SGI has faked its performances in the past; are they still faking it today? They'll never admit it.

[Marching coach] Carson blew the whistle: the [YMD Brass] Band, which had been drawn up in a lateral line, marched forward as the taped music blared. The Concert Band had recorded the songs in a night practice, so they could rehearse the maneuver without the added burden of playing their instruments. Also, it had been learned that due to re-echoing aspects of Dodger Stadium, they would not be playing live there either. The music would blast through loudspeakers and they would march in time to it, concluding the three-song maneuver by spelling out "NSA" [SGI-USA's former name (from the beginning until ca. 1989)] in formation on the baseball diamond, as Forever Sensei concluded.

I was in marching band in high school; we NEVER faked it on a field, even though we played in numerous stadiums. My graduating class was around 650 people - we were at the TOP levels of the NCAA. And college marching bands don't fake it, either - it has nothing to do with acoustics and everything to do with incompetence. The fact that the YMD Brass Band members accepted that obviously specious explanation shows they were not thinking clearly - one of the goals of all this "training".

• From Mark Gaber's book, "Sho Hondo", p. 141