Everyfan

*crickets*

Please, share with us these videos showing "how they act when they don't win." I think most of those stories have been debunked numerous times. I have not seen any video proof of anything on here.

Los Angeles to Boston is approx 3,000 miles. BITD, we estimated trips at 50 miles per hour (this is slower than you actually move, but helps account for fuel/bathroom stops). This adds up to 60 hours (2.5 days) if you can run straight through. As someone mentioned, the corps is flying. They will pick up busses at the other end. The equipment truck, food truck and other vehicles will likely have two drivers per vehicle so they CAN run straight through with minimal stops. This has been done before by some corps for the long drive home after finals. They would fly out extra drivers and make limited stops on the way home.

Blue Devils perform at 5:30PM. SCV is at 5:15PM. I would expect that Phantom will also perform (probably at 5:00PM). I believe Crown did this when they were out West in 2013. Then, all three corps enjoyed the BBQ together. I can't remember exact times in the past, but 4:00PM sounds right to me.

I agree with others that marching SOMEWHERE will make you a much better candidate for the Blue Devils in the future, but I would also encourage you to go through the audition process next year even if you do not think you will make it. You are going to get some valuable information on what you need to improve on to do better the next year. You can use that information and a Summer of experience with another corps to be better prepared for your next audition.

"Band"- yes. "Banned" - no.

Actually it is just one. He holds the bulb while the world revolves around him.

I think the DMCA makes it illegal to break the encryption on a DVD or Blu-Ray. So, while it may not be illegal to rip them, it is illegal to breaker the encryption (which is necessary to rip them).

Wow. As soon as you said (I read) 2003, I thought of Spin Cycle. Then, it was Phenomenom of Cool. I guess I didn't "connect" with Phantom that year like you did or, as you claim, the majority.

Agreed. It is nice he is trying to make contact and to apologize to the member directly (though an apology to the entire group would also be in order). As far as timing, the group was invited to play. I am sure they had no control at all about when they started. This is usually controlled completely by the stadium staff. They only had a 2 minute performance and were done with 90 seconds left in half time. It doesn;t seem like they were in the way, except that the kickers thought they should have the field for practice instead of whatever the local organization wanted to do (the article mentioned other kickers were on the field but left when the band came on). Next time, I suggest they invite the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps to perform. I expect the kicker would not push any of them around.

I disagree. That would be like saying that Crown plays their runs so well, they could just do a whole show of it and not get hammered. Variety is the key in all sections. They need to show they can do it all. The ones that can (and do it all well) get the top placements. That is why some guards that look so good at what they do still don't place well...they don't do enough.

I'm not really sure where you get this. The only dance they did in this show was during the ballad and, I suppose, the girls sitting around the table during the snare feature. The rest of the time, they were using equipment...flags, rifles, sabres, streamers, tambourines, etc. Much like the rest of their visual style, they don't pound you over the head with any one of these. They show an extensive variety of styles and equipment. It is one of the main reasons they have won the guard caption for the last 150 years (or something close to that).

Did no guard work? Most of what they did with the tambourines was visual/dance. The fact that they made noise made it fall under percussion also. There was actually a BD video where Scott Johnson (or someone) talked about them using fake tambourines and having a single mic'd player in the pit for the audio (presumably to fix any percussion scoring impact), but they decided not to. Good choice. It is much cooler knowing they are actually playing them and not just using them as "props".

The move to 150 was based primarily on the fact that newer busses could hold more kids. Three busses can now hold 150 kids. If they find a way to get more kids on three busses, I could see an increase.

I agree with all of your points above...but #3 made me LOL.

I disagree. The corps have EVERY reason to design shows to "acheive the popularity among the paying public." Who do you think pays their bills? The corps need to make fans out of these people so they will buy their merchanidise, donate in future seasons, etc. Winning can help this in some ways, but based on the animosity toward the Blue Devils lately, winning too much can hurt also.

They should NOT give up control of scoring? Should MLB let the home fans call balls and strikes? Good GOD!!!!! If you are so concerned about the "fans" having some input, then get their input when deciding HOW the scoring will be done in future season. Don't give up all control, but at least take some input. That should be enough. they should NEVER allow a home crowd to decide a show, and a few points (or even tenths of a point) given to an "applause-o-meter" could do that. I remember one of these shows in the 80's that VK always won. It didn't matter who else was there (BD, Vanguard, etc.), the VK "laughs" always won them the show. This is NOT how shows should be adjudicated.

Ha ha! You don't think that if a vote like this really mattered, the BD staff could find a way to max out these "sheets" also?

But someone at the show could text 2000 of their friends and tell them to also text their vote (even though they are not there). It might work if every ticket had a serial # and it accepted votes only with a valid serial # included in the text (and only one vote per serial #). Even then, the die hard fans and many alumni would always vote for "their" corps no matter what they witnessed at the show. It really would be just a popularity contest affected greatly by WHERE the show happens. Then again, if you tack on a $1 or $2 per vote, you might get the corps on board with no limits whatsoever on how many votes you can make or from where. :)

You may want to keep this in mind when you consider where to audition for next year (assuming you have a year left). This is NOT the attitude everywhere.

Actually, some corps have now added a nurse and/or physical therapist to their travelling staff. Even small injuries should not be ignored as they can become major ones later. Then again, it would be hard for a staff to police someon who says they are not injured and are "fine". That has to come from the values they (staff AND other members) instill on each other. If the attitude of the corps is to "tough it out" or "walk it off", it can create an atmosphere where they might behave as you suggest above. Again, this seems like information one would want to know before joining any organization.

From some of the top corps I have observed, they DO put safety above other aspects. Just because a move is/looks risky doesn't mean they haven't put in hours of preparation and discussion before they ever even present it to the members. Even minor injuries get discussed as far as "what happened and how can we prevent it in the future?". This may not be how it is across the board, but I would think that is up to each individual organization and would be one more piece of information you would want to know before deciding where to march and where not to march.

I dount it, since any west caost swing would be early in the season.

A lot of schools in California start just before or just after DCI Finals. This year, my kids started the Thursday before. This would limit available housing at schools.