hostrauser

A million in the hole for 2020, the lost year. I've heard that it was higher than that at the end of 2022. I have an anonymous source that says they've whittled that debt down to about $500K, but touring in 2023 would have ballooned it back up to at least $1.5 million.

Source? (I can believe it, I just want to read for myself.)

Yes. The only surprising part of this to me was that Vanguard was the first of the big corps to go under (even if it ends up being only temporary). Unsustainable activity is unsustainable. DCI has spent 20+ years becoming an arms race, and once you add in all the outside factors that can't be controlled, this is the result.

DCP-I began in the winter of 2004, started by an Executive Director with a dream and several corps/players helping to fulfill that dream. The very first shows in the history of DCP-I were on March 1st, 2004. A total of 34 corps competed that day in either San Diego, CA, Willingboro, NJ, or Whitewater, WI. The first winners were The Gladiators, Phantasma and Buena Vista. Twenty-nine seasons (2 per year in most years) later, the final DCP-I season took place in the summer of 2019, culminating in that season's championships in Seattle, WA. The final DCP-I champions were Quiksilver (World), Sparrow Regiment (Open), and Nastalgia Percussion Ensemble (A). During the twenty-nine seasons of DCP-I, over 100 different corps won a medal in any of the three competitive classes. Over the fifteen year run, participation waxed and waned. The COVID-19 pandemic and loss of the 2020 and 2021 competitive DCI seasons were the final nail in the coffin for our fun little side activity. After a couple of years of inactivity and server changes, the amount of work required to bring the custom DCP-I code and databases up to current standards and bring the game online again is simply too big of a demand. We thank all of the players and Administrators who put forth their time and effort into this game over the years. Executive Directors and administrators of the circuit included: STEVE BURSTALL (DCP user: sburstall) - Founder, Executive Director seasons 1-6 JEFF HINTON (DCP user: CincinnatiGloryMello) - Executive Director seasons 7-15 MATT BRIDDELL (DCP user: Galen) - Executive Director seasons 16-23 KEVIN POGUE (DCP user: hostrauser) - Executive Director seasons 24-29 JOHN DONOVAN (DCP user: JohnD) - Drum Corps Planet owner / system administrator / developer Drum Corps Planet International (DCP-I): 2004-2019

Wait? The season's over already? The weeks sure seem to go by fast in the Summer, don't they? Here are the last power rankings for 2022. The championship is the Blue Devils' to lose. I'll be back next year for another set of power rankings, God willing and the creek don't rise. 98.632 Blue Devils 97.359 Boston Crusaders 97.120 Carolina Crown 96.870 Bluecoats 95.232 Santa Clara Vanguard 93.263 Cadets 92.389 Blue Stars 91.005 Cavaliers 90.203 Mandarins 89.657 Phantom Regiment 86.535 Crossmen 85.410 Colts (Top 12) 85.074 Blue Knights 84.162 Troopers 81.060 Madison Scouts 78.345 Academy 78.295 Vanguard Cadets 78.257 Gold 78.220 Music City 76.969 Spartans 76.752 Pacific Crest 76.193 Blue Devils B 75.113 Guardians 74.741 Genesis 73.503 Southwind (Top 25) 72.020 Legends 71.922 Jersey Surf 71.545 The Battalion 70.625 River City Rhythm 70.062 Louisiana Stars 70.025 Columbians 67.534 Golden Empire 67.321 7th Regiment 65.232 Raiders 64.652 Les Stentors 64.485 Colt Cadets 61.591 Heat Wave 55.973 Blue Devils C 55.272 Impulse

Thank you everyone. I will likely be starting chemo later this month, and we'll just take it week-by-week from there. There's no long-term prognosis right now, still too many unknown variables.

The Boston Crusaders look to be an almost-lock for their first ever medal. But what color will it be? They got awfully close Saturday in Atlanta, but all the other shows from the week indicate the Blue Devils are still keeping 2nd place at arm's length. 98.614 Blue Devils 97.685 Boston Crusaders 96.615 Carolina Crown 96.191 Bluecoats 94.420 Santa Clara Vanguard 92.465 Cadets 90.861 Blue Stars 89.557 Cavaliers 88.647 Mandarins 88.374 Phantom Regiment 85.292 Colts 84.727 Blue Knights 84.180 Crossmen 79.184 Troopers 78.975 Madison Scouts 77.789 Academy 77.452 Music City 73.844 Vanguard Cadets 73.589 Pacific Crest 73.389 Spartans 72.710 Guardians 72.350 Genesis 72.150 Blue Devils B 70.013 Gold 69.422 The Battalion 68.333 Southwind 67.658 Legends 67.158 Columbians 66.833 Jersey Surf 66.733 River City Rhythm 65.683 Louisiana Stars 64.675 Golden Empire 62.221 7th Regiment 61.883 Colt Cadets 59.758 Raiders 58.733 Heat Wave 58.433 Les Stentors 53.125 Blue Devils C 52.413 Impulse

