Majellan

I think I came up with a compromise. Make a rule that Indiana bands can only attend every four years, then the competition is on a level playing field:) I couldn't resist, but with some Indy love coming in thought I would offer up an alternative to even things out a different way. Or perhaps BOA could front the Texas bands about $300 k a piece to give them an opportunity to attend more in the frozen tundra. I watched the avon film on flomarching about them going to San Antonio last year, which I thought was great. However, it was interesting to hear the kids talking about not travelling away from Lucas Oil field very often and others mentioning the expense of taking Avon south once. Compare that to how many times The Woodlands has taken that financial hit.

I can barely make it through Carmel's performance, again everyone works hard, but their show was almost as stale as a military marching band show. I wish I could see them in person, perhaps that would change my mind, of course that won't happen because Carmel won't make the trip down here again. I thought Carmel would win because they are from Indy, Now I don't know the secret ingredient that was supposed to lift them over Avon by a full point but i didn't see it from my vantage point. When Carmel came to SA in 2003 Boa was really just taking off in Texas, some of the better programs were still just doing UIL excluding Westfield and Spring. of course. The Houston area and Churchill were very competitive but it was nowhere like it is now at Boa San Antonio. Would love for them to pull an Avon and take the real test in the Alamodome, in fact I would hope several out of state programs would come down. Don't see it happening though, kudos to Avon and Camdenton.

My apologies to my Republican cohorts, but I've never thought Tremendous sea of love mends well with Trump, not sure how this idea ever came up. Most of the speeches are from MLK sprinkled with Bobby Kennedy, Reagan thrown in for a little balance. That was my thought and the thoughts of everyone who watched the SA Boa stream here in Frisco. If anything I was surprised there hadn't been push back from local conservatives on the show. So thank you, Jarrett Lipman for taking the time to explain the true intent of the program.

Yes some Texas pride here, but also more opportunities for American Forks, Ayala, some of the WBA bands out there to participate in finals. Where my Texas pride comes is that I think we'll beat all of them:) But I also love to see a Clovis, NM band or Bentonville, Ark step into the picture and I do have respect for Indiana bands and other midwest programs. They aren't heads and tails above the rest though, many years they aren't the best program out there. My theme since finals ended has just been keep in mind the effect of travel. Avon got 4th at San Antonio last year but moved up at Nationals. They did have a great show and no one was going to beat CTJ and Hebron last year, but Avon probably lost a spot because of the travel. So Texas bands go to Indy and yes they over do their attempts, but they also just got through sleeping on a bus for 18 hours. It has an effect, one that Midwest bands should have to endure as well. Hince, the rotation of grand nationals idea. Also, one of the two is a tourist town for something other than racing. San Antonio wins that hands down for fun outside of the contest.

Avon has a great group of parents and students it seems. Great post, it's interesting because I watched both San Antonio and the Grand Nationals on streaming. It did seem very quiet at Indy compared to San Antonio, now I know they mix the audio to keep the crowd noise down in both so it could just be that. It just seemed underwhelming to me in comparison to San Antonio, and San Antonio was not up to par this year because every band in Texas suffered from all of the rain. I don't know what the setup is in St. Louis but that would seem to be a good location for finals, much more central, 4 hours makes a big difference coming from Texas. Now someone mentioned MFA being based in Indianapolis, that doesn't matter....tell the execs to get on a plane. That's easier than trying to send 300+ kids to Indy every year, I don't know how Prosper does it with their three contest in a week and a couple of thousand miles in 9 days. Proud of them for doing as well as they did with all of that going on. With the operation that MFA is pulling off at San Antonio already, they could easily swing staging finals away from Indianapolis. Now I remember going to BOA summer band camp in 1987-89 at Whitewater, WI, I don't think they should completely take finals away from Indianapolis, there is alot of history there and as I said earlier there are not many situations that have as good of a inside band prep setup next to a domed stadium. Still like the idea of a rotation though, I agree with Avon Dad, it gets a little stale having a feeling who the winner is when the night starts. I didn't have a clue who would win San Antonio until the results were announced, I felt like it would be Flower Mound but cases could be made for Hebron, Reagan, and my favorite dark horse this year Vista Ridge. Vandy didn't do it for me this year, so I didn't anticipate them winning even though I know they worked very hard. Nevertheless I had the feeling from the start of the night that Carmel would win the Grand Nationals before i even saw them. I agree with Avon Dad that Broken Arrow had a great show, I usually am not real fond of Broken Arrow shows, but this years show was a good one, visually and musically.....but in the end Carmel wond again by more than a full point at that.

