Anthony V

1st (90.85), Haltom (music). 2nd (90.55), Highland Park (general effect, visual). 3rd (89.35), Richland. 4th (87.15), Lake Ridge. 5th (86.50), Forney. 6th (83.90), Trinity. 7th (74.55), Burleson Centennial. 8th (73.45), Lovejoy. 9th (69.38), Azle (percussion). 10th (68.65), South Grand Prairie.

South Grand Prairie Centennial Lovejoy Azle Trinity Lake ridge Forney Haltom Richland Highland Park Random top half / bottom half.

That's so funny! But it fits so well with your personality that you're good with young kids.

This is so fun!! I love hearing and see y'all.

One for each finger. One hand only, I'm afraid. Alternatively, you could go for a Michelin man fashion statement. I can respect that.

I'd say I'm dirty Dan! No! I'd say I'm dirty Dan!

Inconceivable! It's too bad you told us, actually. Otherwise I was going to threaten to start calling you "the fresh principalagent of Bel-Air." Well, it was either going to be that or "P-daddy." (The "P" could stand for "political science" or "profile name" depending on your mood.)

As you well know, watching magical humanoids compete in long-distance foot races has always been a veritable pastime. It's an acquired taste, really. But no, my current engagement is a heavy dose of procrastination!

But see, now you have to tell us by what manner of dark sorcery you accessed this statistic.

What... is the average airspeed velocity of an unlaiden trombone slide?

Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog!* Oh -- no, that can't be right. It's definitely for a very different and unaffiliated sector of the prediction industry. *Not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

People's expectations about Prosper have mostly come from their ability to compete with or be within striking range of Waxahachie last year at the BISD festival and, if I remember correctly, BOA Plano. You're right, there's not any indication from this season of whether they're at the same level as they were last season. But I think many people are expecting that they will be at that level because John Alstrin was hired on as head director -- which was the cause of their growth last year. We'll see what develops though; you may very well be right.

You guys, I'm not going to say it's impossible that Richland take the championship, but I think it's way too early to make a judgment call on whether that's a realistic possibility. I've seen Richland a few times this year, and they are comparable in potential to last year, especially since they have a longer season this time. So, I think they have a very good shot at placing 2nd. But if Waxahachie or Prosper (or both) continue to step up their game this year, then maybe Richland will have some potential rivals for the silver. We'll see what happens. I think this will be a very good contest with a lot of good bands in finals. Making the top 5 at this contest would be a real achievement. I know that Leander, Vista Ridge, and Vandegrift moved up, but maybe we should consider that this does not make this contest easy. Just off the top of my head, rough-and-ready with much potential to change, thinking about "tiers" for finals: Tier 1 Cedar Park T2 Richland T3 Waxahachie Prosper Dripping Springs T4 Wakeland Aledo Centennial Southwest T5 (I'm not as sure who would go here. Also, I'm not sure if finals will be top 10 or more than that. Someone let me know.) McKinney? Birdville? Forney? Lot's of exchange between those tiers could possibly happen. A slim chance -- at this point, anyway -- that either Richland or Waxahachie push Cedar Park out of first. More of a chance for swapping, I think, between Richland, Waxahachie, or Prosper. If Wakeland, Centennial, or Aledo has a really good year, maybe they could jump up to spar more directly with Dripping Springs, Prosper, or Waxahachie. Aledo tends to make those surprising jumps, but it tends to be early season that it happens. I would give Wakeland more of a shot for moving up. If I've seen Southwest, it's been a few years so I can't comment. Same for Forney. McKinney I've already mentioned on another thread; they have the power under the hood, but to my non-college-trained ears, there are consistency and cohesiveness issues. Birdville is kind of a foil to McKinney in that respect: few stick-outs, musically consistent, polished and respectable, but sometimes we're left wanting a bit more impact.

You guys, what happened to Pflugerville? I just remember a few years ago they were surprisingly good all of a sudden, but I haven't heard much out of them in recent years. The Duncanville contest kettle corn definitely did that to me. It was always the best to get monster-sized bags of it to last the whole day!