Xavier Cugat has some absolute burners, and I'm amazed DCI hasn't tackled "El Cumbanchero" or "Jungle Rhumba" El Cumbanchero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zftkbnDP4MA Jungle Rhumba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9EOYqVScU

Thank you, everyone. I am 45, about to turn 46, so I dutifully went in for my first ever colonoscopy last week... and they found colorectal cancer. I'm young(ish), I feel fine, I'm not showing any advanced symptoms, so we are hopeful that it was discovered early and the treatments will be (relatively) straightforward. I have a lower-body MRI on Thursday and then we meet with the oncology team 8/1 to formulate the plan of attack, so to speak. I will accept any thoughts or prayers from any religion or denomination. Get your check-ups, folks.

Here we go with the latest projections for the 2022 DCI season. If I may, I humbly ask for your good thoughts as I have recently received some concerning health news. 98.893 Blue Devils 97.486 Boston Crusaders 97.331 Carolina Crown 96.491 Bluecoats 95.006 Santa Clara Vanguard 91.707 Cadets 90.595 Blue Stars 89.387 Mandarins 88.681 Cavaliers 87.396 Phantom Regiment 83.930 Blue Knights 83.364 Colts 82.785 Crossmen 80.933 Troopers 78.995 Madison Scouts 77.459 Academy 76.455 Vanguard Cadets 75.645 Music City 75.458 Blue Devils B 74.338 Pacific Crest 72.558 Gold 72.147 Spartans 71.634 Genesis 70.579 Jersey Surf 69.799 Columbians 68.146 River City Rhythm 67.903 The Battalion 65.819 Golden Empire 65.214 Guardians 64.935 Southwind 64.385 Colt Cadets 63.439 Louisiana Stars 59.953 Heat Wave 59.019 7th Regiment 57.730 Les Stentors 57.322 Raiders 52.863 Blue Devils C 52.249 Impulse

South of the Grapevine/San Bernardino Mountains is Southern California. Anything in the San Joaquin Valley is Central California. Northern California starts with the SF Bay Area and the inland delta region, so around Stockton and North of that. My qualifications: Born in San Diego and raised in Sacramento. Spent about 17.5 years total in Sacramento region and 20 in San Diego region (two stints). So I like to think I'm bringing both the NorCal AND the SoCal perspective on this.

1. Possibly the biggest weakness the algorithm has is time off. The longer a corps goes between performances, the harder it is for the algorithm to accurately make forecasts. Gold and the Cavaliers have the two rankings with the largest margin of error right now. 2. That said, I believe SCVC was 0-fer against BDB until this past weekend. They made almost a 3-point swing in just a week (from almost 2 points behind BDB at Stanford to almost a point ahead at Bellflower). The early season volatility in Open Class is even more extreme than in World Class. 3. The SoCal scores this past weekend were badly inflated, and judges will leaving spacing margins at Quarterfinals. Corps surge past 70 (or even 80) only to fall behind that mark at QF almost every year. The scores for 14th and lower so far this season are quite a bit behind what we usually saw in pre-Covid days. Are those corps just a little dirtier than normal after having a couple of years without a full tour? Will they clean up and make a surge closer to the Top 12/13? We'll see what happens.

Which is a shame, because those 2007 Cadets kids could really play. I felt the design let them down: the narration--instead of supplementing--replaced some of the necessary GE development that would have made that a championship level show. I know all of the BD and California homers around me in Pasadena were REAL nervous that night in 2007, because semifinals had been close and (musically) The Cadets were absolutely incredible at Finals.

Things are starting to settle down, and the early season scoring volatility is fading away. It will be interesting to see how the Cavaliers score in their first show back. But basically, I think the Top 4 are locked in (those four corps in some order at Finals) as are the Top 10. I think we'll have an interesting battle between Crossmen, Blue Knights, and Colts for the last two spots in finals. Someone is getting left out. As of today, it projects out like this... 98.573 Carolina Crown 98.167 Blue Devils 97.175 Boston Crusaders 96.246 Bluecoats 94.444 Santa Clara Vanguard 93.183 Cavaliers 92.108 Cadets 90.685 Blue Stars 89.131 Mandarins 88.183 Phantom Regiment 84.222 Crossmen 83.675 Blue Knights 83.094 Colts 79.795 Madison Scouts 79.057 Troopers 78.684 Music City 76.371 Academy 75.018 Jersey Surf 73.512 Vanguard Cadets 72.137 Blue Devils B 71.443 Spartans 71.159 Pacific Crest 69.649 Gold 69.373 Genesis 66.609 Columbians 65.229 River City Rhythm 64.917 The Battalion 62.706 Golden Empire 62.465 Colt Cadets 60.401 Louisiana Stars 56.814 Heat Wave 56.118 7th Regiment 54.503 Les Stentors 50.589 Blue Devils C 49.811 Raiders 48.534 Impulse

It's been obvious for a long, long time.