soldier81

Diplomats of Malden MA- 1984 Allentown Class A Winners

Dont worry guys, as a former Dip I can tell you that most of our turnout were people from the immediate area and were hardly ever what we ended up marching with in June/July. For now, do the best you can with what you have and anything you add is gravy...Good luck all :) :) :)

How about the greatest snare line of all time? My vote 1980 Bridgemen

#10 Cans of Dinty More Beef Stew, always good in a pinch. Chicken patties are very versitile ie just put some spaghetti sauce on top with cheese and you have chicken parm. Always have ice cold something on hand Good luck

I went to BCT at FT. Jackson in 1989. I was in third platoon E 1/28. Third platoon had some very "unorthodox" Drill Sergeants and were usally given the bottom of the barrell as far as recruits went. This time was no exception as about a third of the platoon was made up of ESL(english as a second language) soldiers. Needless to say the Drills were ###### and took it out us whenever they could. Anyway the coveted prize was to be the Honor Platoon. The honor platoon was the platoon that averaged the highest score after marksmanship, marching, phisical fitness, and common tasks. The first compitition was drill and we were hopelessly lost. So with that the senior drill had a drill down to see who could help out. After 20 minutes it was down to me and a guy that was in JROTC and he was extremly cocky that he would win. The senior drill finally got the other guy anticipating the command of execution and I won. The Rotc guy came up to me and said were did you learn to march like that I told him drum corps, which was heard by one of the Drills. He looked at me smiled and said "not to be confused with band geeks" and mouthed TROOPERS. Any way with the help of myself and the Rotc guy pur platoon went into the Drill compitition ready to go. Usualy the Army dresses to the right but on one movement I had taught them to dress center and the formation stayed right on the whole time. We ended up winning the Drill, and eventually used the misfits as our calling card and much to the chagrin of the other platoons won honor platoon and got a pizza party. Unfortunately for us the other platoons Drill was on duty that night noticed the pizza boxes and smoked the whole platoon till some of us blew pizza all over the barracks floor. Thats how Drum Corps help us....BCT was easy compared to Drum Corps, but the Esprit DE Corps is the same and I am proud to say that both have been a privilage to take part in both... PS when I was squad leader I got dropped repeatedly for saying Ten Hut instead of ATTENTION

If you want to hear clean go to the 27th Lancers homepage and click on mp3 downloads, click on 1980 and listen. They also,IMO, had the best colorguard. To loose by a tenth, to a boring BD show is stll beyond my grasp... :sshh: :sshh: :sshh:

I'd definately say the Blue Coats, but, then again I still think 27th should have won in 1980

How about all those years Boston played Conquest

It seemed as though every time we went off the field in '85 the Knights were either going on or on while we were puting away our equipment. I didnt get to see them untill semis...Wow soo much power from a corps with 30 or so horns...They were great

Wow how to whittle this down? Well here goes: '77 Bridgemen(fun show outweighs the controvesy) '80 27th Lancers(not just cuz I wanted to go to Lake Placid) '82 Garfield Cadets(their show at prelims was one to write home about) '85 Star of Indiana '80 North Stah(cuz they were wicked awesome)

Santa Clara all the way

No one mentioned '84 Spirit in there hometown blew the roof off yellow jacket stadium. Anyone remember how hot that astroturf was. ^0^ ^0^ ^0^

As a member of the Malden Diplomats I must say that all the corps we are mentioning were fighting it out in the early '80's. Dutch Boy, Florida Wave and Marauders. I guess we made each other that much better. Can I say that I had a hand in making the Blue Coats as good as they are now ?

ITs a wheel polish. Designed for all different types of metal. Trust me put it on buff it out and watch as the cornea burns out of the crowds eyes.

Any time the crowd is load enough to cause a top five corps to cross tempo becase they couldnt hear on the field would have to qualify. In 1982 I was there on the 50 when SCV did the bottle dance. I still count my blessings that the stadium didnt fall down around us. SCV all the way

Wasnt '85 the year they also stated the weighted scoring system as well?

Why thank you we did! We had alot of noteables, to include Cavies, come to us and tell us that we rocked. I think '85 was our best year. The bass diddles on 'Jovaneis' our drum solo still give me goose bumps. That was all due to our awesome staff, all 2-7 and North Stah Alums.

