craiga

You know, drum corps planet is such a hotbed of hypocrisy. People on here whine ad nauseum about slotting, competive inertia, etc on a regular basis. They seem to love to promote this false narrative. BAC provides a couple great examples of this. In the fall of 2016 when BAC announced their new staff, many of the dcp intelligencia stated UNEQUIVOCALLY that the best Boston could hope for might be 9th or 10th. They rose to 6th. Then, in 2022 when I predicted them to come in second, those same knot heads called me crazy and said there was NO WAY POSSIBLE for them to get to second because they "hadn't paid their dues". Really? A corps which has survived 83 years hadn't paid their dues? As far as Mandarins are concerned, I fully expect them to continue to be very strong and they will certainly be unaffected by the troubled SCV rejoining DCI. And, one more time...just for the record, Mandarins did NOT benefit from SCV'S failures this year. They are their own corps, and the kids who marched there had a blast.

You said that Boston should "lose the Crown references". To what are you referring?

Not sure how many "current" members they have. Remember they essentially lost TWO age out classes, both 22 and 23, and while they should be able to attract enough auditionees, they will probably have alot fewer vets than if they had come out this year.

I got to know Craig Adams when he was marching in Boston's hornline. He is a good guy and I'm glad to see him succeeding.

You may be right, although it will be interesting to see what occurs next summer in terms of show orders of appearance. After all, since SCV was not at Indy in 2022 and therefore received no ranking, one would think they will have to be in the first group of three for every show until San Antonio.

This!

So, I don't have a dog in this hunt, but as an outside observer, it would seem to me that the one missing piece might be an official statement coming from DCI. If I recall, there were official statements issued by DCI after the decisions on Cadets, Pioneer, Spirit, etc. Perhaps where this all came out today and it is now the weekend, we might have to wait til Monday for a press release of some kind from DCI. It would seem that is where we might learn about restrictions, limitations, and so on. I would be surprised if there were not some sort of conditions imposed on SCV in order for them to be approved for tour.

Meanwhile, in Boston, Massachusetts, the corps director and the design team are playing golf. Nothing to see here.....

Why Mr. Anova, you must realize that it is only considered "poaching" of the staff in question go to BAC. In fact, some people here actually still refer to Boston as "Crown North", some 8 years after that staff move. I still haven't recovered from BD "poaching" Jay Murphy from us in 1981.

It is that group of seven directors to whom I refer. And, I doubt very much that some of the more conciliatory voices here would be so forgiving of the G7 egos if their lifelong corps had been in the crosshairs. Remember, in Boston's case, not only were they targeted by the G7, but later on when the 7 became the TOC 8 and BAC came in 8th, the rules were changed the following year to exclude the Crusaders. We don't WANT to see any corps go under, which is why Boston has quietly helped SEVERAL corps in recent years. Having said that, if the drum corps which you have been a part of for nearly 45 years had been through what ours has been through at the hands of such egos, you might not be quite so altruistic.

No comment. Ask Goliath how it worked out for him.....

As I have posted in the past, I will always regard the G7 conspiracy as the ignition point of the genesis of the current BAC organization. When that whole thing went down, many stakeholders in Boston were so enraged, so furious at the attempt, that they swore they would do whatever it took to not be "less equal" ever again. Not coincidentally, if you go to Inspire's website, and click on BOD Bios, you will see first hand the kind of people that are the backbone of the organization.....and of 50 members, more than 40 are BAC alums, including many who marched during the lean years of the 80s and 90s. Most were broke college kids in those days, and many of them are now self-made men and women who are leaders of industry and finance today. Some of the conspirators have already been caught up by karma. For the others, it is only a matter of time.

My information is that Boston's entire design team/caption head group is back in full for year seven! In fact, 2024 design meetings begin in a matter of days.

You are right. And I will continue to grind said axe, as these self-proclaimed "elite" corps continue to be hoisted by their own petards.

I still can't get over the fact that only one short decade ago, SCV was part of the G7 self proclaimed elite, attempting to take over DCI and exclude corps like the Boston Crusaders because they weren't worthy. Whether you believe in God or karma, somebody was watching. SCV did this to themselves.

I don't pretend to speak for Mark Nichols, but in the one conversation I had with him in late season he seemed to be really enjoying his experience in Boston....and that tuba section seemed to really like him as well.

One lesson I learned with BAC 2018 is that in this era of thematic costuming, if a particular uniform is not to your liking, you really only have to live with it for two months.

While I obviously did not get the top 4 predictions right, one prediction I did make back in January was that the Cadets would be in good hands with Brian Murphy as Corps Director. I stand by this.

What is a "kill count "?

For me, it is a gentle letdown because I am deep in the weeds of drill design right now. My band camp begins this coming Monday, and it is my 45th year of doing this. Back in the 70s and 80s, it was done on essentially glorified graph paper. About 25 years ago, PYWARE was developed, and now we also use an app called UDB to actually teach the show. No more dot books! 😀

What a cesspool.....

Congratulations to the Blue Devils, Bluecoats, and Crown for achieving Medal Status this year! What a season! See you all in 2024!

Congratulations, Bluecoats on the silver! See you next year!

CONGRATULATIONS, Carolina Crown on your return to medaling status as well as the Ott. What a season!

Congratulations to the Blue Devils on their win last night! It is a THREEPEAT! We're on to 2024!