Tad_MMA

Does anyone have or know of High Camera videos of Cadets from 1991, 1995 and 1998? More DCI stuff keeps cropping up on YouTube, but my search engines said, "ENOUGH!" Halp! Sometimes, the tour videos do a late-season high cam performance (1997 for sure), but not on the 95/98 tours. Boo. For 1991 & 1995, I just want to see the entire guard performances; for '98, I'm going MAD as the videos don't show the drill that ends the first section.

The only corps to make Finals every year of DCI's existence, and they've won High Brass twice ('84 & '87) -- and even then, not outright. If they could somehow get Klesch and Harloff in their camp, they'd win a lot more.

This started last year in conjunction with the judges' added .05. I say ONLY when there is a third decimal in the averaged drum score can a 4th decimal appear in a total score. You disagree; show me. fromthepressbox.com has all the numbers, although they round final scores to 3 decimal places. Look at the dci.org recaps from finals week.

No, it's the new numbers management with the .05 option for a judge's subcaption (10 pt). In GE, if there is an odd 0.5, it will average/total 3 decimal places. Same with the 3 visual numbers. The two Percussion numbers are averaged alone before adding the ensuing 3 music numbers and diving by two. The only possible equation to arrive at a FOURTH decimal place is to have a final drum score of 3 decimal places. e.g.: 19.3 + 19.4 + (19.2+19.25) = 57.925 Then /2 = 28.9625 or... 28.963. I'm sure a mediocre IT person employed by DCI could make it possible to add the 4th (10,000th) decimal place for official scoring & publication. By the way, unless my calculations are incorrect (I've algorthimed myself into a stupor), the SLIMMEST possible margin would be .0125. I used '08's PR/BD numbers and added a .05 to one of BD's drum scores. I (heart) Math.

Welp, this wouldn't be an issue if the drum community hadn't whined its way back to two judges. (Why only one color guard judge? Brass? Visual Analysis?) I know: battery and pit. If it's so important to have Field and Ensemble, then two brass judges are surely needed.

What rule? The last time that was utilized was in 1987 when BD performed after the two-way horserace of Garfield & SCV. They finished a distant 4th-- with a full point below Garfield's 10s in field/ensemble drums (and a 0.8 spread in GE Drums). In 1988, the order of the top 5 was selected by big, gimmicky cards, and Garfield arbitrarily chose #12. Beginning in 1989 and continuing through last night, whoever won semis went last.

Look at 2003 prelims. Cadets' guard was placed FIFTH in prelims, yet they won semifinals. Finals was basically an either/or with BD. But 5th? That judge never did championship week again. Ditto 1987. The TREND was SCV beating Garfield in GE Visual (comfortably) all season. In semis, SCV was scored 14.7 and then Garfield 14.9. In Finals, it was Cavies 14.1, SCV 14.6, Garfield 14.0. The Finals judge was then delegated to west coast only. Hmm.

They re-imagine it frequently. The numbers stay the same--- 10 + 10 = 20 for ALL judges, which is greatly consistent. Gone are the Visual Ensemble, Music Ensemble (both now Analysis like in the OLD days) and Visual Performance (Proficiency) captions. We used to have one drum judge---then two---then one---again two. It's Field and Ensemble again. It used to be Visual judges only doing Visual GE; ditto for Music. Now it's supposedly a mixed bag, though they CAN lean toward their field. The 1994-1999 system was very inconsistent from area to area. GE Visual was 20 pts; Ensemble Visual was 15; Field Visual was 10. The change in 2000 made the subcaptions far more consistent.

A fair example of this is Garfield 1986. After 3 (4?) years of very positive judging and a threepeat, they were suddenly holding around 9th place, losing to everyone including Spirit, Madison and Star (eventual 6-8 finishers). I don't know about the opener, but they did remove some of the brass licks in the closer, adding them to the (VERY good) pit. There was no Tour of Champs or anytime where all top corps competed together until Semifinals (no Thursday until 1989). So, they kept at it and very nearly beat the 3rd place Cavies at Finals due to their 2nd place percussion. The point is that performance caught up with design for the most part. There was still an obvious deficiency in marching, even in Finals (the scoring reflected this), but the Brass/Percussion Effect was undeniable. Seeing them in Canton in June, it was like 1983-1985 didn't exist. They couldn't get out of their own way, and Madison beat them by almost 8 points --- a 12-pt swing by Finals.

"Is that what my hair looks like?" - H. Grainger

So Boston lured those Cadets designers with cash? That's all it took?

On one hand, the 1989 Les Miz show went through roughly 47 endings before they decided on the fast, upbeat one. Ditto 1995---at one point, all the males left the field, and the females removed shakos (men going off to war, leaving the women home). Whoever came up with the Iwo Jima ending was brilliant. On the other hand, those were different times with MUCH more focused creation (and FAR more interesting music). For the last two years, it's been one excuse after another with this corps--no ending, members leaving, MOST of the designers leaving. About that: how does BD manage to keep such an intact staff for DECADES? Even in the "down" years of no medaling ('89-'93), Downey, Chandler, etc didn't bolt. The Cadets are a mere shell of who and what they used to be, and it's sadder than seeing Madison fall apart. From leading where no one could possibly follow ("Uh, WE can't do that!" --- Wayne Downey, 1983) to this. It's upsetting and a real shame. I suppose it will take their alum support to turn their backs (read: close their wallets) for something to change at this point.

I'm not a Blue Devils FAN as much as a BD APPRECIATOR. This is what they do consistently MUCH better than anyone else...with the exception of "Consistent velocity." That belonged to the Cadets of the 80s/90s and the Cavies into the 00s. It is no longer the focus, when it was back then.

Get out of my head.

Crossmen were prepared. I don't get the concept; the music is long out of my head, but as an annual bubble corps, it's hard to say they'll drop out of the 12. Blue Stars can PLAY! Tubas & Mellophones are BOSS! The feet and drill are very suspect at this point. The guard's overwriting is as wonderful as Crown's was last decade. They'll get it:) Cadets have no tradition anymore, and it's sad. Like Celebrity Death sad. Costuming? Vanguard did it in 1986. Velocity? Sacktig just wrote another Cadets drill -- for CC. Comparison points to every other corps? <cricket cricket> Top 6? Uh, don't bet your last $5. To end positively, the guard will be better this year. I didn't say YIKES like last June. Cavies: I loathed every second of last year's obnoxious cacophony; I like this year less. Rondinaro: "I am absolutely in love with the first 2/3 of (CC's) show." Ditto. The vocalist does nothing but take away from more gorgeous, luscious, tasty horn playing. I've been running around telling my DC friends about Bloo's penchant for fluking. Really, every year they've medaled, they dropped the next year (until '16). I was wrong, wrong, wrong! This is an easy #1 or #2 show. Holy wow! Like Rondo said, they "successfully reloaded."