Can those kids in that Corps make it to DIV1 in the life cycle of a member? I dont think so. I dont hate this activity I hate what has become of it. You can say you are progressing with the times, but by throwing away the traditions of the past you lose a valuable sence of what drum corps is supposed to be. Plus you alienate alot of drum corps alumni, losing a large source of revenue and manpower. Hey, drive on changing the essence of drum corps if you think its progress. To me drum corps is about representing your city or area, and with that pride looking to improve YOUR CORPS. All of these perenial Top twelve Corps started off in that fashion. Now the younger corps are used primarily as stepping stones just look at the sponsorship forum on this board. Next year take a hard look at the amount of shoes left on the field after the DIV2/3 retreat and ask yourselves is this progress?

I am not saying that CorpsRep isnt a great source for us. It is however a little disheartening when the Corps that you cried, swetted and bled for isnt even a footnote. That would never happen to 2-7 and should, based on recent experience, never happen to anyone. I will start sending my old E-mass and DCE stuff to those guys so that our memories are preserved.

Look Dad, First of all a 9th place corps today can be alot more selective towards membership due to the lack of competition from other Corps in their area, and as a result you can write a harder book with a 9th place Corps...Is this good for DCI, I dont think so. Back in the 70's and 80's you could actually play your way up to DIV1(Open Class), whereas now you have to go out and hire someone to teach you how to trumpet(insert musical instument here). Also, you have to send your Color Guard hopefull to dance class. So what you have now is not the instructional medium that it used to be it is more of and endstate to get your precious visual packages. Second by retro I meant going out wth G bugles, having a color guard that focussed on carriage and not dance, and would never think of Amps in the pit. My retro corps would also take a chance on people with less musicianship but with a proper attitude. This may not be a winning recipe but it will inspire loyaty to the Corps and would ensure that membership stayed constant. Finally Dad, people should look to DCI for creative ideas. We would never have dreamed to go to any winter activity for anything other than recruitment. At one time Drum Corps was an extension of the veterans in town who used their musical ability to inspire kids to get off the streets and participate. This form of emulation made Drum Corps a strong and vibrant activity regardless of size or musical ability. Todays drum corps is a place where egos by the hierarchy have created an unatainable situation for most kids off the street. I would definatley call that regression!

Wish I had seen the '85 finals too...I was on the back of our bus, uhh, never mind ^0^ ^0^ ^0^

At least you guys didnt get lost...what section were you in ripper?

Guess what I found a photo of the 1985 Class A Finals. Thats us and The Canadian Knights http://www.thefog.com/dips/retreat.jpg

Hey we played YYZ as a street beat in '85

The other day I went to CorpsRep to look at the scores(I still cant believe how bad we got jobbed) and to my horror saw that my corps was not even on the list <**> So I wrote the web master; check this out To Whom it may concern, In 1985 I marched with the Diplomats of Malden Ma. Not only were we at finals that year we tied the Canadian Knights who also don't show up on your list. What Gives? I am sure I speak for all of us when I you have slighted a great memory of Drum Corps for us. I think you should fix this ASAP. Sorry for the mistake. Certainly nothing intentional to slight your corps. 1985 appears to have been an unusual year. In open class there were prelims, quarters, semis and finals. I think we have the whole year messed up and it is going to take some work to fix. A number of corps competed in prelims, some (all) went on to quarters. Some of those advanced to semis and were joined with still other corps who had yet to compete. As far as I can see this is the only year of this format. You are correct about the tie for 16th place in quarters. I'll need to figure how out to display that because really isn't a 16th place finish since there were a number of corps who only competed later in the week. Also let me point out that we do have the scores from finals week for your corps in our score archive. http://www.corpsreps.com/scores.cfm?view=c...37&corpstype=Ju nior&yearqry=1985 I'm surprised this is the first someone has raised this problem. It isn't just your corps and the Knights. There are a host of others not properly being displayed. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Regards, Chris My first Question was Was that the first year of that format? If so then how is it so hard to determine the placings? Either way at the time it made me a mad and confirmed that we had gotten jobbed ^0^ ^0^ ^0^