CTJBandPops

my pleasure - stay safe and see you next marching season

rocked - thanks for your dedication

I could not agree more - LOVE IT!!!

CTJ made state finals early in their history - and in 2014 they won the BOA SA Gold and then won a UIL Bronze Medal days later. I do not speak for them, but my understanding was bowing out of UIL finals last year was based on their start time in Indy and ensuring that all their equipment could be there with the new UIL changes to their schedule. I saw the director post that here on this post. I have heard the same, that they may be going but it is not a snub to UIL.

I think you might be wrong about that - IMO - CTJ has had 2 shows in the past 4 years that I (and many others) believe could have been competitive at GNats - both shows won SA - I think we will see them sooner rather than later.

WOW - 2 days out of GNats and we are talking about 2018?

very good insight - appreciated - to your point, I think the positive experience that Avon shared may increase the travels - great points by all, just throwing it out there and by no means saying that Gnats would go away -but to others points - "many bands see the SR as the end of their season, and if that SR offers more competition, why would we spend the money to go to grand nats - again, not that GNats may become less significant, but that San Antonio may become more significant for those that want to compete at a high level and not spend $2K per student appreciate everyone's thoughtful conversation

Just throwing it our there that San Antonio has become more competitive without the title of Grand Nats - will there be a time that winning San Antonio becomes more for a band than the GNats without the cost of $1500 per child again - just sayin

I understand that the Grand Nationals brings a different crowd - and that SA is not the ideal location to compete I also understand that is a week later than SA - but for most bands, that week is spent in travel - not rehearsing in 2013 Round Rock went from 10th in SA to 4th in GNats Marcus went from 8th to 5th in 2014 Flomo went from 13th in SA to 6th in GNats in 2015 Hebron, TWHS, Round Rock and Keller all moved up in GNats finals compared to SA finals in 2016 Cedar Park and Reagan both moved up in GNats in 2017 Avon, Marcus, FloMo, TWHS and Round Rock all moved up in GNats finals - including Round Rock not making finals in SA but finishing 12th in GNats. Just throwing it our there that San Antonio has become more competitive without the title of Grand Nats - will there be a time that winning San Antonio becomes more for a band than the GNats If there is any value in the Hornrank - which there is with kids that are not going to GNats - #1 and #2 last year did not attend GNats appreciate your thoughts

just looking at the last year - Haltom, Cedar Ridge and Westwood ventured out to Atlanta and St Louis for Super Regionals - and 2 of the 3 still came to San Antonio with CR in Finals you are correct - SA is usually Texas bands - but will that change? BA does not go to GN every year - when will they make a trip to SA? American Fork, Blue Ridge, Dobyns-Bennett, Union - all could make the trip to SA . just as we may see more Texas bands making the trip to Midland and McAllen for the chance at a finals or medal - I think that SA will start to see more Non-Texas bands making the trek to the lone star state

noted and corrected - Type-o on my part

I agree that the pageantry of Grand Nats and the venue itself will continue to draw huge crowds and I don't mean to diminish the event - I know that there are a number of growing Texas programs that have done well in SA that have never been to Grand Nats and may never go - I would dispute the notion that being a non-6A state year was a big impact - we saw a number of Texas 6A Bands that went to Grand Nats last year that may return again next year during a state year.but all valid points that we will have see how it plays out next year

