craiga

As BRASSO said, it is what it is...for this show. BAC has been getting upper 15's in this caption, including 15.7 two nights ago in Iowa...and they have been beating Madison in GE VIS. I don't know whether this judge dumped them or simply made a mistake. Either way, I am unconcerned. I would be more concerned if BK had us in each caption, but they didn't. Congrats in any case to BK...they ceratinly seem as though they've stepped things up...nice job. (Wes, I still think BAC will prevail.... ) Like alot of people, I'll be glued to my laptop on Saturday night....

Alex, can we expect a nice review tonight, even though Blue Stars aren't in this show? Or are you going to the other show?

You guys are both right...but good luck with that.....

I guess that settles it. BigBadMadMan, you've been schooled.

Thank you for saying what I was thinking....I get the "we're joined at the hip forever" notion that IS part and parcel of being 16, but since no World Class corps I know about takes package deals, I would suggest you might have a better shot with a good Open Class corps.....that is your best chance of easing her in where she is a brand new brass player and also you two marching in the same corps, if that is a priority.

Except that the Blue Stars beat them last night in GE Visual and BAC beat them the previous THREE shows in Ensemble Visual....in addition, both Boston and Blue Stars beat them in percussion, and I've got to wonder...putting the guard ALL on aux perc euipment at the end IS a judgeable situation and is this helping or hurting their drum number? Either way, I hope that the Madison design team shares your confidence in the ending of the show.... It's all good, man.

LOL...you're the second Madison guy to agree with me today!!!!! I don't know what to say....

Seeing that you recently marched there and reviewing my comments, I didn't mean to come off as strongly as I did. SCV was and is a great drum corps, and I also enjoyed last year's show. But, watching them in the movie theatre, they just seemed to stick out in terms of their music being not very approachable to non-music majors. God, even BD is playing stuff this year that people have heard (albeit in their dentist's chair)...anyway, best of luck to your team and everyone else this week!

You could be right, but the evidence so far this season indicates that the judging is not necessarily in line with the last decade or so. Progamming wise, this is not Ballet for Martha. Instead, SCV has brought to the field perhaps the least audience-accessible program in the activity this summer, and that could be a liability for them.

Good point, and Blue Stars beating SCV would be fine by me. AS the quote from the end of "The Hunt for Red October" goes, "a little revolution is good from time to time..."

Wes, if you crunch the numbers from everyones last show and look at the spreads, there is a very real possiblity that the 6th-11th place corps could ALL be within 1 point of each other! Maybe all of us homers from Boston, Blue Stars, Madison, Blue Knights etc should celebrate the fact that there are a whole lot of really good drum corps out there this summer. Not only that, but it is VERY unusual for these five or six corps to be only 4-5 points out of FIRST right now. This might well end up being one of those rare years in which the entire top 12 finishes in the 90s.

Based on the fact that Blue Stars have recognizable music with melody throughout the show, I think it will actually be close. Really, it comes down to how much "insurance spread" SCV's percussion can deliver. Last year, PR's drums routinely brought 1-2 pts of spread to the table against the other mid-pack corps, keeping them in the game. If SCV does the same, they will beat Blue Stars. However, if the drum spread is lees than a point, Blue Stars may in fact overcome them with an obvious GE advantage. You've got theme music from a couple blockbuster movies against non-melodic music major chromatic scales......this will be interesting.

This is the night that Boston breaks an 80.

You're right, of course. I remember throughout the first half of 2009, many posters on DCP had BAC in 11-14th.....and the corps came in 7th! I was just pointing out the fact that some folks, in their uber-exuberance to promote their corps, ignore spreads and math altogether. As BozzlyB points out at least once a day on here, spreads are the only reliable indicator of where everyone stands, and as of right now, the spreads are telling me BAC is nowhere near 11th.

You are as passionate about your corps as I am about mine, and that's a good thing. Having said that, in your personal prediction, you have created nearly a five point spread between our two corps to place Madison in 5th and Boston in 10th. Yes, there was a four point spread between the two when tour started, but it has been slowly eroded with each show. Even if this trend did NOT continue, do you really seen five points opening up? Or, put it this way....if Madison did get 5th with the score you suggest this week, and BAC simply held its 1 point margin, that would put Boston in 8th. That's all I'm saying.

I notice many of these predictions have Boston in 10th or 11th. I find this curious because this is arrived at by many posters putting a whole bunch of corps ahead of Boston whom they haven't even competed with yet. In addition, alot of folks seem to have Madison in 5-6-7, even though BAC has now closed to only 1 point behind Madsion in the last two shows, beating them in half of the captions. I get the fact that Madison's resurgence is a cool thing, but this math is not working.....some folks are manufacturing a 3 or 4 point spread here where there is only one, and that has been shrinking for the last week. Food for thought...

Even though I am a Boston supporter, I like Madison's show this year. It is fun and exciting, but the ending is a problem for them. Yes, the audience is screaming and on their feet at the end, but having seen Madison 5 times this summer, I can tell you that response is due to the emotional impact and sheer volume at the end, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, it does come at the expense of what is a complete visual shutdown during the last minute or so of the show. There is no drill, no guard on the field, and the only movement is the hornline randomly walking towards the front. From a judging perspective, some of the visual judges have nothing they can credit at this point in the show, and that is hurting Madison while other corps have drill and visual content right through until the end. Again, I like this show and it obviously works for them, but their current ending is going to allow both Blue Stars and Boston to end up passing them, imo. For competitive reasons, I would just as soon they not change a thing , but from a visual enhancement perspective, they need to do something here.

Boston Crusaders' current membership fee is $2150, and you could probably drive to all their winter camps, so you might want to audition for them in December.

Totally agree. Again.

It's all a mater of timing. In most cases, a staff member from the corps will literally stand next to the announcer, wherever he or she is located, and actually cue that person so many seconds before their big hit/entrance/whatever(which has already been timed). It usually works, but if the announcer fumbles even a word or two on the intro or is a "slow talker", that can put the end of it smack into the corps' musical entrance. Everyone tries their best to make it all come out right.

This. Thank you....I could not agree more.

I think most World Class would be up aroung 200-250 sets these days, including subsets. Just a ball park...

I agree 100% with this last line. The OP talks about going to a job he hates in a Camry, etc. He's the one who lost his soul. I always get a kick out of someone who identifies himself as an "old-timer" and then goes on to say he marched in the 90s....REALLY? Give me a break. I joined the Boston Crusaders in the fall of 1979, so I am older than you, and BTW, I was from MAINE, not the City of Boston. Also, I recall being on tour that summer and noticing a bunch of BD snare drummers with southern accents....I think a group of guys might have joined them from Spirit. (Can any BD folks confirm this?) So, wrong again...kids DID in fact move from corps to corps BITD. Another point: Some folks on DCP love to use Boston as an example of corps without many local kids. Really? Are there alot of Concord HS grads in BD? Santa Clara HS grads in SCV? Come on. Finally, and this one REALLY steams me: Don't for a second even SUGGEST that todays performers (or staffs) lack the "grit" or determination of their forebears. Todays drum corps folks are every bit as "gritful" as people I marched with or were taught by 30+ years ago. Perhaps the OP should change jobs, trade the Camry, and maybe find whatever is missing in his life, because his post has nothing to do with the years drum corps...any of them. Craig Scott joined in the 70s taught in the 80s-90s devoted fan/volunteer to this day

Oh, he is quite serious.