An early draw for Bellevue West! That's a 12-hour drive for them down from NE, so unless they're flying, I guess they'll come down on Friday. Also, I think this might be a first-BOA experience for several bands. Good for them!

You guys, I don't think the schedule is even up yet! Unless I'm missing something.

*Results may vary. You guys! I have a podcast that I made for you. I had to split it up into two videos because the YouTube machine has a really delicate stomach and will spit things out if it eats too much. This feature presentation has been made possible by our sponsor, the Royal Order of the Shaven Llama. Unfortunately, they went out of existence about five seconds ago due to a rapid growth in the mascot's hair. It was all very sad, and the llama was solemnly denounced before the dissolution of the order. But maybe I will find another willing sponsor in the future if people like this podcast. (ALSO: I have the dumb when it comes to embedding the HTML codes for these videos; I don't know if these videos will open in a new window, so maybe right-click on the link > "Open link in new tab" if that's your preference.) Part I -- Of Funnies and Fervorinos Part II -- The Night (Activity) is Still Young! Addendum: - Clifford Stoll's TED Talk, "The Call to Learn" Let me know what you think! AV

You guys! Haha, y'all are so funny. =o)

Duncanville going to BOA is like those weirdly interesting Cartoon Network crossovers that were popular in the early 2000's.

Copyright issues, in some cases.

One band that I've been keeping an eye on over the past few years is McKinney HS. They have a lot of energy and field presence at times. If they had a bit more consistency (that's the tricky part!) and better show design, I think they would make a very solid middle-tier band (e.g. James Martin, Keller Central, Timber Creek).

I would hesitate to call Birdville's marching band "pretty bad." I would resist the statement, actually. They maybe not as loud and rip roaring as other bigger bands, but they have a strong history of a well-balanced ensemble. That showed in their appearance at St. Louis prelims last year, when they almost edged out Owasso in music ensemble.

I'm all for the specially trained, light-sensitive ground rodent idea. There could be a live cam and everything.

Some of us lurkers enjoyed your commentary. Thanks! =o)

I suppose you mean scoring benefits -- from attending BOA events instead. That seems to go knee-deep into UIL v. BOA scoring differences. Otherwise I would say -- well, the eight hour rule is gone. Work those kids like slaves! Five lashings for being out of step! Bread, water, and tears for a week! And who couldn't benefit from that? (I jest.) Some time ago I made a silly, several-hundred word post on scoring rubrics in general. I think I still hold basically the same view though. The rubrics aren't on the paper, so to speak. They're somewhere out there in the minds of judges and directors. That's because the ink on the page is vague, and vague things admit a range of interpretation. The contest circuit simply selects which range they think is legitimate by selecting the judges they like. I'd like to trust the contest circuits, so think the judges and their range of interpretation generally ends up being legitimate. If that's true though, there's not really a scientific way of precisely determining the differences between the UIL/BOA scoring systems. That's because the systems are not really determined by the ink on the page or set in stone to begin with. Schrodinger's rubric sheet, if you like. Your best bet would be to go out and harass -- I mean, interview -- each judge/director at length and nail things down as best as possible. All while hoping nothing important changes for the rest of the season. Then apply your findings to the way you expect certain groups will perform. At best, our predictions are vague and intuitive. Which is clearly not acceptable on Txbands. (But, in all seriousness, my point is that if discussion did head in that direction, I'm not sure it could ever be remotely conclusive. Even in principle.) I agree with principalagent's third claim about San Antonio. Texas indeed has developed an interesting "depth" of high-quality groups over the past decade. (In fact, if we reflect upon it, that seems about right. The activity is young. We might well expect a good deal of flux.) I do think it's reasonable to suggest that Avon could come out on top, but only just about as reasonable as saying any other high-caliber group would come out on top. Until we have more info, probably Texas is a better bet.