PR_ducky

Somehting else to notice is most controversy came int he years with fewer judges. Over the years I marched and taught there were as many as 11 and as few as 6 judges. not surprisingly the SCV/PR 89 debate stems from the year with 6 judges.

We all remember a corps that cam out of nowhere to steal a championship or a spot in finals, what were the most surprising? The two that REALLY stick out for me are: 1988 Madison. They finished 5th and Midwest championships and when they won DCI no one could believe it. That was the year they did not announce semi scores so no one knew who was in first. 1996 Regiment, 4th in qrtrs, 3 in semis, tie for 1st in finals

Well you can never bring up 89 without the SCV vs. PR subject. As a member of PR I have to say it was an amazing summer. as has been noted, SCV won GE and thats what gave it to them. PR won visual and brass. (someone criticized the lack of marching in the drum solo) Even as a member of PR I had to give credit to SCV after all they went thru DCI week. For those of you who are to young to remember, they got caught with 2 overage members the week before DCI. (NOT SCVs fault by the way, they had forged their birth certificates). At the time, there was talk of DQing them, but I don't think that was ever a serious consideration. Then at quarterfinals, they score a 97.0, but get assesed a .2 penalty for something or another so PR gets the nod with our 96.9 afer things got sorted out they got the penalty removed and got to go on last at semis after all. THEN, at finals the announcer when reading the scores read "In second place, with a score of 98.4, the SSSSSSSantom Regiment" We were next to them in retreat and both corps did a double take, and it took a few seconds to sink in. was the most bizarre 3 day event I was ever a part of LOL For those of you who really loved SCV in 89, you owe it to yourself to see their 88 show, it really was better.

Should have been there in 88 when both Madison and VK played it the same year. Talk about a contrast. Scouts jazzed it up and blew the stands down, VK played it straight and had the stands in stitches, anyone else remember the bull pissing on the matador?

OK ~G~ I knew as soon as I said that in the last thread it was a mistake, but here it goes. and PLEASE people, remember this is JUST MY OPINION (although I know I am not alone on these as all were extremely hotly debated at the time, and in the few years after they occurred) One last thing. I really think that if you were not actually there at finals, and are just judging off video you might want to avoid this topic, we all know its just not the same. With that said, here is what I think. I was at finals from 1986-1996. 86-90 as a member, 91-96 as staff. 1986 - BD, absolutely, the best and they deserved to win. 1987 - Cadets, controversial, beat SCV by .1 but in my opinion deserved the win 1988 - Madison won, but in my (and alot of peoples opinion) SCV should have won. If you have never seen SCV 88 it was a better show than 89 1989 - SCV won, but at the time, and even still, a lot of people though Regiment should have. And please don't give me the "they got the most votes in the fan poll argument". They were better in 88 and my theory on the votes thing is that a lot of HS kids just saw Phantom of the Opera in the movie theatre and wanted to see SCV. They were awesome in 89, but better in 88 and 1989 was Regiments peak between 79 and 96. 1990 - Cadets won, and I thought deserved it. Some would argue for Cavaliers. 1991 - Star won and deserved it hands down 1992 - Cavaliers won and deserved it. 1993 - Cadets won, but MANY would argue for Star that year. 50/50 in my opinion 1994 - BD won and was by far the best. 1995 - Cavaliers won, but I prefered BD who was undefeated going into finals week. In my defense I didn't see either of them live finals night. 1996 - PR and BD. As off the wall as it sounds I honestly think they deserved to Tie. Both were great for different reasons. So there ya go. and remember, THIS IS JUST MY OPINION. I will say that some of these opinions though were widely held at the time they occured, and in the next few years, but time fades such things. Anyone agree with any of these? None of them? Keep it nice.

That would seem to me to be the way to do it. Get professionals, I mean real people who could devote their whole summers, with my lottery winnings I am sure we could go pro, and bring back a show from the past for all those who never go to see it. I mean if broadway can do revivals of old stage musicals how com we can't?

Sorry everyone, I didn't win the lottery last night, but hey, Fridays drawing is for 96 million so keep your fingers crossed. I even went to my closet and dug up my copy of the drill from 89 regiment so we'll be ready. LOL

Oh geez, don't even open this can of worms. There are plenty who would argue the judges have mucked it up at least 4 times that I can think of. I am not going to name years or names, but the reason that DCI continually changes the judging system is because they want it to be better than it is. As far as fans picking a winner, I can't remember where it was, but we did a show one summer that I marched where that was exactly the case. Wouldn't recommend it for championships though. If applause was used, Velvet Knights could come back and win 10 in a row. (Not that that would be such a bad thing LOL)

I am the one who said I didn't think there were a lot of good shows in 90. the key here is I said "I" didn't think. I didn't say there weren't any. As a member of Regiment that year, I though we had half a show at best. In comparison to 89, 90 was a dud (IMHO)

Nick, I was a vis instructor with a Div II corps in 94 and shot a lot of pics during the season at shows. As a Regiment Alumnus I know I took a ton of PR. If I can find them, I will send them along.

