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My favorite show after Madison's. Such emotion!

LOL, gotta love it!

Amen. Bravo!

Go Scouts!

Yay, Kevin's in the house! Just cleaned out the hard drive case (mucho cat fur and dust was liberated) for a smooth finals night drum corps experience, LOL!

You're right about the fact that winning a DCI championship made '83 the show that everyone else wanted to emulate, hence its influence on countless other corps. But in '82, you could see people almost craning their necks, trying to look ahead into that crystal ball to see if this newfangled thing that Garfield put on the field was really going to fly, or was that year's "flash in the pan" show. But I think a lot of people who saw it instinctively knew this was the future of drum corps. It's interesting, because Santa Clara's '80 asymmetrical drill program, while not winning (and, in fact, yielding a relatively low placement for Santa Clara) was very influential, just not right away. But Santa Clara '80 paved the way for Garfield '83. As Pete Emmons said on the "Brass Roots" video (I'm paraphrasing), "OK, George. It's all yours now." Then Zingali proceeded to build on the amazing visual ideas he'd developed with 27th Lancers, and away he went. The rest is history.

Yup. The repetition can create monotony, but Boo is a professional, and I know he will find a way! Kevin Gamin is there, as well. Just saw a photo of his vantage point (waaay up there) posted on Facebook, and look forward to reading his reports!

Yup, that's how I remember it.

Boo had a very long day. I don't envy him having to stay up and write analysis long after most others have gone to sleep, but unfortunately that goes with the territory of writing on tight deadlines, with people expecting to read about it now. Hope today is a bit shorter for you, Mike!

Hear, hear!

I think the only way a fall will dramatically affect a score is if it causes a major, lasting disruption visually or musically (or both). As with any error, if there is a quick recovery, then the impact is greatly diminished. My understanding is that with the snare fall last year, it took a while for the individual to recover, and in the meantime there was some musical fallout, as well, so the score suffered more. I wasn't there, so take my comment with a grain of salt. I'm just going by observations that others posted. I remember this moment; it stands out because, unfortunately for that guard member, the drop happened just as the camera focused in on that section of guard. But I think it's also important to remember that, especially via the old telecasts, our only window into that world is limited by what camera angles/editing were chosen at a particular moment. Winning performances are never as "perfect" as we like to think they are . . . and just because errors weren't caught on camera doesn't mean that none occurred. As the previous poster noted, the big picture may outweigh any individual error that happened to be preserved for all to see on video.

Here's another photo taken by my friend, Bonnie Harmon, at 1988 DCI finals:

I find myself agreeing with much of what you have posted (especially the difficulty/demand aspect, collisions/falls, worrying about the performers on the field and wondering whether it's worth the risk, even on an artistic/competitive level). Thanks for a well-thought-out, reasoned reply!

I agree, and you see several mentions of that point in this thread. I just think everyone remembers '83 because the foundation that was laid in '82 became a complete, fully realized structure in '83. Minor point, but I also loved Garfield's rifle line in '82 and wish they'd had one in '83.

Best of luck to all the finalist corps. Wish I could be there!

Oh, demons just wanna have fun, LOL! But I must say, that two-uniform color scheme is a wonderful idea, especially the way it's been integrated into the drill. It gives the forms an added depth.

Yup, just close it and reopen, and it should be fine.

Yup, it's happened to me several times tonight.

I really like this Blue Devils show . . . props and all!

Cavaliers are still the masters of drill and spellbinding visual effects. Even without the upside-down gimmick (which is a pretty darned impressive feat, by the way), they would've had my jaw dropping the entire way.

That's a fun Crown show. It's neat to see them not taking themselves quite so seriously. Obviously fun for the audience, too!

Same here. Wonderful show! And now for something completely different . . . !

Wow, I LOVE Phantom's show! The all-female guard is fantastic, and this is the first show since Madison that's held my interest from start to finish. Bravo!

As a longtime Santa Clara fan, it pains me to say this, but musically this show just isn't doing much for me.

90.35 for Boston.