Leaderboard

Kudos to them for not making us wait until seconds before their first show to announce. That being said, everything Bloo has put out the last few years has been AMAZING so I’m really excited to see what they have in store for us this year. The Bluecoats have become that corps that I will drive several hours to see because you have to experience them live to truly appreciate what they do.

1. Crown 2. Blue Devils 3. Cavies/SCV 4. SCV/Cavies 5. Bluecoats 6. Boston 7. Phantom 8. Cadets for starters this is my first ever post on here and i am quite new to DCI i started following closely in 2015. as far as my predictions go I am very excited for Crown and Boston this year. Boston looks like they have their eyes set for top 3 and i have no doubt that they will get it but not this year. I think crown is hungry for gold and is ready to take it with a vengeance. their battery is developing very very nicely and their brass shocks me every time i see them. i think that this is the year that crown will get a championship. I think the cavaliers are going to really surprise people this year but i am undecided on if they will medal or not. .......blue devils....... bluecoats can always just turn their volume up and get top 5 because why not. SCV Won't release much so idk. going off of last year they can definitely medal Cadets: i am really rooting on them this year. i want them to do great and i wish them the very best. i think this year will be one to develop. my personal favorites are Crown, SCV and Boston.

Given that I am being pummeled via pm and text msg over what I witnessed last weekend...I think I can say the following. Think of the corps' growth from 2016 to 2017....that rate of growth (in all facets of show design, talent levels, and performance levels) has exploded exponentially in 2018. This is Boston's TILT. When I predicted last June that BAC might finish in 5th or 6th and could even possibly medal in guard people laughed. Thus, I am not going to predict any placement for 2018. Just gonna enjoy each performance.

Very excited to see what everyone thinks! We just got a sneak preview of the repertoire an hour ago.

Man, given the opportunity to do so during spring training I would have eaten like 3 Primanti’s sandwiches

Same, but then, I'm personally invested in one of those kids! :)

And with SCV's show officially announced, the Bluecoats have something on the way...

SCV 2018: "Babylon" http://scvanguard.org/scv-2018-babylon

Thanks, Jeff

What the hell is everyone talking about? Nothing is shared between BD & SCV’s source material lists.

What's obvious ? BD announces first last year and this year lol... so.............. ?

1. Blue Devils 2. SCV 3. Cavaliers 4. Crown/Bluecoats/Boston 5. Bluecoats/Crown/Boston 6. Boston/Bluecoats/Crown 7. Cadets 8. Blue Knights 9. Phantom 10. Blue Stars 11. Scouts 12.Crossmen:-) But hey...what do I know? I'm just a Popcorn Eater! :-)

i couldn't agree more

and there will be a lot of very happy people a little after noon on Saturday!!!

My. Body. Is. Ready.

Really wanna say Crown’s gonna take it this year, but I really think this will be another BD year. I do need to hear what Crown is putting out first though. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be shocked by Cadets this year. I don’t think there’s a corps who wants to prove something more than them this year. I really don’t see them staying in 7th but... we’ll see. My wild cards are Bloo and Cavies... in a way I don’t really know what to expect from them. SCV will be good but... just don’t see it for them (unpopular opinion I know)

My first post in a very long time but I thought I'd take a stab with some preseason projections. I mainly used the very lovely graph that was posted a bit earlier to figure out average placement(AP) and average movement(AM) for each corp over the past 5 years and that is mostly what I am basing this off of with some gut feelings. Most of the numbers came out to decimals so I just rounded them to the nearest whole number. (.4 or below rounded down, .5 or above rounded up. Some corps will have same average placement so I made gut calls on those) 1. Blue Devils (AP= 1, AM=0) Could definitely see Crown taking top spot and history shows next year is a #2 year for BD but who knows! 2. Carolina Crown (AP=3, AM=0) As said above wouldn't be surprised to see Crown take the top spot this year! 3. Bluecoats (AP=3, AM=0) I see Bluecoats making a return to the medal stand this year. Maybe even in the mix for gold 4. Santa Clara Vanguard (AP=4, AM=1) Probably will be in the hunt to medal as well, and history shows they're looking upward so wouldn't be surprised to see them edge someone out 5. The Cavaliers(AP=6, AM=1) I think the Cavaliers secure 5th place, but a very strong 5th place, could be in medal contention as well 6. The Cadets(AP=5, AM=-1) Looks as tho the Cadets break back into the top 6 and I believe it's possible, but Boston could be one to take that spot once again 7. Boston Crusaders (AP=9, AM=0) Boston caught lightning in a bottle last year and jumped 6 places in one year. But I can see just looking in from the outside of the top 6 this year but can also see them taking that 6th spot 8. Blue Knights (AP=8, AM=0) Improve upon last year but too much in the top 7 to overcome 9. Phantom Regiment (AP=7, AM=-1) Same as BK but too much too overcome right now, could see them swapping places with Blue Knights though 10. Madison Scouts (AP 11, AM=-1) Anniversary year so could see them jumping a few places with the right show 11. Blue Stars (AP=10, AM=0) Looks like Blue Stars will fall at about 11th place 12. Crossmen (AP= 12, AM=0) Crossmen round out the top 12 but could also see them out this year Now these are just from history and some gut feelings and predictions! I will most definitely have different opinions once the season starts but just wanted to try this out for now! Hope no one takes this seriously

i didnt laugh. i thought it was possible as more dysfunction appeared elsewhere. In fact I drove to Hanover HS Stadium to take a video of the place Boston last beat Cadets the day after it happened.

I think it's interesting how Bluecoats and Boston were at opposite ends of the 2016 finalists, and then met near the middle in 2017.

