MotoSurfBass

You know what... I had a long, drawn out argument written over whether Pasadena put corps under and what not... It was rambling and annoying, and to be honest as a person who didn't even start watching drum corps until 2006 I'm sure I had a lot of "facts" wrong about it... so I've instead decided to just put some thought into the entire situation rather than just saying "you're wrong, I'm right, blah blah blah..." Corpsreps.com listed 48 corps competing in DCI last year... as of this afternoon, 43 junior corps have shows scheduled for DCI events this summer. The remaining five are Revolution and Forte (which are currently under evaluation), the Yokohama Scouts and Jubal (which are international corps and as of right now are not listed as coming and competing this summer), and Imperial Sound, which is not planning on competing for 2012. In addition, Platinum is trying to make a comeback as well, so when all is said and done (assuming there are no International Class corps, Revolution and Forte are allowed to compete, and Platinum makes a return), there will be 46 competing corps this summer. Half of those 46 corps are listed as World Class. As far as I can guess, when evaluating whether a corps is ready for World Class, DCI looks at their financial stability. I figure that any corps in World Class is run by people smart enough to budget a trip to the west coast when given time to prepare. I'm not saying Open Class corps aren't prepared either, but with World Class it should be a guarantee. That leaves the 23 Open Class corps... ten of those corps can say that they toured extensively (at least ten shows plus OC finals and WC prelims) in 2011: BDB, SCVC, Oregon, Genesis, Legends, Colt Cadets, Forte, Spartans, Racine Scouts, and Revolution. These corps apparently operate on large enough budgets to go to a large number of shows, and more than likely can allocate money to a west coast trip if need be (I know the Colt Cadets skipped Pasadena in 2007, but there's nothing saying they couldn't go now). The Velvet Knights apparently will be added to that list if all goes well in 2012. OK, that leaves 12 corps... how many of those corps made a "long" trek (over the Rockies, at least) to get to Pasadena in 2007 and could theoretically do a long trip wherever again? Only two: Raiders and Spirit of Newark. That leaves just 10 Open Class corps: Blue Saints, 7th Regiment, Les Stentors, Music City, BDC, Thunder, Gold, Impulse, City Sound, and Platinum. All of the others for one reason or another could theoretically make a trip to Championships wherever it might be held. Now comes the fun part: Google Maps! The furthest any of the remaining corps that traveled to Indy had to go last year was 970 miles by Les Stentors. However, in 2007, Spokane Thunder traveled to Pasadena, over 1200 miles away. As such, we'll say that any corps within 1200 miles of Championships should be able to go without issue. Conversely, the closest corps to Indianapolis that did not go last year was, coincidentally, Spokane Thunder, at 1991 miles away. We'll round up and say if any of these corps are more than 2000 miles away from finals, it may not work financially for said corps to travel to Championships. Essentially, this is the formula: Yes!< 1200 Miles < ??? <2000 Miles < Probably No. (It's very crude and vague, but for our purposes it can work as a basic guideline.) Let's apply this formula to our ten Open Class corps in relation to three sites: Pasadena, the site of the 2007 Championships, Santa Clara, the proposed site in the OP, and a "central" location, Kansas City, MO. Miles to site are in parenthesis. PASADENA Yes- BDC (371), Thunder (1201), Gold (130), Impulse (342) (NOTE: All four of these corps DID go to Pasadena in 2007), City Sound (10) ???- Music City (1996) No- Blue Saints (2645), 7th (2901), Les Stentors (2928), Platinum (2537) SANTA CLARA Yes- BDC (54), Thunder (903), Gold (466), Impulse (4), City Sound (345) ???- None No- Blue Saints (2807), 7th (3063), Les Stentors (3090), Music City (2267), Platinum (2807) KANSAS CITY Yes- Music City (555), Platinum (1081), Blue Saints (1135) ???- 7th (1335), Les Stentors (1416), BDC (1785), Thunder (1612), Gold (1679), Impulse (1840), City Sound (1618) No- None NOTE: Platinum, at 626 miles, would be able to go to Indianapolis with little issue. What we have is a fun little paradox... for those corps that couldn't make it to Indy, any of those three spots are a better choice, but for those who could, anywhere else actually makes it tougher. Obviously, this is a stalemate of epic proportions, as evidenced by the many pages of this thread. The clearest answer here would be to go in the middle and go to Kansas City. However, another problem rears its head here... Most of the DCI Regional Championships (with all or almost of the World Class corps) are east of the Mississippi, and none are further west than San Antonio. Surely, driving east and coming back west is a far more daunting task for west coast corps than east coast corps. So, I went searching for a way to even out total driving miles as much as possible. My two guinea pig corps I used were BDB and Spartans. Again, this was a very, VERY crude comparison, as BDB has many more shows that it goes to, plus it goes east to meet up at midwest shows, while the Spartans are much closer to their shows. After a lot of fiddling around and number crunching, I came up with the following: When BDB and Spartans first meet at Paw Paw, MI this summer, BDB will have logged 3350 miles, while Spartans will only have 1375 miles. They then share the same shows for the remainder of the season. The key was to find a city that, when returning to their hometowns, the mileage total would balance out (i.e. Spartans' return being 1975 miles longer). Believe it or not, there is a very large, very prominent, very air-conditioned stadium that is 2711 miles from Nashua and 732 miles from Concord, resulting in a difference of 1979 miles. As a result, the total trip length in miles would be a mere four miles longer for the Spartans. This stadium? The University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ Perfect, right? Arizona in August? No? Okay, I've lost even myself by this point. It's an endless debate, and there's no perfect answer. Every bit of math and trickery I've tried to pull here has been dumb and can be torn to shreds in a second by people who actually know things about money and math. I've spent the entire day going on a stream-of-consciousness rant, and I can't say that I'm closer to an answer than when I started. Thanks for listening anyways, guys, and don't rip me apart too much for this. EDIT: Holy Mary Mother of Jesus! I just went back and read that, and I think I might need to check myself into a hospital somewhere for insanity! Seriously guys, I started out trying to be serious, but by the end I was just going off of whatever. Please don't rip me a new one for this

