Madison Scouts 2010

[madalumni]

My old pal Lee Carson on CG tonight... He is always a rough pill for ME to swallow.

Hmmmm, but didn't Madison's CG score fairly well tonight? They were still

ahead of Blue Knights and Phantom. Seems like they were pretty close

to where they've been scoring lately. Looks like the biggest hits were

in percussion, ensemble visual, and ensemble music.

[thirdcoast]

I am a homer! GO MADISON SCOUTS!

[BigBadMadMan]

Hmmmm, but didn't Madison's CG score fairly well tonight? They were still

ahead of Blue Knights and Phantom. Seems like they were pretty close

to where they've been scoring lately. Looks like the biggest hits were

in percussion, ensemble visual, and ensemble music.

Were there any issues last night? Any visual or music tears? Looked like they were making some solid headway. Maybe things will be better tonight.

[ckomnick]

I have noted the recent questions regarding the addition of spats on the uniform, as well, many of you have contacted me directly on the matter.

We have decided that, given the current sets of circumstances, it will not be practical to wear spats this season. This decision has nothing to do with visual cleanliness, scoring or the like. What has occurred are two unilateral circumstances that leads us to this decision.

First, let it be said that the Scouts wore leggings, not spats, by definition. These were traditionally Boy Scout issued leggings that laced up. They were made of canvas, went up about 6-8" above the ankle, and sat high on the shoe.

Typical spats wrap around the ankle and cover a large portion of the shoe. The difference between the look of leggings and spats is pretty significant.

This spring, we had sampled over a dozen different options in order to find a solution that best captured the look of leggings but where also durable and easily laundered. The last consideration was price as our budgets remain tight (as they should). We did find a vendor for an item that we knew would need to be slightly modified by our sewing team to achieve the look we wanted. Those items were ordered and placed into the sewing team queue.

Once we had assembled our sewing crew to work on the leggings, we noticed that there was a significant color variation of white across the various sizes. When laying them out side-by-side, we had concluded that we could not put these on the field.

At the same time, our new uniform pants were delivered. What we also found was that the cut of the pant leg was such that it would not comfortably fit over the top of a legging and achieve the look we wanted in terms of motion during a high mark time and such.

At that point, we examined potential alternative vendors and other solutions while the season got underway. Once a tour starts, the efforts required to cost-effectively implement something like this is not particularly easy. So at this point, we have decided that we cannot practically find a solution for the look we wanted for leggings.

I understand that many of our alumni were eager to see the spats back on the field and, I too, would love to see them returned as well. But I cannot make it practically, or cost-effectively, work at this point in time and I want to keep our focus on high-priority matters.

So that's the full story on the spats for this season. We appreciate everybody's continued enthusiasm, inquiries and support for the 2010 Madison Scouts.

From the road in Houston...Go Scouts (and did I mention The Old School Challenge?)

Chris Komnick

Executive Director

[NR_Ohiobando]

Thanks for the update!

Too bad about the spats/leggings, but the good news is that the show still rocks pretty hard without them.

(BTW the last update of the "Old School Challenge" had Boston beating Madison by a single dollar...GET DONATING!)

[patblamo]

Were there any issues last night? Any visual or music tears? Looked like they were making some solid headway. Maybe things will be better tonight.

I was at the show and the performance was wonderful. As a parent of a FMM, I am much to biased to judge the score. I'm sure that the performance order didn't help. Those I overheard around me were split 50-50 between the Scouts and BK.

[GMichael1230]

Thanks Chris !

G

[madalumni]

Well, the uniform still looks quite awesome this year....then again, maybe we can paint the bottom of the pants and shoes white to look like the spats....and it won't cost anything, I'll bring my tube of Titanium White Acrylic paint to the next rehearsal. What do say Chris?

P.S. - I'll be making a donation later today!

Edited July 23, 2010 by madalumni

[FlamMan]

There's always next year...

[SFZFAN]

I have noted the recent questions regarding the addition of spats on the uniform, as well, many of you have contacted me directly on the matter.

We have decided that, given the current sets of circumstances, it will not be practical to wear spats this season. This decision has nothing to do with visual cleanliness, scoring or the like. What has occurred are two unilateral circumstances that leads us to this decision.

First, let it be said that the Scouts wore leggings, not spats, by definition. These were traditionally Boy Scout issued leggings that laced up. They were made of canvas, went up about 6-8" above the ankle, and sat high on the shoe.

Typical spats wrap around the ankle and cover a large portion of the shoe. The difference between the look of leggings and spats is pretty significant.

This spring, we had sampled over a dozen different options in order to find a solution that best captured the look of leggings but where also durable and easily laundered. The last consideration was price as our budgets remain tight (as they should). We did find a vendor for an item that we knew would need to be slightly modified by our sewing team to achieve the look we wanted. Those items were ordered and placed into the sewing team queue.

Once we had assembled our sewing crew to work on the leggings, we noticed that there was a significant color variation of white across the various sizes. When laying them out side-by-side, we had concluded that we could not put these on the field.

At the same time, our new uniform pants were delivered. What we also found was that the cut of the pant leg was such that it would not comfortably fit over the top of a legging and achieve the look we wanted in terms of motion during a high mark time and such.

At that point, we examined potential alternative vendors and other solutions while the season got underway. Once a tour starts, the efforts required to cost-effectively implement something like this is not particularly easy. So at this point, we have decided that we cannot practically find a solution for the look we wanted for leggings.

I understand that many of our alumni were eager to see the spats back on the field and, I too, would love to see them returned as well. But I cannot make it practically, or cost-effectively, work at this point in time and I want to keep our focus on high-priority matters.

So that's the full story on the spats for this season. We appreciate everybody's continued enthusiasm, inquiries and support for the 2010 Madison Scouts.

From the road in Houston...Go Scouts (and did I mention The Old School Challenge?)

Chris Komnick

Executive Director

No spats? No problem. We appreciate everything you're doing!