BandKid4Lyfe

Grow up? From someone saying that BOA owes an apology to a couple of bands that didn't make the cut, that's rich!!

In a perfect world, we'd have the exact same judges for all the bands, true. Saying that LD Bell and Westlake made it to finals on luck rather than earning those spots is incredibly disappointing to hear from someone in the band community. Every kid that performed over the past two days works hard. Congratulations to every single member of Westlake and LD Bell for making finals, they earned it! Sour grapes will only give you a sucky-face. Get over it please. Thanks.

Thanks for clarifying #1. That makes sense. As far as #2 goes, I don't think I'm the only person here that smells a rat (keeping with the dead animal references) when MfA allows one band to have a much later (less "omgthissucks") slot and then offers super early spots in a draw for the other bands that are coming from the same area of Texas that could "potentially" (can you see my exaggerated finger air quotes?) be impacted by the same predicted weather that allowed the first band to bail on that less than favorable time slot. I don't really have a horse in this race but the smell generated by this is wafting across the Alamodome and just underscores and confirms what a lot of people think but no one really wants to say out loud. In the end, we have thousands of students working their behinds off for this final performance. Medal or not, finalist or not, parents and all the aux staff are behind them 100%. Just another lesson in life that not everything can be explained away and "fair" is subject to interpretation.

Can anyone please explain 1) why only one of these bands accepted their evening spot and the rest declined and 2) why Bowie Marching Band was able to wrangle a later slot that could have easily been offered to one of the bands that was TRULY impacted by the heinous weather in Austin yesterday rather than the *potential* bad weather overnight (that ended up being nothing much, btw) and they could have very easily made their original early spot?

Oh but where's the fun in that? Psssst! I have a bootleg of Bowie Marching Band. Open bids? (totally joking. no boots here. time to lighten up)

I saw your show at BoA Austin and what a tremendous transformation your entire drill underwent over the past month. Your performance this past weekend was fantastic and my family and I thought we'd be able to enjoy your show in finals too. Judging is so subjective and yes, looking at the judges opinions just leaves some of us scratching our heads. Several bands had odd rankings. All that said, you should really be very proud of all the hard work you must have put into that show. Your sound filled the Alamodome and had several of us that didn't have kids on the field with you smiling in the end. Keep your head up and be proud. Don't lose sight of the fact that there were many bands that were not invited to the party yesterday.

I understand they don't allow videos to be uploaded and that you will NEVER (emphasis intended and conveyed just as I was told) find a video of their current show online. Sounds like a money making opportunity to me!