At first I was like .... But then, I LOL'd! It's pointless, but the fun, entertaining kind of pointless. You sir get one plus from me!

I remember in 2007 when Champs were on the west coast... Allentown was the first Sat/Sun in July rather than the first Fri/Sat in August. (In fact, looking at the scores for that year, it looks like the schedule format in use today was turned on its head) I remember loving nearly every show put on that year (I still maintain that 2007 was among the best years EVER for DCI), but wishing it was in August again since the final push meant seeing many "new" endings for the first time. I thought the classic DCI show was the perfect spot for that.

Big day for Bobby J, huh? http://www.jerseysurf.org/articles/272/1/Surf-Unveils-New-Triple-Supertruck/Page1.html

Funny... ask anyone in PA and they will say that Jersey drivers are the worst... and most times it's hard to argue

As a Mapex marcher, I'll admit that there are far more admirable makers on the market. However, I feel that when tuned well (and NOT using PowerMax heads), their basses and quads are the best sounding ones out there. Here's hoping the Blue Stars can adjust to the weight too...

Round three is up!

Turkey in the Straw, according to the program I got in Easton... but it's a major bummer they couldn't keep any of those three in the program.

Just saw them in Easton, PA last month... absolutely stunning job they did! ...and also, it didn't hit me until a few hours after the show that it was the first time I ever heard Malaguena live... I think it's about time that it gets unleashed to the World Class circuit once more.

While this is indeed the 40th anniversary season of DCI and the 45th anniversary of SCV, it will in fact actually be the 41st and 46th season of each respectively... Anniversaries are weird that way...

WAWA!!!! Fact: I'm guessing about 90% of Surf camp attendees leaving camp via the Jersey Turnpike will all conglomerate at Wawa before heading home. It's a rarity to walk in and not have another member in there at the same time between 3 and 4:30 on a Sunday.

No DCI Gadsden this year...

I know that there are plenty of Maryland and Northern Virginia kids that go up 95 to Jersey Surf... sure worth a try!

Mandarins too, for that matter...

Oh Archbishop Ryan... Good memories competing against you!

Jersey Surf too! We're always looking for new recruits!

From a (now ex-) college music major...

The top 7 (8 really) are by far above the rest... 1. Allentown, PA (Far and away #1, and the closest to my home too) 2. Gadsden, AL (SOOOOO upset it's not on the schedule yet this year...) 3. Salem, VA (Surf always finds a rehearsal day scheduled here every year, about a week or two before the show. Beautiful stadium) 4. Warrenton, VA (Not sure why I put it over the others, just a great atmosphere I guess) 5. West Chester, PA (The other "local" show for me, I had marched at both J. Birney and Farrell stadium in HS prior to marching with Surf) 6A and 6B. Lynn, MA and Quincy, MA (Again, awesome atmosphere, and many Surf members' favorite announcer outside of Mr. Crocker) 7. Indianapolis (Eh... it's Championships, and it's awesome to culminate the season in such a huge place)

That's nothing compared to the Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand

So you are saying that pirates are fans of the Santa Clara VangARRRRd?

Mentioned in the other thread, but how about those numbers for Surf?

Woo! Look at those numbers for Jersey Surf!

Personally, I like VK 92 more than 87 or 88. I like 'em zany, and this show delivered. Was it cleaner or better than 87 or 88? Probably not, but it entertained me, and that's what counts in my book. Overrated? Honestly, I haven't seen too many 90's shows outside of 92, so I can't comment on that.

Up- Cadets Down- Glassmen (out of top 12) New Finalist- Academy