bluecoats88 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 You're driving somewhere in a different state far from home when all of a sudden you pass by a shopping center and you say, "I think I've eaten at that Taco Bell." And sure enough you pull into the lot and you remember so-and-so ate over there on that hill with so-and-so and someone else took that unattached outdoor stool... errr, I mean procured that unattached outdoor stool for future use for the... ummm... pit. Yeah, that's it. My nephew and I went to see a movie in the fall after he had just come off tour. In the movie the main character drives into a strip mall in Iowa and my nephew says "I did my laundry in that laundromat this summer" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGarrett Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 ....when you start attending more funerals of drum corps friends than you do their weddings or birthday parties. oh John... that one kinda hurts. Read the line at the bottom of your sig one more time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAC oboist Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 when i play baseball with the neighbours, i'll spin the batsweep the floor, i'll try to spin the broom rake the leaves, spin the rake but no tosses snow shovels are kinda hard to spin No tosses of rakes? I do every fall. Last fall my four-year-old saw many spectacular tosses. On a spectacular drop, he said to me, "Dad, that's 50 push-ups." As I was doing them, he plopped his 39 pound self on my back. He is so going to be a brass tech! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Exactly! I can't stand watching anything that is supposed to be synchronized because it drives me crazy. Although our training allows us to see the non-synced sequences in diving, swimming etc. Like wise when I watch current rifle lines I always ask myself: Why put 14 or 16 on the field if you're going to make them stagger every toss. You know you've done too much drum corps in your life when you expect a dozen people to do a triple or quad rifle toss in unison all with the same rotation and the audible one sound snap when they are caught. Must admit that because of our rifle line, just about half our horn line had or owned a rifle at one point. I spin brooms, rakes, fence posts and I have been known to throw an umbrella 25 feet into the air with a port arms catch. I love all the great rifle sections I've seen. (Wipes tear from eye) It'll never be the same ... Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captncontra Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 ... when you see a dinged tuba bell and still instictually reach for your drumstick. Contras know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summernowplease Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 You know you've done too much drum corps in your life when you expect a dozen people to do a triple or quad rifle toss in unison all with the same rotation and the audible one sound snap when they are caught.... It'll never be the same ... I would rather watch WGI championships (this weekend, if you're interested) and see 5/8/12 people throw a six or seven in unison, or individually, with great technique and perfect rotations and have them all catch it solid. With a turn or jump underneath and catching in a daring position. It happens, often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sday88 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I find when I am carrying a cup of hot tea or coffee that I automatically switch to a roll step so my upper body doesn't move at all and I won't spill the drink. Almost every morning at work I go to the cafeteria (which is like a mile away) and get a cup of hot tea and do the same thing. Never spill a drop, and it's usually filled to the rim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cathie Wiener Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 No tosses of rakes? I do every fall.Last fall my four-year-old saw many spectacular tosses. On a spectacular drop, he said to me, "Dad, that's 50 push-ups." As I was doing them, he plopped his 39 pound self on my back. He is so going to be a brass tech! Every time I have to buy gift wrap I always wind up spinning the stupid thing all through the store. And of course it's the first thing I pick up from my shopping list so I've got plenty of performance opportunity. Heck, it annoys me and I can't stop. No control over it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoHmempho04 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 ... when you watch the NFL Combine and when they do the 40 yard dash... you hear them speak of step size and hitting the line on ___ step and listen to the NFL Commentators say, "That's too hard, why don't they just run as fast as they can and not worry about that crap." Just makes you fall on the floor laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyTenor Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) I would rather watch WGI championships (this weekend, if you're interested) and see 5/8/12 people throw a six or seven in unison, or individually, with great technique and perfect rotations and have them all catch it solid. With a turn or jump underneath and catching in a daring position. It happens, often. JUst out of curiosity, I just looked at a couple of guard equipment websites. They list the rifles by length, but none of them give the wieght of the rifles. The reason I was looking for that information is that I can state factually that rifles now weight quite a bit less than they did 20/30/40 years ago. This kinda tags on to Puppet's post. It's much easier to throw a 6, 7 or 8 when the rifle only weighs 2 pounds. But I see a lot of lines use what I would label as crutch catches, and stepping out of their spot because the throw has gone out of control. My Dad made the rifles for VK in 72 and 73, so I have first hand knowledge of rifle design and weights. If you have any Legacy DVD's, check out the rifle lines in the 70's and 80's. No huge 7 rotation tosses, but remarkable precision. That's what Puppet is talking about. Sure, there were drops, but not like what I've witnessed the last 10-15 years. Of course, it mattered more when you had to catch it or face a drop penalty (0.1) and had to wait for a judge to hand your rifle back to you so you didn't get a pick-up penalty (1.0). I will reiterate a post I've made before. It comes down to rehearsal time. Guards have to devote a certain amount of practice time to different facets of their program. Just with the dance element and the equipment element, if they were each 50% of the show, it means they can only practice each element 50% of the time. Therefore, they will only achieve half of the proficiency on either element than they could if they were able to focus on one or the other exclusively. This is just common sense. I will concede to seeing some pretty cool stuff from guards recently, but I will also state that a lot of it really does work better indoors than on the competition field. Garry in Vegas Edited March 31, 2009 by CrunchyTenor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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