It would make a cool T-shirt.

So true. I can’t wait to see what everyone has to offer this year. The assessment you made for top 6 could easily apply to who will stay in top 12. Manderins and Academy in particular have been pushing so hard and Colts and Troopers are right on their heels. I find each year it’s harder and harder to go watch the lot because I don’t want to miss the full shows. Heck, even bathroom breaks are getting harder to time! It’s going to be another great year!

with 11 in Open, they all have a good shot

It's like the term metadata: data about the data (if you know anything about information technology).

Speaking of jokes on the Cadets' Twitter...

Vanguard Boston Crown Blue Devils Bluecoats Cavaliers Blue Knights Blue Stars Cadets Mandarins Academy Regiment Crossmen Madison Troopers SCV Cadets Colts Genesis Spirit BDB Legends Pacific Crest Oregon Crusaders Music City Louisiana Stars

I doubt it. Theres no correlation at all to announcements of music/ themes and a season's success. Nor levels of hype and later that season, that Corps eventual placements. Nor should there be. DCI judges probably couldn't tell who came out early, or late with themes/ music announcements. They don't care. They don't care if a Corps is hyped too much, hyped about right, or hyped not nearly enough. Theres nothing on the score sheets for any of this.... lol!. Corps have come in 1st and 5th when getting their themes/ music out pretty much at the on the same date, both years. Corps have been among the very first to get their themes/ music out to the public, and never made finals later that season too. Judges will score Corps in competition, and it won't mean a hill of beans if any of these Corps announced their show themes/ music selections early or did so last. Nor will that Corps levels of much hype, or lack thereof, have any future bearing on what the judges will ultimately put down in their scores,

Boston had a good practice today at Castleton, Vermont and as previously scheduled, the MM's had a free nite off tonite, and will be right back at it tomorrow.. Boston has a lot of work to do to reach their goals, imo. But they're on track, on schedule. Morale is sky high. They're working hard, and working smart. Theres enormous talent and great potential in every Corps section I've watched and listened to with this year's edition of the 2018 Boston Crusaders. I've heard it said that the marchers are even saying they can't wait to get out there this summer. After watching and listening to them today up close and live, I can fully understand why that is. The sky is the limit with this 2018 edition of the Boston Crusaders. Nothing is out of reach.

Ok I’ll play 1. BD 2. BAC 3. Bloo 4. SCV 5. Crown 6. Cavies 7. BK 8. Cadets 9. PR 10. Blue Star 11. Academy 12. Madison Brass: BD Percussion: BAC Guard: BAC Visual: BD GE: BD

I would not bet against that. Anything can happen... but Cincy clearly is a corps on the way up.

Translation: Tradition won, and now they've moving up to Open Class and contending for a finalist spot. Film at 11.

Going for the Sanford. Nice beats

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Not at all! Crunching numbers and making guesses is the best we can do for the next three weeks.

Thankyou!

Can't get enough of this!!

Mine, for May 31. 1. Blue Devils-Brass (tie)/GE/Guard/Visual 2. Boston- 3. Crown-Brass (tie) 4. Cavaliers 5. SCV-Percussion 6. Bluecoats 7. Cadets 8. Blue Knights 9. Madison Scouts 10. Phantom 11. Crossmen 12. Mandarins 13. Colts 14. Blue Stars 15. Academy 16. Troopers 17. SCVC 18. Spirit 19. BDB 20. Oregon Crusaders 21. Pacific Crest

Follow the everyday lives of the admin, volunteers, educational staff, and membership of the Guardians DBC as they live & rehearse in Angleton, TX. Watch as we capture their quite humorous & bizarre encounters while they create music in motion and produce & perform their 2018 production, ######. #DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGuardians #YungGuardians #KendrickLaMahler

Top 12 + captions. I hope im wrong with the top 3 SCV Blue Devils Crown Boston Bluecoats Cavaliers Cadets Phantom Blue Stars Blue Knights Madison Crossmen Brass: Crown Guard: Devils Percussion: SCV Vis: SCV GE: SCV Dm: Cadets

That seems like a lot of effort for a warm-up chorale, but whatever works to keep ya on brand!

For what it's worth, I think CT will make Finals, and that they have a good chance of placing higher than tenth.

Yup. Sounds awesome.

spot on. Hannum loves hand motion changes as often as possible. Aungst makes it feel like a ton of notes when it really isn't...Rarick goes for notes/groove and "what the #### was that" LOL

that is an amazing stat

One interesting note from Scott: not a single marching member from before the Hopkins news broke has left the corps.

if there is a Corps that is currently on various social media with marketing of their Corps via video clips ( facebook, instagram, twitter, et al including Flo Marching ) more than Carolina Crown at the moment, I would not know who that would be. ( good for them, by the way )

Sawhorses bottom right Sometimes you gotta fix what you moved into in 2014

My tickets came in the mail! WOOO!

My spring training rankings for the top 3: 1. Crown 2. SCV 3. BD my next two corps: 4. Boston 5. Bluecoats then: 6. Cavaliers 7. Regiment 8. Cadets 9. Blue Stars 10. Blue Knights 11. Crossmen 12. Mandarins I personally expect an extremely strong line up of corps this summer

Be Bold! I'm pondering too. The Cancer is gone so the body will have more energy to get out there and go for blood. Since many people are counting Cadets out, my predictions: 1. Blue Devils 2. Cadets 3. Carolina Crown/Bluecoats (lol) 4. SCV 5. Cavaliers 6. Phantom 7. Boston 8. Blue Knights 9. Crossmen 10. Madison 11. Blue Stars 12. Academy