Hard Core Band Fan

A couple of useless statistics: 100 bands attending from 23 States. Number of bands attending by state: AL - 1 AR - 1 CO - 1 FL - 1 GA - 1 HI - 2 IA - 1 IL - 4 IN - 12 KY - 10 MI - 6 MO - 1 MS - 1 NC - 3 OH - 31 OK - 3 PA - 1 SC - 2 TN - 9 TX - 6 VA - 1 WI - 1 WV - 1

I don't think the collision affected the score, but performing just a piece of their show certainly did. Their show has changed drastically since then and the .15 difference then is negligible now. From what I have seen, they are much more like 2013 Round Rock this year.

Not to take anything away from Cedar Ridge, but they did well this past weekend against the bands at Atlanta. At San Antonio, they will be going against a bunch of bands that should surpass them in music, visual, and GE. Again, not that they didn't do well at Atlanta, but SA is a totally different level of competition.

Cedar Ridge and no Round Rock or Keller?

Me too!

Remember, this is halftime music to these people and of little or no value past the revenue that it generates. It's the only alternative and they know that.

The term for those are edibles...

Exactly what I thought about! 1st in prelims and then didn't make the cut for state. Tragic!

Their soloists were 3 of the best of the day.

I was not. They did have a good performance and deserved the top music score in that class. The visual and GE didn't compare as well. They did do well, though, and should be proud. I know I was!

Ayala would likely come in 2nd with their performance just now in Atlanta.

I don't think it will be solely on GE.

Didn't hear me say that!

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a little more than that. I know this isn't the Grand Nationals, but last year when these 3 were is the same competition, Ayala and Vista Murrieta were 10 points and 7.9 points apart, respectively.

A bit off-topic, but Avon is coming to San Antonio and Carmel is going to Downey, CA this weekend. I wonder how large the point spread will be between 1st and 2nd?!

Okay, I thought so. I'm old, so I go way back to where most of the marching bands in this part of the country marched military style. In the early to mid 70's, we kept hearing about this awesome "corps style" band in Lafayette - Acadiana HS. We had a week with no football game, so we drove to Lafayette to watch them at their halftime to see what all the excitement was about. They were awesome and it changed all of our lives forever! After then, military bands just seemed less exciting and left me wanting something else. Kind of like eating cookies with half the sugar all of your life and then eating one with all of the sugar. Those half-sweet cookies just don't satisfy you anymore.

So this is Lafayette High from Lafayette, Louisiana?

I'm just saying that I don't think the primary reason that they may have been scored lower was because of the reuse of the carts from last year or from any other similarity to last year's show. I think that it is more likely that it is because of their performance level or the point potential of this year's show that they received the scores they received. I just don't see that this is obvious enough to state that this is a factor. Who knows, you may be right. By the way, the largest difference I saw between any MGE judge for Broken Arrow and Blue Springs was .8 points.

I don't think "the repeat" is affecting them in any way. This is not enough of the same thing to be an issue for them. I don't think any judge is going to ping them for using some of the same equipment that they have used in a previous year. This show is different enough and they are using the carts differently enough that I don't think it is a detriment.

I thought they were where they should be. No higher or lower.

Good Job Carmel!

Obviously.

Yes, they've had a very good day in Indianapolis. San Antonio could very well be a different story. SA is the end game for most of our Texas bands and they are going to make it count. I'm feeling better today about our Texas bands' chances.

It wasn't just the music.

If they bring anything close to what they did tonight, they should miss the medals. I can easily think of at least 4 bands that are presently playing better than that.