kyushujet

Not sure where it ranks, but 1980 Madison was pretty long while the DM held up the 1975 Championship banner.

It's actually not that bad. The judges slotted most of the corps before going to bed last night.

Forever in Indy? Oh my...I'll never see Finals again, unless my son or daughter marches. I met Dan in Denton this year. I should have presented my case.

Man, what did people do before cell phones? And how did people go to Finals week back in the day with the risk of being rained out? It must have been terrifying to be a fan back then. My experience with domes and shows. San Antonio in 2000. Echoey but I endured. Sitting upper deck. Haven't been back since though. RCA Dome in '00 or '01 (?). The WORST DCI experience I've ever had. I was sitting upper deck there and couldn't hear a thing. So, for me, I will never attend a dome show, not only because the sound is terrible, but because I don't want to encourage DCI to think I want their product in a dome. Didn't they learn anything from Montreal in '82??

What I think will happen: 1. Cadets 2. BD 3. Cavies What I want to happen: 1. Troopers 1. BK 3. Pioneer Oh, and to get the heck outta Indy and start rotating Finals around the country again. Spread the wealth DCI!

A lot of you are too young to remember a little drum corps from southwestern France called Cro-Magnon Regiment, circa 33,000 B.C. They were the first to use bones as mallets in their auxillary percussion. I think they used bones as rifles in their guard that year as well. Totally revolutionary from the previous use of sticks and twigs. But seriously, I agree with the poster above: Star '91. But my favorite all-time show is Cavies '01. But by definition, the most influential show has to be a show from the early days because all the shows after that were consequently influenced by it. Make sense? So it has to be a 60s or 70s show. Or dare I say 30s or 40s?

Ok, one last hypothetical. Let's say BD wins this year's championship. If you took all the kids with BD and switched them into BK unis, and vice-versa, would the BKs be this year's champion? If not, where would BK place? And where would BD place with their same show but with BK kids? I would say the new BKs would at least be in the top 5 and the new BD would at least be in the top 6. (Staff and programs being the same)

Thanks for all the responses. A lot of good points have been made. Maybe one day the BKs and Troopers will be duking it out for the title of "World Champion."

Agreed, 87 SCV also rocked. SCV was a big part of why drum corps was so great in the 80s.

This I can believe a little more than most theories. But the product BKs puts on the field is totally different than BD, PR, Cadets, etc. So, if BKs decided to put a BD type show on the field and executed it like BD, would that break them into the top 5 or top 3 even? If that's the case, then should all drum corps strive to be like the perennial top 5 corps if they ever want to be a top 5 corps? If the answer is yes, then is something wrong with drum corps? Do we want 12 Blue Devil corps every year?

So, for the past 10 years, all the corps above them have executed their shows better than BKs have theirs? I'm not trying to be a smarta** btw. If this is truly the case, does the staff at BKs know this? How do staff members get their kids to execute better than the other corps? Is the answer only known in Concord, Rosemont, and Allentown?

Maybe we should change the topic of this thread. I, too, agree SCV 88 show was better. But then again, I was there watching the 88 show and throwing babies and crying like one when the company front was blasting our faces off.

It's funny that there's already a thread titled, "Blue Knights getting hosed." I was just thinking today about posting this thread when I saw that one. First, let me disclose that I am neither a diehard supporter nor a detractor of the Blue Knights. They do good work and I have mostly enjoy their shows through the years. I especially like this year's show, partly because the music reminds me of the old days of drum corps. So, what is it about the BKs? They are a great organization, march a full corps every year, talented players and guard, excellent staff, etc. So, why can't they break the top 5 barrier? Is it because they are the Blue Knights and not the Santa Clara Vanguard or the Cavaliers? (whatever that means) Or is it because the corps above them are ALWAYS better than them? (which is kind of hard to believe, wouldn't you think BKs would break through at least one year?) I'd hate to bring up the dreaded word "slotting", but in BKs case, is it true? Are they doomed to be slotted middle of the pack every year? I believe BKs highest placement was 6th with a 92.00 in 2000. Oddly, BK didn't even make Finals the next year finishing 14th (was there a staff change?). This year, they seem to be middle of the pack again. Are they truly a middle of the pack drum corps? If they are, then what is it going to take for them to break the top 5 barrier? A Zengali drill design? A VanDoren brass line? A Hannum drumline? Cleaning house and starting all over? I would hope not. Or would it take one or more of the usual suspects in the top 5 to have a bad year? As long as there are the Blue Devils, Cadets, and Cavies, are the Blue Knights, and corps like them, doomed ("slotted") to mid level placements? Would really like to have a serious discussion about this. Thank you.

The only thing I can think of why there's a separate division for international corps is it would upset the balance of the slotting. Imagine if a corps like Yokohama was good enough to be a top 12 corps and knocking out an American corps? The BODs wouldn't be happy. When I was a student in college, I spent a year in Japan on a student exchange program. I was the first person from my college to attend this particular university in Tokyo. To my great surprise and excitement, this university was the only university throughout Japan to have a drum corps. They were called The Royal Kilties. Marching in Japan is very different from marching in the US. They usually perform their shows in a very large gymnasium. So, the marching is limited and not that intricate. During my year in Japan, I was invited to attend the Royal Kilties performance at the national band competition at the Budokan. Their big competition were the Yokohama Inspires (I believe). In the end, Yokohama took first and the Kilties took 2nd. I'm not sure if the Yokohama Scouts are an offshoot of the Yokohama Inspires. But it seems the Yokohama area has a very decent drum corps program.

