madaboutcorps

I've been away from the forum for a while but found this topic and wanted to chime in. My 14 yr. old son marched for CR during the summer that the NIU football team injured two members. The coach brought his players out on the field and basically told Rick Bays that this was their field and they were going to practice. Words were exchanged and it turned into a heated discussion. At that point, this coach did in fact order the players to run through the corps. The kids that were injured were basically blindsided by grown men that probably outweighed them by 60 pounds. The boy with the broken jaw was out for the summer and the sprained ankle was a young lady. Many of the NIU players, while obeying the coach did try to avoid running into the kids, but these two hoodlums that were finally arrested, intentionally hurt these kids. The police were called and originally a player was arrested that was not responsible for hurting anyone. It was a couple of weeks before the actual two were arrested. The story was on ESPN that night. NIU officials were very apologetic and forthcoming with Capital Regiment, who went on to have a very successful show on Saturday night and a successful summer as well. They refunded money, gave the kids t-shirts and basically bent over backwards for Capital Regiment. The president of the university apologized publicly prior to the start of the competition on Saturday and Capital Regiment got a very emotional and rousing ovation when they took the field. It gave me chills. It is also interesting to note that the next morning, the Colts, who were staying at the same school as CR, presented the Corps with a card wishing them well and telling them how sorry they were for the events the night before. It brought the volunteers in the cook truck to tears. I have had the greatest respect for the Colts since that day. It proved that the people involved with drum corps are a big family and really care about the activity and its members.

Sheesh! I've read through this entire thread and I just have to give my <$.02 worth. I saw the BD show and no I wasn't wowed, and I really didn't care for the narration that much. I didn't appreciate the 2005 show as much as the previous years shows from a "conceptual" standpoint, but you know what? That doesn't matter. What matters is that these kids are giving it 150% or more and they are working their hearts out, regardless of what anyone in the stands thinks about their show. For that I love the show. Where they place in Foxboro will neither affect my opinion of the Blue Devils, their staff, their reputation, or whether or not my wallet opens for them next year. I think any drum corps should have the right to take something negative off of its website. This is a marketing tool for them and any intellegent business operation would not allow opinionated criticism to be there for the world to see on their website. I don't blame them. If a donor has an opinion of a show that he or she wants the board to notice, email them. Don't post it on their public corps forum. That is what DCP is for - debating the likeability, creativity, etc. of a particular show. I can't say I don't agree with the opinion in some respects. As I said, I wasn't blown away by this year's show, but BD is still a top 5 corps. However, I don't think critical assessments of the show belong on the corps website. Think about how deflating it is to the members that have poured their soul into this summer to read something that puts down what they have done all summer, and threatens to withhold donations, without offering anything positive. I love BD, along with all the other corps that spend their summers entertaining me. There are lots of shows I either don't get, or can't quit get on board with. But in the end I always appreciate the corps, whether it wins a championship or not. As I said up front, my insignificant opinion, but it is mine nonetheless.

I am not a musician or an expert by any means. Just a mom of a participant, but I know what I like. So here is my two cents on last night's Dallas show. First of all I wish the stadium was in better condition. It is rather old and the facilites are small with minimal parking. The upside to that is for whatever reason, the show was much smaller this year than in years past, so the stands were not as packed and the parking situation was a little more tolerable. That aside, the music, marching and showmanship was wonderful. I always enjoy watching the Troopers. The kids work hard and do their best to put a good show on the field. I like their music and they are having a good time. They have improved so much since I first saw them in 2000. As always I enjoyed Southwind's colorguard. They always seem to incorporate the guard so well into their show and it was no different tonight. The uniforms are okay I guess, but the yellow was sort of a trademark and I miss it. Their drill was a little sloppy, but I'm sure that will improve in the next couple of weeks. I am a bit partial to Capital Regiment, so I'll try to be as objective as I can. I really like Capital Regiment's show this year. I like that they are "loosening up" a bit with the jam on "Scootin on Hardrock". And though I don't know the music that well, it sounded well played and arranged. I wish the guard were as big as last year, but they looked okay. I like the sound of the new horns and if they keep up the hard work and improvement, I hope to see them on Saturday night in Denver. They have come a long long way in the last 4 years. I love it. I had read a lot of reviews about Magic and how they have slipped in their execution and performances this year. I must say that this is definitely not the same corp as in the last two years. I think part of the reason is that they have younger kids than in years past who are still learning. Having said that, I like the show well enough. It is fairly unpolished though and hopefully they will get it together by Denver. To me the guard sometimes overwhelms the horns - as during the ballad, I didn't even notice the music, only the guard. As I said I'm no expert, but it seems that the two should work together. The pirates are entertaining and in talking to them after the show, the kids seem to be having fun. Good luck to the Magic. They are working hard and learning, and that is what this activity is all about. The Bluecoats have always been a favorite of mine. I loved last year's music, and have been looking forward to seeing "BLOO" this year. No disappointment here. They have a large Texas contengent and to me always entertain. Tonight was no exception and I hope the scores they received tonight holdup as the season progresses against the big three or four corps. Given what I saw in the Cavies show, I would have thought the Bluecoats would have finished closer in score to the Cavies. But I'm not a judge, so there you go. Go Bluecoats! If they keep improving this show, they could threaten the top 5 in Denver. You know the Cavies are good, great even. But I was not that impressed with this show. I like the James Bond theme, and the guard is good with the theme, but as fast and clean as the corps moves together, I am just not as impressed with this drill and show design as I have been in years past. I know they redesigned the ending, but maybe they need to revisit that again. They were just okay for me, clean, musically and drill-wise, but not "blow me away" great. Having not seen SCV, Blue Devils, Cadets or Phantom, I won't comment on their placement with those corps, but IMO, if the Cavies want to be in the top 3, they need to do some serious work on the "wow" aspect of their show. I loved the full corp retreat last night. This show is usually so big that it is DM retreat only, but I really like when the corps proceed onto the field and then end the evening with "America, The Beautiful, O Canada". With only 6 corps this was possible and it was great. As I said, I am a nobody in the drum corp world. I am just a huge fan and know what entertains me. So please go easy on me. Congrats to all participating corps and good luck-safe travels for the rest of the season.