Retro would be fun but lets not kid ourselves, it could never compete. My rookie year in regiment proved that. Our 1986 show had all the best that 1979 had to offer (maybe) and our 10th place and season high score of 85 was enough to shock the corps into getting it together for 87.

OK, we all have little pieces of uniforms and so on, but who has something REALLY cool they made off with at the end of the season. This only comes to mind because my little brother bought me an old 2 valve DEG baritone for my birthday. He came across it on Ebay and God only knows who was selling it. For my part, when Regiment was moving from the old corps hall on River Rd to the new one in 1990 they had the old metal sign that hung on the side of the original equipment truck (with the mask not the chevron). Well after camp it was in the dumpster if you can believe it so I pulled it out, threw it in the car and brought it home. been in my bedroom ever since. Would consider re-domating it to the corps if they could promise it wouldn't end up in the dumpster again.

OK everyone, I have a lottery ticket for tonight. I think the jackpot is 82 million. If I win I will pony up the cash to start a retro drum corps provided the first show we do is 89 regiment LOL

Well Tommy, unfortunately the money is the determining factor here. But I will say 128 always seemed to be the perfect number to me. If you use them the right way 128 is more than enough.

What a great thread. I marched Regiment from 86-90, basically because I lived in Nashville TN and friend of mines sister marched there and I could get a ride to camps. I would like to think I would have chosen Regiment regardless. I would not trade my years there for anything. As far as the competitive side, I will be honest and say it sucked to lose to SCV in 89, but if you had told me at the beginning of the season we were going to finish second I would have stayed anyway, I loved Regiments 89 show, and marching in it was an awesome experience. As far as the ring goes, I got one in 1996 on staff with PR, and its nice, but it is the least of what drum corps has to offer. It seemed like a great thing but in retrospect it is not at all whats important. Follow your heart or your dream and march with the corps you have always dreamed of. Winning DCI is a crap shoot at best, Some corps win more than others, but its never money in the bank. One last piece of advice is I often see people recommend to kids starting out to march somewhere close to home the first year. My advice is don't blow a year like that. If you want to march with Cadets, or Regiment, than go do it. If you audition and don't get in the local corps will more than likely have a spot for you. And LASTLY, don't put it off. Don't wait until your last year, you will regret pissing away eligibility, march as many years as you can squeeze in. As a former staff member for several top 12 corps I can assure you that making the horn lines at most of the top corps is not as hard as you might think. Follow your dreams.

As a PR alumnus I was extremely skeptical of the Gershwin show when I heard about it, but man was I wrong. I loved it. Was very skeptical about 1990 BD with the "TOMMY" show, but liked it anyways.

For some reason I was thinking the cadets wipe out was 84, but talked myself into believing it was 83. regardless, it was quite the spectacle.

I didn't read all 29 pages, but here are the big ones I know of. 1983 cadets had a HUGE like ten person wipe out in the final moves of the show (still won) 89 bd, poor soloist 89 SCV drum line bouncing around against each other like pinballs. I believe it had something to do with the overage members they booted finals week and had some holes. But man could they play! (and this from someone who was a member of PR that year) 96 PR, I was on vis staff that year and we had a wipe out in the second number, didn't seem to hurt us in the end I guess. -Mark "Ducky" Bertram Phantom Regiment 1986-1990, Vis Staff 1996

I have to agree to a point. The most memorable endings in my mind were back in the late 80s/early 90s. namely, Cadets 87 (all time classic) also BD 94.

Don't get all hung up on the numbers. If you had told the cadets they would only score an 85 but that would win them the title I am sure they would have taken it. LOL Its a relative thing. The judges are way more concerned with getting the corps in the right order (for the caption they are judging) than they are with what the numbers total out to.

Ok, not counting Canada (sorry) When I marched in the mid to late 80s with regiment, we had one or two every year. Mostly kids from England. every year there are more and more. When I was instructing in 96 we had a pile of them including one from japan. Its not unusual anymore.

Where are Cadets and Crossmen from? This seems to have been a mystery for some time now. Back in the day, when I marched Regiment, the Cadets where from Hackensack, and Crossmen were from Westchester. At least, to my knowledge, the Crossmen have managed to keep the same name over the years, even if no one is really sure where they are from. In the time I marched and taught corps (86-96), Cadets went from The Garfield Cadets, to the Cadets of Bergen Co., to just "the Cadets", and I am pretty sure they had at least one name change prior to those. LOL

Have to go with PR and Cadets Star 91 still ranks as best mello line I have ever heard in person. I played baritone, but still recall marching at PR in 87, the first year they switched from French Horns to Mellos. I think the sound of the corps changed, but for better or worse who can say.

Ok, I am sure this comes up often, but what horn lines do you recall simply being overwhelmingly powerful (with good sound). I still think the old G bugles produced more controllable volume, but the lines that have stuck with me over the years are 86 SCV. BD may have had more talent, but SCV had the power. 89 regiment, gotta love that low brass. who else?

Geez, where to start 86 SCV, a horn line so powerful it blew your hair back 87 cadets, my fav. 88 madison 89 regiment, the WEDGE 91 star, who can forget the cross 94 BD, the beating heart was a great effect 96 regiment