I know this will not be a popular discussion, but as the season is over, it will give us something to chew on till next year. I wanted to touch on a few facts, while the finals just finished at Gnats – and I have not looked at the data for the past few years – I am intrigued by a statement made earlier on the BOA San Antonio Super Regional blog that SA is in fact a stronger competition – and felt it needed to be explored So here is the question – with Avon coming to San Antonio in 2017 – will we see more bands, such as Carmel (as they did in 2002) or even Broken Arrow or other national players (Castle/Union/ Marian Catholic) start making the trip to San Antonio? Will it make Grand Nats irreverent? As we have seen in the past, while there is another week of prep that will change the results – BUT the variance between SA and GNats is significant – while it is a nicer facility - will it impact the results?? I post the following with no disrespect to any program – just stating the facts as they are presented San Antonio Results G Nats Results Round Rock Missed finals - 18th place Finals 12th place Woodlands 11th Place in SA 7th in Gnats 1 +Point + increase FloMo 6th Place in SA 5th in Gnats 1 +Point + increase Marcus 7thPlace in SA 4thin Gnats 2 +Point + increase Avon 4thPlace in SA 3rd in Gnats 1 +Point + increase If there becomes a rush to come to San Antonio - will that degrade the value of the Grand Nationals? there is so many high quality, top notch bands that do not make the trip to Indy, just due to the cost of the trip, will it impact the results just another FYI - there were 18 of the top 30 bands (per Horn Rank) in San Antonio SR - and only 12 ranked bands in Grand Nationals - Thoughts???

data - I love data - very good points - thanks for sharing

I know exactly what you are talking about - then you spend your Saturday trolling YouTube watching past seasons matching bands and debating with yourself if the 2013 Woodlands show could have beaten the 2016 FloMo show - been there, done that, and will likely be there again

Looks like this could be like last year where FloMo and BA ended the year as #1 & #2 even though they did not go to GNats. thank god for Flo Marching, I can watch Thursday and Fridays prelims from my office

it will make things interesting next week after GNats Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX (5) Hebron H.S., TX (4) Carmel H.S., IN (1) Vandegrift H.S., TX (7) Avon H.S., IN (3) Flower Mound H.S., TX (2) Ronald Reagan H.S., TX (9) Broken Arrow H.S., OK (6) Tarpon Springs H.S., FL (8) Marcus H.S., TX (10) Cedar Park H.S., TX (19) Keller H.S., TX (23) Hendrickson H.S., TX (20) The Woodlands H.S., TX (12) Blue Springs H.S., MO (14) Wando H.S., SC (16) Castle H.S., IN (15) Homestead H.S., IN (22) Union H.S., OK (18) James Bowie H.S., TX (17) Cedar Ridge H.S., TX (28) Leander H.S., TX (11) O'Fallon Township H.S., IL (21) LD Bell H.S., TX (13) Haltom H.S., TX (27) Marian Catholic H.S., IL (26) Ayala H.S., CA (25) Vista Ridge H.S., TX (Next 10) Round Rock H.S., TX (24) Owasso H.S., OK (29)

good luck in Indy - rooting for Team Texas

i am guessing the fact that it is 9pm with no rankings, that this week was a little tougher on the ranking team with all the shake ups in San Antonio

Loved it - thanks for sharing

we still go to the shows - our oldest graduated 3 years ago - now we all attend together while we wait for our youngest to decide if he wants to do band or football - I think he is leaning towards band - we traveled to most of the Texas shows this year - we try to stay involved with our alumni group and still try to support the band when we can. But even as alumni it is still nerve wracking to watch - my daughter cried after Saturdays shows. I still sponsor the sweepstakes trophies every year for my alma mater in CA that hosts a band review every year. - we occasionally make the trip out to present the awards (when it does not fall on BOA SA weekend) I don't plan to every stop watching or supporting the marching arts - Go Band!!

good luck in Indy -

Keep working - there are up and down years. despite popular belief - every band has a down year - event the biggest programs. You cannot find a single program that medals every year. Avon just came to Texas and they have one of the best programs in the country - and finished out of the medals. FloMo - who you yourself said was "GOD" finished 6th after wining BOA SA the past 2 years. If you walk off the field knowing that you left the best show you had on that field - you won - enjoy the moment

looking forward to your podcast

data will not always forecast the outcome - but predictive analysis provides guidance on likely outcome and 8 times out of 10 it holds true. in BOA, WGI and DCI it has shown to be true the past 5 plus years. it does not however, take away the human factor, so it is not always right - the data does not say that a program will win because it won earlier by X points - far from it. It does say that a program has a defined their season early on and has a high probability to succeed - just my observation I enjoyed all the shows this weekend, and looking forward to Grand Nats