lost

Blue Springs visual scores were up all season and their music just never caught up that year.

I actually really liked how the schedule worked out that year. A lot of groups were able to stay in SA for UIL Monday. I think it really showed in the performances because it felt like by Monday every single band that had been able to stay the weekend was performing on a whole other level.

To be fair I think O'Fallon and Dobyns are both bottom half finalists at SA, and would probably be on the bubble for finals.

That is tough. Hoping this area gets to take four. Otherwise it looks like Lake Travis or Westlake would be out. This area has always been very top-heavy but also a very tough break to state. I remember in 2018 Leander barely made it out thanks to the "bad judge" rule.

TWHS was first on in 2018 for UIL! Not as bad as the schedule they have lined up this year...

Any Marcus videos crop up recently?

Thig guy gets it.

Not a chance they're in finals sadly. Maybe a class placement, I forget if this contest does UIL classifications or their own. I think they have a chance at state down the line if they hold off Liberty Hill.

Why would you believe this

The visual and music captions are opinionated in themselves. I don't think you're quite understanding the caption and are looking for a scapegoat...and that's ok but just keep it to yourself.

I think you need to learn to read posts completely. Different contest two weeks after, different sheets. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility McNeil overtakes Bowie and DS despite losing to them previously. It was decently close. Your post history shows a weird fixation on McNeil. Unsure what that is about.

I really wish Cedar Park, Westlake and Lake Travis would pull out here then we’d really have a full house.

Regardless of the odd trolling, I think they stand a decent shot for fifth or sixth. It’ll be about overcoming a few of the top half bubble bands (RR, DS, WW) but I think there’s a world where it happens. They have a shorter window to clean with their St. Louis trip so if they meet their goals I can see them overtaking the other bands that still have a month to clean for SA and UIL. McNeil just has to have their show top notch much sooner. Even if the others overtake them after I think they could have an edge at this specific contest.

I am very excited to see the (close-to) finished product for Cedar Park here.

This is an untrue description, and a harmful one at that. Ronald Reagan put up what was the highest score in BOA regional history at the time with zero props and a traditional uniform. General effect is instead focused more on the cohesion of a show. The reason the high-placing bands in music and visual usually also have high GE scores is because a well-performed show is much more effective in delivering it's intended message than a poorly-performed one. Yes, GE is tied with money in being able to hire better visual designers and writers but it is not as much tied to props and uniforms like you present. You still need great execution even with an objectively amazing design though, it's why every band with a recycled Cartwright show doesn't have flawless GE scores, but why Broken Arrow broke a 98 with one of his shows.

This is certainly top three most competitive regular season regionals in the country! Every band here showed up!

Very excited to see the rise of another Houston powerhouse. The Woodlands was getting lonely I bet.

Seeing Weiss this low at this contest really is heartbreaking. It feels like only yesterday we saw them break out and shock the nation at St. Louis

Not that I know of. I think most people thought he’d fully retired to the private none-teaching sector when he surprisingly came back with Vandegrift this year. He ran for city council and lost pretty spectacularly during his time off.

Lipman leaving is pretty much it. They were fine in 2022 with a sharp decline in 2023 when he became fully uninvolved with the program. It wasn’t talked about much but financially and demographically to other top bands CTJ has always stood-out as a program that beat the odds. It’s not a school that on paper you’d imagine succeeding in the marching arts as much as they did, Lipman really lifted them up. Without him and in the way that he suddenly left it left a vacuum. CTJ and the area it draws from aren’t poor by any means it’s pretty suburban, it’s just the bands they compete with (The Woodlands and the Vandegrifts of the world) are just that much more.

McNeil put up a good fight here! Hoping the momentum keeps towards their big trip, and maybe towards their best Area D placement yet… Dripping Springs continues their resurgence!

So strange to see a powerhouse fade away in real time.

I'm really interested in Boswell. They have very quietly been on the up and up.

This is such a fun show theme.

Does that matter