gloriousgoo

Is that not also the corps song? Other than I Can't Take My Eyes Off You, I recall seeing I go on in the context of the Blue Knights many times before. I think it was just a new Facebook cover image they released because all of my BK friends are saying this isn't the show as well.

Broken City has mostly BK students this year and I recall hearing about an SCV student, though they may have been wrong.

Absolutely, which is why GPS would be a terrible way to do this. There are far better ways (motors with a pre-programmed set of directions to get to their sets, optic sensors to sense yard lines etc) to get the same job done, if you want to remove the members' responsibility entirely. There is the precedent though of a group using a member to control the props remotely, which is what we've seen on the WGI side. Would it be worth it? Honestly, I'm not sure. Could have been a wonderful added effect in shows like SCV '15, though I understand that there was already more electronics than many older fans would have liked in that show. I think if this rule were to ever go away, we could see a group or two mess around with it every year, but I hesitate to say that self-moving props would ever become the norm. The monetary investment and technical expertise required would just not be worth it for the fractions of a GE point you could get using this over regular methods of movement.

I'm well aware, I just wondering if the thought had even come across anyone's mind before this was done. This is one of those things I can see not getting a rule change until someone attempted it (See: BOA, DCI and WGI with drones after Tarpon Springs in 2014).

On a side note, are there any WGI groups you guys feel do that style of design particularly well? I know the whole "bashing the audience in the face with the concept" gripe is a relatively common one even within the indoor circuit, but another gripe I've always had is the shows that seem to lack a concept other than simply ramming and jamming. I can't honestly say I've ever paid much attention to the guard side of things so I don't know if there's an equivalent lack of depth with those groups that occasionally pops up, but this is a very common occurrence on the percussion side. IT seems that every year there are 5 or 6 shows that are completely concept-less and have a name just so they can come up with a design for the tarp. There are a few groups that tend to do this more than others (NCA comes to mind, though this year is a drastic improvement), but most groups fall into either the no concept grouping or the way too direct with the concept grouping. I've noticed over the past 4 years that I've been involved with indoor (3 years of PIA and .5 years of PIW) that a few groups have broken free from this and it's by no accident that it's the groups that are generally on top. RCC has found their niche with the education/humanistic shows (though this year seems to be an exception), Mystique blows me away with the subtlety they use to attack major concepts and still get them done right and Rhythm X seems to be zoning in on being the B.A. story tellers of the realm. Orange County (Broken City I think now) has certainly found a unique sound that's made me take an unusual interest in a group that struggles to make finals, but I'm not sure they've found a true direction with their shows yet. I really look forward to seeing that group bloom in the future. Anyone have any other thoughts from watching indoor of seasons past?

Was the no motor rule in place before Father Ryan's WGI show with the self-driving snare drums?

Yeesh, they should rethink that title.

Glad to see that my stadium is hosting the Nashville show again. Can't imagine the parking situation though, glad I'll be able to walk from my dorm.

Being a little pedantic here: That show was as much a work of dada as it was a show about it. Watching it from that perspective gives the show a little bit more cohesion and direction and is truly what made me fall in love with it.

That's a pretty huge difference from being 15 to being 18 though. It's not that far back time-wise, but it is development wise.

Glad to see so many people now saying that they appreciated BD 2012. That was a hard season to go through as a fan (I was younger, and took the internet more seriously back then). As much crap as that show got, I will always say that it is the single greatest show design ever put on the field.

I'm not a synth player. (I actually just realized that people can interpret my name to be a reference to synth sounds. Never heard that described as "goo" before). Yes the cadets horn playing was meaningless. Experience doesn't equate to being unable to understand concepts and when you boil it down, the cadets show was about nothing of substance. They played incredibly well, but I had no reason to think during their show (aside from mental math for 30 seconds in the ballad). If you're gonna be a dick and judge the quality of what somebody has to say by their experience then god you really need to get a clue.

I'll take goo if it means I can keep the depth to show design that synthesized sounds allow for. I'd much rather watch a show with meaning than listen to 10 minutes of amazing, but meaningless horn playing (Cadets 2015).

This was developed for a calculus project my junior year of high school. I know very little of actual statistics (mostly self-taught). This was a massive trial and error project I started and just let it get out of hand. The initial project was just growth curve derivatives and I just kept working on it in my free time until it became decent enough to post in public during the BOA season last year. So to answer your question: None/I'm not sure.

