13strokeroll

Athletic, yes. Sport, no. But that does not mean the model or financial mechanisms for success and growth are any less viable.

To answer your question, yes Teal is responsible for their own mess. But, that mess affected FAR more than 150 marchers and staff. As a result of one case, 38 corps ALL became covered in the stink by association. Is DCI obligated? No. But would it have been infinitely wise to have a sound exit strategy? You betcha.

Or of one making an arrogant fool of themself.

And that would be the 500 lb gorilla in the room. I can only add an anecdote: if the Yankees (both beloved and despised much as another group) were to rely solely on minor league prospects, they'd soon devolve into the Stankees, due to a dwindling experienced talent pool at the highest level. It is only through clubs such as, say the Royals, that that pool exists,proven through competition at the same level of competition. The Royals may not vie for the pennant; but it is their exposure and competition at the highest level that gives the yanks the pool they rely on to remain on top. A championship AAA prospect would not have that experience.

We think similarly, but I fear you might be slightly off track. I think the success of the whole system relies on the elite being able to draw from the talent of the next closest; but it is only successful when there is reinvestment back. If either of these fail, they both eventually do. I think the "separate but equal'" model would fail to maintain the integrity of the metasystem.

Who are we kidding? 6 corps were duking it out for 11 and 12. Exciting yes, a threat to the 8, no. How many members of those 6 are going to try their luck and audition up? 50%? 60%? They aren't breeding their competition, they're breeding their future members. The best way to do so is to have experienced auditionees at the highest possible level. I don't see the new model providing that, as otherwise appealing it may be.

I am extremely ambivalent. In some ways: genius - similar to english football's relegation process. However, in the free agent/predatory state today, it is in the 8's best interest to have tomorrow's talent pool trained at the world class level today. Today's 13 to 18 model actually best serves to give the 8 the best future membership which I fear would be lost in the new model as the "lesser" circuits become less lucrative, less stable, and less appealing to future membership which in turn impacts the 8 anyhow.

One would think the only minimum "required" would be the Regionals to help establish Prelim placement.

That is, of course, if dada were indeed cool. The nature of good satire is based on logic. On its ear, but logic. Dada was too self absorbed to be bothered.

Or... the order of performance tells the judges exactly what range of performance they should expect. Fixed, probably not. Flawed, absolutely.

Saw the Cantus at a BOA show several years ago and it was chills galore. That brass talent would push it WAY over the edge!

Agreed, rhetorically weak. Regional over TOC 8 days a week.

Although no process is without flaws and a hybrid approach (randomization within slots/blocks, vice versa, etc) is perhaps most workable, I'm inclined to agree.

The "personality" of the corps we chose was EXTREMELY important. Each has a different definition of success and approach to excellence that can make or break the experience. Although scores and placements were at times exhilarating, at times dissapointing, we looked for a corps that not only taught how to get to that big moment, but also how to deal with it, good or bad, with integrity and as a group for lessons that can be applied far beyond aging out. We made the right choice.

If they are able to introduce speed, better transition from form to form and staging rather than overuse of the BOA serpentine to set up the next set, grab the audience with the soloist, they will. Form to form made them SEEM far more disjointed than they actually were. This group has got the potential for top 12, staff as well as membership.

And the lead newstory in Indy this week was a 20 second feature of a Sr. Level corps skipping and leaping over cars in a parking lot. In INDY!!

Always stop at the Slippery Noodle when at BOA events.

On the same wavelength, but have them down one spot with 25 too close to call.

One is direct nominative, one is a simple article. One is a name, one directs you to the name. Grammar 101. The Colts Drum and Bugle Corps is incorrect, the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps is not necessarily so.

Also, "The" Colts is quite different from "the" Colts

Or you would have seen the pack was thin on the bench for long 3d down plays. Just sayin.

You are correct sir. But I think 17 and 18 might be most worried for that.

You have to smooth the dips, not use an average to weight them. Given the past performance, all things being normal, there is a normal linear progression or digression. Sudden dips indicate something drastic has occurred. Averaging does not accurately alleviate this. To eliminate the false effect of the dip, it is necessary to see what an acceptable range of variation would be befor the dip occurred, apply that range to the date that the dip occurred to give you an indication of where the score historically should have placed. THEN plot. For example, if PC had been scoring along a growing trend where they should have received between a 76 to an 78 when their dip occurred (hypothetically) but instead scored a 72, you've identified that an uncommon variable exists, but unfortunately not what it is. In this case, if the variable was an off judge, Coilts would seem to have the edge. If performance, PC.However, it is still far too close to be definitive. I guess our parsing this 20 ways from Sunday confirms how tight and exciting these groups will be.

Interesting assessment. Of course the statistician in me sees that the dips, especially in the 14-18 range fail a process control analysis indicating a flaw (uncommon variable undetermined) and should be weighted slightly. As a result, 14-17 might track slightly different. However, you are correct in seeing 15 and 16 as incredibly tight. My assessment shows it too close to call until the cause of the variation is identified, be it measuring system lack of robustness, product (performance), or whatever. Measurement, I see Colts at 15, process, PC.

Crown at Avon...insert Saucedo joke here...if BD is at Carmel, then something is really hinky.