Kind of like the over saturation of Indiana bands there. No, that’s why I think it should be rotated to several places. That way Neither Texas nor Indiana has home field advantage every year. I’ve mentioned on the boa forums also, Indiana doesn’t like not staying at home. I don’t blame them, takes away their inherent advantage.

I'm going to break this down. Home field advantage, Carmel didn't travel to Texas for a reason, props to Avon for taking it on last year. I know BOA has a good situation in Indianapolis for staging alot of bands with the convention center next door. They should rotate the grand nationals(not just to San Antonio but around the nation), there is always alot of argument on this but it's not a coincidence that the local bands have a disproportionate amount of wins. I wasn't impressed with Carmel last night, I mean they were good, but not as good as the hype. Living next door and the music for all headquarters being in indianapolis brings an advantage that takes alot to overcome. Not impossible obviously as LD Bell, Westfield, Spring, and The Woodlands have proven, but travel is hard to overcome, paticularly for bands. Prosper is a good band, but they made finals here easy so the contest is at the very least on par with San Antonio. I know I'll get some pushback on this, but this gets a bit ridiculous watching Carmel, Avon and Broken Arrow take it home every year. (I add Broken Arrow in the mix because they refuse to go south, props to Union on braving the Dallas BOA regionals, too bad finals were rained out) Even if the rotation was just Indianapolis, San Antonio, St. Louis, Atlanta and some location out west perhaps in Phoenix so it is a truly national competition.....Trying to be fair there, really I wold like it to alternate between Indianapolis and San Antonio, however, placing a couple of locations would get rid of the argument of indiana bands in national one year and Texas bands the next. Somehow it was easier to accept when Marian Catholic had their winning run at least they were a couple of hundred miles away. Alternate it into Texas for the past thirty years what would the history look like....multiple Westfield, Spring, LDBell, Marcus, and TWHS wins plus I would say a Flo Mo win this year and CTJ last year. (Hard to say Flo Mo this year because Vista Ridge is by far my fave this year) Any thoughts? One more add to my wall of text, Blue Springs did better than the ranking indicated in my opinion.

4. CTJ 3. Reagan 2. Vista Ridge 1. Flower Mound Personally I would give it to Vista Ridge, awesome show, but Flower Mound has the edge I think. I was a hug fan of hebron's show last year and the year before. I know they worked hard but not as good tonight as last two years to me and I love Hebron.

Keller was awesome again:).

Seems everyone was struck like I was on Vista Ridge. If they keep that up, they could compete for the win, my favorite show by far this year so far. Other than the mic issues that could've been the most complete show yet in prelims.

I have to thank those who convinced me to get up and watch vista ridge this morning. Simply outstanding performance, definitely finals worthy if not top 5!

I like Ronald Reagan, Flower Mound, Vandy, Keller and maybe Leander for making finals from today’s group.. Didn’t see TWHS performance, overall I’m still in for CTJ, some people say their show is messy, but like the previous poster I think they are on a different level in some ways. That said general effect won’t win them state. so they better put in everything this weekend for a win. Think flower mound, reagan or Hebron are well situated for tops in uil.

Did everyone in northwest Austin just start the stream for Leander? Had the most issues this evening with pixelation. Great performance by the way, always like Leander shows. Edit: Oh okay, I forgot Reagan was next. That might also explain an uptick in viewers.

Okay, John b Alexander has impressed me. Beautiful show, never have seen them perform before. I was feeling bad for them that they had to follow up Fliwer mound but they’re holding their own:) I like flower mound so far, but vadegrift was great.

That’s the benefit of having a competition at the star st Frisco. The us bands contest won’t be cancelled, ideal venue or not. All you need is a roof this fall and the star has that:) This may be the first season I haven’t made a single contest. The rain is great, but I obviously wouldn’t do well in Seattle.

