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I'm assuming that the person who posted this was saying that due to gender, s/he either couldn't march one of the all-male corps or Phantom, even though one of them (I assume) is more geographically convenient. But that doesn't make much sense, as there are at least two corps based in Illinois, the other two based in Wisconsin (though Madison is running many of its camps and other operations out of the Star facilities in Bloomington, Indiana), and all would be within a reasonable driving distance. A female guard member who is automatically excluded from Cavaliers actually has a better shot of getting into Phantom's guard, due to them being all-female. And then a female guard member who is barred from Madison can audition for Blue Stars. Not to mention Pioneer and Racine Scouts (both from Wisconsin). Conversely, a male guard member who would have been excluded from Phantom's guard this year could have auditioned for any of the other geographically convenient corps that did have co-ed or all-male guards. If it's not specific to the guard, then of course corps members can march almost anywhere, depending on their own personal circumstances. As I noted before, at least with World Class corps, few of them take "just about anyone off the streets" anymore, the way corps once did. So there is always going to be some sort of discrimination taking place, because that's part of passing an audition; you have to meet whatever requirements are set forth by the group you're auditioning for.

Hear, hear! Like many others, I was unable to attend finals, but was happy to see the videos posted on Fan Network! I was also thrilled to see and hear "Empire State of Mind" in Madison's performance. I'm hoping that means the synch rights were finally resolved?

1986. And, in fairness, they did have a guard at various points of the show, but a very small one.

It's too bad that the video isn't still commercially available, but I'm glad that it's at least available on the Fan Network. There's so much great history there, especially considering that some of those wonderful round-table participants (Fred Sanford and George Bonfiglio) are no longer with us. I transferred my videotape to DVD because the tape was starting to deteriorate. I figured I'd better get it on a more durable format before it fell apart completely!

I can't comment on that, as I don't recall. Geoff will have to clarify where he got his info for that entry. Here's a DCP thread in which this was discussed (and you asked the same question back then, too; seems to be a case of "dueling memories"): DCI Best Color Guard Awards Yup, I remember that. I don't know if everyone did this, but I recall talking about guard scores in '78 and converting them to double digits (rather than a decimal point). For example, in prelims we scored 1.7, but called it 17. It just sounded better than a measly point and something. Well, all I can say is that I clearly remember Santa Clara being announced as the guard trophy winner in '78, and there was a lot of grumbling about it. I can't specifically recall for 1979, maybe because it didn't stir up so much controversy.

Well, that's true for pretty much everyone, right? Isn't being geographically "fortunate" (or unfortunate) simply another form of discrimination? If you don't live near a corps -- any corps -- and can't afford to fly to camps, then economics become a form of discrimination. That became a sad fact of life as DCI adopted a national touring model, and more and more corps folded.

My initial thought is to agree. Yet I've never really understood this comment. It's not like the old days, when choices for women on with whom they could march were severely limited. Now there are countless choices for both women and men. So why pick on two who choose, for whatever reason, to remain true to their feelings about their own roots and traditions? They are private organizations, and it is their choice on whom to pick for membership. When you get right down to it, that's true for all corps; there are just different criteria applied. There is some form of discrimination in all corps. While I don't think it's right, I'm pretty certain that body shape and appearance are used to judge who gets in and who doesn't. Should someone who is physically fit and can spin, but is overweight, be given the same opportunity as someone with equal ability, but who is thinner? I think so . . . but I'll bet that more often than not, it doesn't happen that way.

True, but I think we can go beyond the tragic "worst-case scenario" aspect of what happened at the fairgrounds and view this in a more practical way. There have been a few rainy moments at DCI finals, but nothing that I can recall to compare with the stormy weather that happened last night. It's one thing to have a rain-out (more accurately, a lightning/tornado warning-out) at a regular contest, but to have DCI finals rained out is something completely different. Having championship week in a dome, while not ideal in many respects, does solve a lot of safety/logistical nightmares that can be brought on by bad weather.

