Fran Haring

Wow... congratulations on your retirement!!!

Tiger Woods has not played in a number of PGA Tour majors, including at least one when he was in the prime of his career. Should we put an asterisk next to the winners of those Tiger-less majors? Under the 2021 rules, agreed upon by the corps of DCA, the Caballeros won the championship. Period.

The Govies' staging is second to none among small corps. There have been times when I would swear they had 80 members performing... when the actual total was closer to 40. Everyone in the right place at the right time... and they use their great color guard to "fill in the blanks" visually.

Just saw this thread. Slow on the uptake. LOL So many... many of them mentioned already. For sheer longevity/stability/success, for me it has to be Jim Costello of the Hawthorne Caballeros. Director of that corps from its inception in 1946 until his passing in 2001. And the Caballeros' director/business manager team of Costello and Bob Murray was together from circa 1963 until Jim's 2001 passing (Bob passed away in 2002). That's a record that I believe is unmatched in the history of drum corps, and probably never will be surpassed.

Ahhh yes... the pre-internet days of the rumor mill. Who knew how a rumor got started, and whether it would take several detours before fizzling out. Reminds me of the "Purple Monkey Dishwasher" scene from "The Simpsons." 😄

That, plus... and I don't know if this was a factor in '75... prelims performance order. In the days before seeding, and with prelims the same day as finals, a corps might go on late in prelims, do a kick-arse job and make finals, and then not have much gas left in the tank with the quick turnaround for the night show. Or... maybe Finleyville was just a really good corps in '75. They were.

So... to sum up this thread: Props... ya can't live with 'em, and ya can't live without 'em.

There's a video of Matadors' 1977 DCA Prelims performance out there (YouTube, I think... and it's a bit jumpy in spots). It's everything that DCA was/is supposed to be about... hugely entertaining, quality corps, and the "star power" of Jim Centerino and Ritchee Price. Plus a great visual design by Bobby Hoffman.

Heck yeah!!! IMO the most entertaining corps in DCA that year. Their Madison Square Garden performance in '77... they almost tore the roof off the place. And great people, too!

Nice to hear the news about the Lancers. They are terrific.

Empire Statesmen, Matadors, Minnesota Brass... the three I miss the most. My definition of "entertaining" has always been "I would pay to see that show again." Those three corps fit that definition, for me.

Dumb question perhaps, since I know next to nothing about tour logistics.... but how do corps handle fuel supply/costs? By that I mean... do they contract out or pre-pay with a supplier, pay as they go at the pump, or something else?

Wow... since I've never even had a one night stand, I had no idea that two-nighters involved such a relatively small amount of time and alcohol!

Sad news. An all-time icon.

That, and Disco Demolition Night... two events that will live in baseball infamy!