drum corps no matter what the skill level and teach them how to be successful at it. that takes a certain kind of patience and that is why i describe it as "nice old grandmothers."

Teal, Revo, BDB

Well, my predictions based on usual trend are slightly off this year it seems. Glad to hear BDB and OC are going to have big corps. Considering the quality of the programs from year to year those teams have, I hope they manage to pull another year of it! With 5 corps over the 100 mark though, the average still wont be three digits. I'm not trying to be negative at all. It is great that there actually does seem to be a slight surge going into open class this year with membership. That warms up the heart a little haha.

I'm sure you meant to say Div II and that was a typo. Random question for all: Anyone know what Fever is getting for numbers in the brass section? VK? Impulse?

I'm afraid you could be terribly wrong about the average being 100. Surf and Teal will be very large corps like you say. I agree with that but usually an old "Div II/III" corps more often than not was under 100 members. Last year there were only 6 Div II corps. The rest were Div III which could only have a maximum of 79 members (if i am not mistaken). I'm sure last year the only Div II corps with over 100 members were Teal, Surf, and probably Spartans. BDB may have JUST missed that 100 mark. SCVC was smaller than usual from my observation. I do not know many exact numbers just for the record. With probably only three corps (maybe 4) over 100 members last year (and most years prior) mathematically those 3 corps out of the roughly 30 corps in today's "Open Class" would have to have probably 450 members a piece for the average to come out to 100. I doubt Open Class is getting a surge of membership, otherwise we would have heard about it already on here. Although it may seem "sad" to some that there isnt even an average of 100, sometimes small lines are the beauty of Open Class. It was very enjoyable last year to watch Mempho rock the stadium with only 30? brass players and 12? in the drumline (I dont have exact #s). Although it would have been nice to see 15 guard instead of 8 during those big musical moments it was still an awesome show. Bigger isn't always better (But I am sure Surf will show us it is better in most cases this year hah)

Good Luck to Marion this year. I hope they manage to have a lot of success with their program like they used to in the 2000s

Crossmen 2004 Hornline turns backfield to fade out in the middle of the closer, Pit picks up the focus right before the sweet Xmen Drum Feature: GOOOOO DRUMLIIIIINE!!!! Very Young and Energetic Voice. Speaking of Crossmen... I REALLY hope they have a MONSTER of a show this year. Hope to see you on the field Finals night, XMen!

Okay then, lets ban college fraternities and sororities, remove boy scouts and girl scouts from our communities, close private schools that are gender specific, combine the NBA and WNBA, and make the european football clubs non-gender specific. Drum corps, even after all of the rule changes through the years, is still an activity based strongly on tradition. I do not think diversifying the activity should be an important point of interest. It would be great if the activity could go back to what it used to do back in the 60s and 70s and pull kids from the streets but everything has transformed a bit. Corps, although transformed if they are very competitive, still try to hang onto what tradition they have. I think that costs are a problem for the natural diversification to happen and basically agree with the majority of you. When you actually take a look at the drum corps race population it is silly to think it is 92% white. I do not believe that. If anything it is probably around 80%. A lot of corps in Southern Cali have high "minority" percentages. Revolution, from Texas, has a lot of Hispanics. Mandarins used to and probably is still made up of a lot of people of Asian backgrounds. Yamato (Open Class) is half Japanese... The list goes on I am sure. Although the majority of the activity is white, i think some programs do offer a lot of diversity. For example Pioneer always always shows off its Irish heritage in their programs year after year. Manadrins used to do the same with their Mandarin Chinese heritage, and probably still do (sorry I'm not fresh on my Mandarin's current events). Troopers are seen as the Real American Drum Corps. I do not think the race card needs to be thoroughly studied. Perhaps Georgy wasn't really making a big fuss about it, perhaps we are all over reacting to his statement. I know a lot of people dislike him and will jump the gun just to discuss "how much an idiot" he is. I'm not saying I love the man though... hah

since Cascades are not competing this season and are only going to be performing in exhibition, I am sure a few members will trickle down to OC so they can be able to perform on a competitive level. That is what i was referring to. Maybe a lot, maybe a few, maybe none at all. who knows. i could be completely wrong.

Predictions Predictions. Fun Stuff. I'm going to divide it up though... Thoughts: -------------------------------------------------------------- Top 6 Corps will be (no specific order): -Turquoise Noise -Vanguard -BDB -Surf -Fever -Citations Battle for 1st and 2nd Place: Jersey Surf and Teal Sound Battle for 3rd Place: (way too early to tell who will be closer to it than others) BDB, Fever, SCVC, and Citations ---------------------------------------------------------------- Corps 7-12 (no specific order) -OC ----------> Will Benefit from Cascades drop out of competition -VK ----------> Awesome start last year. They will most likely get a lot of new membership and keep experienced vets. -Mempho ----------> Reigning Div III Champs will still be strong -Revolution ----------> Consistently Excellent -Raiders ----------> Perhaps a little hurt from Surf getting a lot of the membership in Jersey area? (random guess) Still top 12 product though -Beatrix ----------> Can't forget these guys! (I heard they are competing in Open not International?) Battle for the 7th Place spot: Mempho, OC, and Revo Bottom Spots could belong to anyone: Beatrix, Raiders, VK ----------------------------------------------------------------- Corps who will probably be duking it out to try to squeeze into Finals (Spots 13-17 No Order): Dutch Boy, Spartans, Impulse, Cap Sound, Spokane Thunder

It is good news that the director and staff has the best intentions possible for the students of the corps. With all of the peaks today that directors of corps have to climb, I am glad that Mike Leone is putting forth some efforts to be able to get over it all. Who knows what will be in store for the corps next year in 2009. Hopefully there will be great things in store! Some newer equipment, newer transportation vehicles, and no corps debt would all be terrific. I hope that Mike Leone tries to consult with Fred Morris over the next two years. Troopers made a HUGE come back in 2007. I cannot believe what they managed to pull off! Cascades should try to learn from that to ensure 2009 is a success. The last thing the activity needs is the loss of a Corps in the Northwest where so few already exist. To think that some reports claimed that Troopers at the beginning of 2007 only had 14 horns at their first camp, is incredible. They managed to march practically a full brass line come quarters night. They also managed to get their highest score since 1995. If Troop can do it, I have faith that Cascades can manage to pull it off too. If for some reason Cascades do not have the numbers in 2009 to truly put out a killer World Class program product, I think it could be a smarter idea to drop back to Open Class. Open Class corps do not have to tour for for two months straight. Some argue that if they go Open Class then they will not get the money at every show. That is true but it costs A LOT to put a corps out on a road for a whole month or more. Those show paychecks do not cover it. Going open class with membership at about 100 could be a very promising option for the program. Cascades should know from past experience that it is possible to go from lower divsions and build up to become a killer World Class corps. I would much rather see them build up and save money in 2009 as an Open Class corps with a 3 week tour, make it to championships that year, than put out a border line World Class program that may not ensure consistent building through the years. In the Past Cascades went from a Div III corps to a Div II corps placing in Division I Semi Finals to then Jumping to Div I and placing in at Finals Night. I would love to see a Cascades again that can perform another 2002 program. If they have the talent and money though come 2009 to perform World Class then... They should do it! But if it isn't looking incredibly successful, an Open Class switch may be the smarter idea. There are a lot of corps that start from the bottom and make it to the top. They used to be one of those corps. They could sure do it again. I wish Cascades the best of luck for the 2009 season. I really hope they put out a killer program whether they are in World Class, Open Class, or still in Exhibition. Good luck in 2008 too! I am glad the program will still be touring and exposing the country to this great activity.