I understand your point. For example, when Santa Clara's guard was co-ed in '88 (doing the "Phantom of the Opera" show), then did essentially the same show in '89 but with an all-female guard, I felt that that was a mistake. However, it was a programming decision in which they decided to use the guard to focus more specifically on the Christine character, rather than using a co-ed guard to tell the larger story through more characters. I think this year, the decision was made for the same reason. Phantom used the guard to focus exclusively on the Juliet character, and for them it really worked. The pain of discrimination is a valid point. For many years, girls and young women were excluded from all sections of the corps, based on nothing more than their sex. Then, slowly, women were admitted to the color guard section, and when that happened, the guard was typically all-female. Many corps were resistant to adding females to the horn and drum lines, and finally caved in only when practicality necessitated it (meaning, they couldn't get enough guys to fill out those sections). I'm trying to remember when Santa Clara finally started letting females into the horn line. Early '80s? It seems to me they were one of the last of the co-ed corps to finally allow that to happen.

Also, just to clarify, in 1978 Santa Clara and Two-Seven did tie for the top score in the finals guard caption, but in the notes that I took at DCI finals, I have the award being presented solely to Santa Clara (probably because they also won the GE caption, and that was used as the tie-breaker): There was a lotta head-shaking over that . . . and as much as I enjoyed the softer, subtle, elegant quality that Santa Clara brought to the table, I would have to agree. IMO, any guard that does not have weapons should not win against a guard that does, and especially one with as great a guard book as 27th Lancers consistently had. The only aspect of Two-Seven's show I didn't like that year was putting the rifle line on pompoms. That's like putting world champion equestrians on a pony ride!

Yup, I remember that. Bizarre moment! Here on DCP, there have been several threads devoted to this topic, thanks to the fact that the criteria for determining the DCI finals guard caption award winner have varied wildly over the years. Here's the most recent info I could find, courtesy of Geoff (the reason Spirit is listed in parentheses a couple of times is because we were debating which years Spirit won the guard trophy): (GMichael1230 @ Jul 25 2006, 12:10 PM) Ok, here goes: 1972 Anaheim Kingsmen 1973 Troopers 1974 SCV 1975 27th 1976 27th 1977 Phantom Regiment 1978 SCV/27th 1979 27th 1980 27th 1981 SCV 1982 Blue Devils 1983 Madison Scouts 1984 Blue Devils 1985 Spirit of Atlanta 1986 Blue Devils (Spirit 2nd) 1987 Spirit of Atlanta 1988 Phantom Regiment (Spirit 4th) 1989 Cadets 1990 Blue Devils 1991 Cadets 1992 Blue Devils 1993 Cadets 1994 Cadets 1995 Blue Devils 1996 Cadets 1997 Blue Devils 1998 Blue Devils 1999 Blue Devils 2000 Cavaliers 2001 Blue Devils 2002 Cavaliers 2003 Blue Devils 2004 Cavaliers 2005 Cadets ~G~

Yay!!!

Beautiful photo, Kevin! Thank you, once again, for being our eyes and ears at finals!

This is pure speculation, but I wonder if he has a chronic pain condition. He just did not look like he was sitting comfortably. But maybe I'm overly sensitive to that, knowing people who are living with chronic pain.

Oh Lord, that's horrible. I'm glad everyone's safe and sound in the Oil Can. That really puts it all in context.

I'm in now. Got to see Juliet "die"!

LOL, joining the herd trying to get into DCI.org, and I've got nothin'!

True. And that doesn't even take into account that he marched with Cavies.

Oops, I meant appointed hour. Oh, well!

If I remember correctly from last year, it didn't appear until the anointed hour . . . er, minute.

Unless the power goes out.

LOL, I forgot that part! OK, back to Cavies. They may be pining for the fjords by the end if their show!

Their metabolic processes are now history! They're off the twig! They've kicked the bucket, they've shuffled off their mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible! This is an EX-DRUM CORPS!

Which is interesting when you consider what the style of the guard was from the '70s until they radically reinvented themselves in 1987. They were all-female then too, but had a very "in your face" style until they went with a more feminine style in '87. Interestingly enough, Blessed Sac's indoor guard underwent a similar transformation, and also did so very successfully.

Yup.