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Absolutely, I'm blown away how much they cleaned, etc. as I hadn't remembered that they were that much behind.

I think had it been held a week earlier....well you know what I mean!

On Brass Roots my good friend Jim E. who you met in Orlando said something like the 1980 Blue Devils were the total package. He was going over the corps that set the standard so to speak during certain eras. So for that year to stick out in his mind is a nice feeling knowing we and other corps were very close!

But, BD seems to have set the standard period.....oh they were/are so seamless.

Yeah.....if finals had been the week of Allentown.......it would have been very interesting!

Yes, Jim seemed like a really nice person who knew what he was talking about. I can see now why you have always looked up to him. I agree that BD always seems to be one of the ones setting the standard or trend in drum corps.

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Absolutely, I'm blown away how much they cleaned, etc. as I hadn't remembered that they were that much behind.

I think had it been held a week earlier....well you know what I mean!

On Brass Roots my good friend Jim E. who you met in Orlando said something like the 1980 Blue Devils were the total package. He was going over the corps that set the standard so to speak during certain eras.  So for that year to stick out in his mind is a nice feeling knowing we and other corps were very close! 

But, BD seems to have set the standard period.....oh they were/are so seamless.

Yeah.....if finals had been the week of Allentown.......it would have been very interesting!

Yes, Jim seemed like a really nice person who knew what he was talking about. I can see now why you have always looked up to him. I agree that BD always seems to be one of the ones setting the standard or trend in drum corps.

Not only that, but it always seemed to me that they had the total package. In other words, not only were their show designs seamless, but they were also consistently strong across the board, in every caption. It's pretty rare to consider any edition of the Blue Devils and find a glaring weakness. Or not even a glaring weakness, but just an area that disrupts the balance. They've always made it look so easy, when any careful examination of the horn, drum and guard book, along with the visual program, revealed a pretty complex show. There's this saying that the great ones make it look easy. That, IMO, is the Blue Devils' trademark.

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Absolutely, I'm blown away how much they cleaned, etc. as I hadn't remembered that they were that much behind.

I think had it been held a week earlier....well you know what I mean!

On Brass Roots my good friend Jim E. who you met in Orlando said something like the 1980 Blue Devils were the total package. He was going over the corps that set the standard so to speak during certain eras.  So for that year to stick out in his mind is a nice feeling knowing we and other corps were very close! 

But, BD seems to have set the standard period.....oh they were/are so seamless.

Yeah.....if finals had been the week of Allentown.......it would have been very interesting!

Yes, Jim seemed like a really nice person who knew what he was talking about. I can see now why you have always looked up to him. I agree that BD always seems to be one of the ones setting the standard or trend in drum corps.

Not only that, but it always seemed to me that they had the total package. In other words, not only were their show designs seamless, but they were also consistently strong across the board, in every caption. It's pretty rare to consider any edition of the Blue Devils and find a glaring weakness. Or not even a glaring weakness, but just an area that disrupts the balance. They've always made it look so easy, when any careful examination of the horn, drum and guard book, along with the visual program, revealed a pretty complex show. There's this saying that the great ones make it look easy. That, IMO, is the Blue Devils' trademark.

Unless you consider BD's 1981 drumscore at finals.

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As well their guards were tight during my era, precision personified, but didn't take any risks what so ever. They were clean, and had almost a pretty look about them, although they were crisp! I'd have to say that the years I march their guard book did lack...can't speak about the 81 drums...

Edited by LancerFi
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As well their guards were tight during my era, precision personified, but didn't take any risks what so ever. They were clean, and had almost a pretty look about them, although they were crisp! I'd have to say that the years I march their guard book did lack...can't speak about the 81 drums...

I have to agree with you LancerFi as far as BD's 1980 demand or written difficulty with their guard work.....they were clean, but they did not have nearly as much demand as you guys did. I think their rifles only tossed doubles and you guys would rip a quad like there's no tomorrow.....not only that but your exchanges... b**bs

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Unless you consider BD's 1981 drumscore at finals.

That's why I said "pretty rare." I didn't mean to imply that it was unheard of for BD to be relatively weaker in one caption than another. And the '81 drum line is one example of that (though the '81 show is one of my favorite BD shows).

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As well their guards were tight during my era, precision personified, but didn't take any risks what so ever.  They were clean, and had almost a pretty look about them, although they were crisp!  I'd have to say that the years I march their guard book did lack...can't speak about the 81 drums...

I have to agree with you LancerFi as far as BD's 1980 demand or written difficulty with their guard work.....they were clean, but they did not have nearly as much demand as you guys did. I think their rifles only tossed doubles and you guys would rip a quad like there's no tomorrow.....not only that but your exchanges... b**bs

Are you sure BD's rifles tossed only doubles? I'm almost positive I saw higher than that, plenty of triples and a few quads.

I've had this discussion several times, but I guess I'll rehash it again. There were guards with high physical demand--Two-Seven and Phantom are in that group--and then there were guards with a softer approach, less physical demand, but the work had such a variety that the mental demand was fairly high. I've always considered Blue Devils and Santa Clara to be in that second category. Less physical demand, but a more ethereal style that is, in its own way, hard to sell convincingly. Yet more often than not, both guards have managed to do it. My money is usually on a BD guard, though, because their execution has always been so high.

By the way, I'm not saying that Two-Seven and Phantom guards didn't have high mental demand, along with the physical demand. They did. I'm just talking about where the emphasis seemed to be with each guard, in terms of style.

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Are you sure BD's rifles tossed only doubles? I'm almost positive I saw higher than that, plenty of triples and a few quads.

of style.

That's why I said, "I think...." because I'm not sure....I'll have to go back and review the videos. I don't think their rifles did quads.....maybe triples, with lots of doubles. B)

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They had approximately 4-6 triples, as far as doing a quad from straight, they'd be pretty hard pressed to do that.....I believe ours was both physical and mental! I don't think it was possible to have our kind of book without the mental, JHO of course and a very biased one at that....we did take the guard trophy both years 79 & 80 as you know...and a few others.

No quads, I've watched it over and over for the pure beauty of the show!

We only did 1 5 and a very hazardous one! And that exchange, well, nevermind...

Edited by LancerFi
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No quads, I've watched it over and over for the pure beauty of the show!

We only did 1 5 and a very hazardous one! And that exchange, well, nevermind...

See....that's what I thought too, they didn't toss a quad. In fact not many guards that year in the top 12 tossed a quad.....mainly due to the "tick system." Today guards aren't pressed for being so clean or worried about drops....not to say that they don't strive to be clean, they just don't have that extra pressure with being ticked for timing. Also today's guards will whip out quads, fives and even sixes.

LancerFi ya gotta tell us about that exchange..... you always say "nevermind" which makes us curious.

B)

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