craiga

Boston has a fair amount of former Cadets including one of the drum majors.....just saying there are options for your son.

I heard Bloo is only doing 12 shows...but that may be rumor.

Given what the Cadets have survived through tge recent past and their very successful season last summer, I thought they were to be reckoned with going forward. I am very disappointed.

Here in Maine, I have to be re-fingerprinted with a full Criminal History Records Check by the State Police every five years. Although I am paid, any volunteers we may have must do the same thing...even 18 year old recent grads who simply help transport props to the field. Just getting fingerprinted isn't enough....it takes several weeks to get the certificate and one literally cannot step foot on the field or get on a bus without it.

Also, I still believe that kids marching Open Class do deserve to compete in their own finals, so they can aspire to medal or even become champions. Do we really think most Open Class kids want to spend a summer hoping to make it to 20th place? I've had a ton of former band kids march in 7th Regiment and Spartans over the years.....they get really motivated for their own finals.

Based on some of the comments here, it is clear that no measures of prevention or accountability are adequate as far as some people are concerned. We must shut down ALL drum corps immediately. We should also shut down all college bands as well. Come to think of it, we should also immediately close all college dorms as well. While we're at it, we probably should prohibit all people from interacting with each other because of potential abuse.

Even unpaid volunteers now need to fill out full applications and undergo full background checks including fingerprinting. Gone are the days when some random person can show up and volunteer.

Boston in 13th?

I just have a couple thoughts...first, if some people think that member safety has not gotten dramatically better in the last 50 years, they haven't been paying attention. Member health, safety, and nutrition are light years ahead of where they were even just 10 years ago. I don't think that some people here have even been around a drum corps in person in years....they are run nothing like they were back in the day. The drum corps I support has full time med staff,(with complete autonomy btw)specific reporting officers, procedures and regular, ongoing, compulsory training for all members and staff. If you're a member, you literally can't even rehearse without it....for staff, you can't even be in front of the members or get paid. And, I would be shocked if any other corps in 2023 isn't providing the exact same level of protections. Secondly, I don't understand why a few people seem to think that organizations like SafeSport, MAASIN or even DCI itself have legal powers they choose not to use. Their hearts are clearly in the right place, but none of them have anything approaching legal powers. Only law enforcement has those, which is why we should encourage all members to seek immediate help from law enforcement as soon as something occurs. Law enforcement is quite aggressive at going after predators but they need to be informed asap when there is an incident.

What is "doxxing"?

I'm so old that I remember that easel in the end zone in Allentown where there would post the scores on cardboard strips one at a time all day during prelims. Guess those judges had to commit to their numbers.

I agree. Not only that, but if you are on at 6pm instead of 9:30 or 10pm, it does cut your rehearsal time short. Everyone remember when BD had to go on first out west one year? They interviewed Dave Gibbs, who said he couldn't believe they were on during the sunlight and they had to wake up the corps at 8 instead of their much later time.

Good point....I wonder if the "retroactive score adjusting" is the reason why we no longer get scores announced during the Big, Loud, and Live Cinecast until the end. They used to announce scores one corps at a time all day/night; then it went to 5 or 6 corps at a time; now it's crickets until midnight.

I agree on the stability front. Accordingly, 2024 will be the 8th year for the design team/caption heads at BAC. And yes, I do count 2020, because even though the DCI season didn't happen, Boston's staff met virtually throughout the year and produced several different ZOOM productions to keep the members engaged. And yes, no argument from me in terms of the Blue Devils being the Gold Standard for staff stability.

This is correct. There were DCI meetings last week. SCV has been approved as a "Tour Participant" for 2024. As such, they will be going on first of all World Class corps, have no voting privileges, and no appearance fees.

Mike drop...

For the record, the Boston Crusaders have been having their spring training at small New England colleges and prep schools for more than 20 years, and had been at Castleton, Vermont well before the staff changes in 2017. While there arguably is a drum corps organization which BAC has gone to great lengths to learn from, it would be the height of hubris to claim that is our friends from Fort Mill.

Yes....the silence there has been deafening.

Maybe somebody poached him.

I am surprised that Subel is still listed as Program Coordinator on their website...if this rumor is true. October is in 3 days.

"Fool me once, shame on you.... Fool me twice, shame on me...."

Yes, it would mean they would be the first World Class corps on in every show until San Antonio, and no appearance fees all summer. Also, they will not have a vote. Basically, they would be classified as a first year corps.

I don't know Ansley, but both Alain and Zach are BAC alums. Congrats to all three!

And Jurassic, I don't know why you felt any of my comments were directed at you. I have no issues with your postings on here.

Clearly, many people here missed my point. It wasn't that I was right or wrong about any predictions I had made. Rather, my point WAS in fact in response to some know-it-all folks here on dcp who just LOVE to put other corps' chances down, typically without any inside knowledge of the workings of their organizations. Whether it be Boston, Mandarins, Cadets or anyone else, more than a few posters here spend their springtimes/early seasons crapping on other corps' chances. Every. Single. Year. "CORPS X can't possibly win, etc". For my part, yes, I am an unapologetic supporter of the Boston Crusaders. But here's the difference....I NEVER said that there is no way that Bloo, Crown, or BD can win. Why? Because I DO believe in letting the corps speak for themselves.