Before I left for tour, I was discussing a formula/method I had developed to predict BOA scores with strong results over the past few years. If you don't recall that, I don't really expect you to, but I wanted to share the results from this year as well as my own analysis on it's errors, and a few (occasionally funny) predictions the model occasionally spat back at me. A Brief Description ----------------------------------------------------- The formula takes into account 3 main things when using it attempts to generate scores for World Championships. 1. Growth Patterns The Corps' growth patterns for the last 4 years are modeled with scores being represented as percentages of the World Championship scores in relation to days remaining of tour. The most recent year is weighted 50%, then 25%, then both 3 and 4 years ago at 12.5%. This gives a solid basis of a corps' general growth while also allowing for upward momentum from the most recent years to be modeled in. 2. Spreads Scores on their own are a mere fragment of the end result however. A key portion of the prediction comes from the attempt to cancel out "easy" or "hard" judging. Looking back at where corps usually score at that particular time of season, scores are readjusted to meet where the groups should be at that point in time. This is a known issue, as with DCI competitive fields are often small enough that if enough groups at a show are overperforming from years previous, scores are brought down too far as a result of an apparent "easy" judge. 3. Judges Finals week judges tend to reward groups that they have seen before slightly more. Though often amounting to a tenth or less, this slight bump is modeled in. It then takes these 3 parts and combines them to generate a full set of finals week scores. As a corps performs more, their scores from across the season are averaged (This is a definite huge issue that gets carried over from the BOA formula. There, judging is erratic enough where upward trends can't be fully trusted, whereas here in DCI with the tour format, more recent scores should be weighted higher to ensure that trends outside the norm are accounted for i.e. Crown's uncharacteristic surge this year.) Results ----------------------------------------------------------------- Open Class Prelims --------------------------- 1. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 81.000 2. Blue Devils B 80.15 3. 7th Regiment 77.05 4. Genesis 76.7 5. Legends 76.05 6. Spartans 75.925 7. Music City 73.325 8. Gold 72.9 9. Colt Cadets 68.45 10. River City Rhythm 66.45 11. Raiders 65.7 12. Les Stentors 61.8 13. Racine Scouts 53.875 14. Blue Saints 51.725 INT Jubal 66.925 If they had attended: groups with enough information to generate scores are as follows (9) Golden Empire 71.125 (9) Louisiana Stars 69.625 (10) Guardians 67.675 (11) Watchmen 66.275 (12) Impulse 65.55 (12) Thunder 61.875 (13) Blue Devils C 55.05 (14) Incognito 52.575 Open Class Finals -------------------------- 1. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 81.925 2. Blue Devils B 81.35 3. Genesis 77.25 4. 7th Regiment 77.15 5. Spartans 76.275 6. Legends 76.025 7. Music City 73.5 8. Gold 73.45 9. Raiders 65.875 10. Colt Cadets 65.525 11. River City Rhythm 63.35 12. Les Stentors 61.8 If they had attended: groups with enough information to generate scores are as follows (9) Golden Empire 72.2 (9) Louisiana Stars 70.25 (9) Guardians 69.425 (9) Watchmen 67.05 (9) Impulse 66.3 (12) Thunder 62.95 World Class Prelims ------------------------------- 1. Blue Devils 99.375 2. Cadets 99.3 3. Bluecoats 98.425 4. Carolina Crown 97.75 5. Santa Clara Vanguard 97.35 6. Cavaliers 92.875 7. Blue Knights 92.2 8. Phantom Regiment 91.425 9. Madison Scouts 90.075 10. Blue Stars 89.2 11. Crossmen 87.8 12. Boston Crusaders 87.65 13. Troopers 85.15 14. Colts 85.075 15. Academy 83.95 16. Spirit of Atlanta 82.275 17. Pacific Crest 79.875 18. Mandarins 79.325 19. Oregon Crusaders 78.725 20. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 78.525 21. Blue Devils B 78.15 22. Jersey Surf 73.95 23. Cascades 73.425 24. Genesis 72.875 25. Legends 72.85 26. 7th Regiment 72.35 27. Spartans 72.275 28. Music City 71.275 29. Pioneer 69.875 30. Gold 67.325 31. Jubal 65.125 32. Colt Cadets 62.55 33. Raiders 62.5 34. Gita Surosowan Banten 61.9 35. Chien Kuo 61.3 36. River City Rhythm 60.7 37. Les Stentors 59.15 38. Blue Saints 50.625 39. Racine Scouts 48.775 If they had attended: groups with enough information to generate scores are as follows (30) Columbians 69.225 (31) Golden Empire 66.425 (31) Louisiana Stars 65.675 (32) Guardians 62.875 (35) Watchmen 61.325 (37) Southwind 60.275 (38) Impulse 58.425 (38) Heat Wave 56.95 (38) Thunder 55.75 (38) Eruption 55.125 (38) Blue Devils C 53.6 (39) Incognito 48.95 World Class Semis ------------------------------- 1. Blue Devils 99.2 2. Cadets 98.825 3. Bluecoats 97.675 4. Carolina Crown 97.65 5. Santa Clara Vanguard 96.85 6. Blue Knights 92.225 7. Cavaliers 92.2 8. Phantom Regiment 91.1 9. Madison Scouts 89 10. Blue Stars 88.2 11. Boston Crusaders 87.35 12. Crossmen 87.325 13. Troopers 84.85 14. Colts 83.8 15. Academy 83.7 16. Spirit of Atlanta 81.475 17. Pacific Crest 79.675 18. Mandarins 79.25 19. Blue Devils B 79.15 20. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 78.95 21. Oregon Crusaders 78.825 22. Jersey Surf 73.65 23. Cascades 73.6 24. Genesis 72.625 25. Legends 72.525 World Class Finals ----------------------------- 1. Blue Devils 98.85 2. Cadets 98.275 3. Bluecoats 97.675 4. Carolina Crown 97.3 5. Santa Clara Vanguard 96.675 6. Cavaliers 92.2 7. Blue Knights 91.675 8. Phantom Regiment 91.05 9. Madison Scouts 88.625 10. Blue Stars 87.95 11. Boston Crusaders 87.05 12. Crossmen 86.7 Reflections ------------------------- This was pretty bad. That's a bit of an understatement actually. It got all 12 finalists correct (Take that machine learning!), but didn't experience the success I hoped for after the run it had with BOA scores this year. At least I know where to start fixing it. The plan to fix it is a step-by-step process, making minor adjustments until the desired results are achieved. The main fix will be weighting more recent predicted scores higher to account for moves outside the trend instead of simply plugging forward as this version attempts to do. Tidbits ----------------------- BD would win the Open Class Championship with an incredible 109.375 Despite missing the cutoff for semis, Spartans were predicted in their proper 23rd place if they hadn't. Comments? Questions? Feel like re-iterating just how bad this was, let me know and I'll try to respond to you quickly.