Okay, this is bs, we all know this. Every band cares where they place no matter what level band they are. Band members are taught to be respectful but talk like this is a shallow platitude at best. There was a year back in the 2000's where BOA decided to not place a winner and didn't post scores at first. That changed quickly because of the uproar. I've been in small and big bands and we all very much cared where we placed even if we were way down on the list. Otherwise the review is totally useless, that's 30 minutes of caring where bands place.

I've never seen a Waco band at BOA, don't know why they would start now? I don't think distance has anything to do with it, CTJ is going to the valley BOA contest this year and went to Midland last year, both are much further from San Antonio than Waco. Waco is what, a 4 hour drive at most, roughly the same as going to Conroe from the North side of San Antonio. Robinson has always had a good band in Class 4A, they won't come in last.

WHy did Harlingen stop going to BOA in the valley? Harlingen was right in the mix with Wylie and Plano East in 2016 around 30th. If they got into the top 10 at state, however, that would be a first. Just goes to show you how strong Texas marching bands are, Harlingen is a great band with a strong tradition.

Bump for this, Birdville is attending the Frisco us bands competition but no higher tier Texas bands are attending the western national championship at Cowboys stadium.. No big deal right, it’s us bands after all, but Bossier City Louisiana Parkway( #4 marching band st Louisiana state competition last year) is attending and likely to win unless one of the top 20 dfw bands attends. Just hurts my Texas pride even if it isn’t a boa event.

I wish CTJ would’ve made the Waco regional this year. Too busy at work to make trip down to the Alamodome this time of year. Haven’t seen them perform live yet. Will be good to see the other Central Texas bands though.

Agree with all below, but I think Hebron will be the clear winner. I love their shows, however, even with a top 10 grand national finish flo mo never quite hit their stride last year. They could easily bounce back. This contest is deep this year even without Marcus, Glad Cedar Park and Union are coming. Will be an exciting one to watch!

New band director of Marcus is from North Mesquite. They've had good bands, but I haven't ever seen North Mesquite at a BOA event. Not sure if that might be a contributing factor but at the very least it seems evident that BOA is not real important to the new director.

Longview was very impressive even as a military band, but Hard Core Band fan is right on one point for sure, Longview is not what it used to be. I'm not sure why but they haven't been as crisp the last few years and now their band director is retiring. Spring Hill is the best marching band in Longview now by far, that doesn't take away from 70 years of first division ratings though. There's alot of military bands in that area that are just as old but don't have a 70 year streak behind them. That being said, LD Bell is the only school currently in contention for 6a finals that is even that old. Hebron is about the same age as CTJ, Marcus is the oldest school in Flower Mound at 37 years. North Shore is 56 years old, so close to LD Bell but not the others. So no one is probably going to break that 70 year streak at this point except perhaps LD Bell if one of those three bands stumble.

<p>You did some looking to find John B. Alexander high school marching band in what Laredo? What about Frisco Wakeland? They came in 29th at San Antonio last year, I would wager they are at least on par with the valley schools. Some great bands down there but, comparatively they have trouble cracking 30 at boa. I think the highest I've seen in any statewide contest was Harlingen Marching Band got 21st at the state marching contest in 2014. Lopez College Prep led the way for valley schools last year at 40th at boa San Antonio. Dripping Springs beat 2nd place Roma by 5 points last year at McAllen. </p> <p> </p> <p>I think for schools outside of the three big metro areas, I would say Del Rio in 6A is coming along. </p>

I see state going down to Hebron, CTJ and possibly Vandegrift without seeing shows of course. If Flower Mound is more consistent this year they will be in the mix, never seemed to hit their stride last year. Marcus has a new director, not sure how much will change. Their show last year would've bombed at UIL, but Marcus usually tweaks for UIL years. Then of course Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Reagan, North Shore and The Woodlands. I think Prosper is on the verge of doing something big, they still seem a couple of years away from finals level competition. Yes, I know I'm forgetting a couple more Austin area schools maybe Bowie and Hendricks that could be in the mix as well.