12. Troopers 13. Academy Did everyone forget about Academy in their predictions? Because slotting is alive and well in drum corps, the title of this thread should be changed from "prediction" to "predetermined." 1. Cavies 2. BD 3. Cadets 4. CC 5. Bluecoats 6. PR 7. SCV 8. Madison 9. Blue Star 10. BAC 11. BK 12. Spirit

Haven't read all 34 pages; too tired. But I wanted to get my licks in before heading to bed. First off, I didn't know about this show until one of my FB friends posted about it this morning. Her daughter goes to the HS there and they were volunteers at the show. I assumed DCI would start the season in the midwest somewhere as usual and couldn't believe this show was practically in my backyard. So, with a little rearranging of my schedule, I headed over to Saginaw for the show. And boy was it hot out there! I was thinking, I'm not looking forward to the heat. The first unpleasant surprise was the paying for parking. That's a big no-no in my book. But I am a traditionalist when it comes to drum corps. First off was Blue Stars. It was exciting to see the beginning of the 2011 DCI season as the DM did the count off to start the show. The scaffolding was interesting in the middle of the field. Overall, nice 1st show of the season. I think it was this corps that had a female guard member that had trouble with her pants during her feature dance. And after the show ended, a guard instructor came up to one of the girls and took her off the field immediately. Wasn't sure if it was the same girl that had pants trouble. SCV was next. I was expecting great things and to be honest, I was greatly disappointed. I'm not thrilled about the show's title, and I'm sure a lot of other fans aren't as well. After the performance, I was thinking it was fitting that all I could come up with with regard to critique was, "What the hell was that?" SCV drumline was strong for the first show, but the hornline had a lot of difficult runs and you could tell it was the first show of the season. And the music is so dissonant, it just didn't do much for me. Lots of cleaning to do. PR was next. And as someone posted earlier, it was the first corps of the night to perform well and move me. Very nice theme and well executed. Guard is looking great. This show will go far. 2nd favorite show of the nite. Cadets next. I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised with this show. Another "hell" theme with the angels and demons. But this theme was done much better with the two different uniforms and the interactions during drill. Reminded me of Sky Ryders and the black and white unis (forget what year that was). Drum line strong and nice M&M for the first show. Overall favorite show. I need to see this show again to catch things that I missed. CC next after intermission. Not a fan of the piano and the "Elton John" looking character. Show was fun, and I like the flames on the drums, but I need to let this show grow on me. Guard was really good. Bluecoats next. Show didn't do much for me. Hornline had some good sound at times. A lot of guard were having drops, but it got windy during their show. Cavies. I agree, the guard on stilts was kinda odd. Drill was ok. But the last min and 1/2 they just formed a nice arc and played. This proves that this show was too early in the season, but I'll get into that in a few. The inverted quads was kinda neat. BD. Nice sound from horns. Nice overall show. But not one of my favs. Couldn't hear the screaming trumpets during their solos when the full corps was playing. They had a lot of staff on the field holding down the props because it got really windy during their show. Is that even legal? BD also parked and blew during the last min or so of their show. Does that tell you that this show was too early in the season? So, if I had to rank them, I would say: 1. Cadets 2. PR 3. BD 4. Cavies 5. CC 6. Bluecoats 7. Blue Stars 8. SCV Overall thoughts: Already hate the guard uniforms that are goth and punk rockish. Not liking the piano synth coming from the pit. One guard from Cavies was really lost out there. SCV hornline needs work. And this overall format of two shows in Texas and then showing it at a movie theater, I'm not liking at all. What a colossal waste of money on gas for the west coast corps, and whoever else has to follow them back to CA. And then back to Texas. I wonder if someone were to do a study to see how much extra fuel is burned doing that? Good to get the first one out of the way. But not liking this new format.

SCV and Cavies. Isn't there something with a noose, or just a rumor? Troop and 27th. Probably not as intense as in the late 70s, early 80s but still a lot of back and forth in 86.

I'm so sorry to hear your story. I played two years of bass in HS as well. And we used to do 4 parades in one day on July 4ths. Back when I marched, I think Phantom was the only drumline that started using stands. And of course, we used to scoff at them. Nowadays I think most of the drumlines use them. It may not be as tough-looking, but it sure is smarter and easier on the backs. Good luck with the recovery.

Well, I'm around 205 lbs and 6'1". But I guess that could be considered overweight. I could stand to lose a few pounds and see if that helps.

Wondered if anyone else has back problems that they think may have come from marching the big instruments in drum corps? I marched 5 of 6 bass drum my rookie year, 4 of 5 my sophomore year, and 4 of 4 my age out year. This was about 25 years ago. I now have lower back aches when I wake up in the mornings. I've tried stretching, massage, chiro, and even getting a new mattress (Sleep Number). But I still have the occasional bout with back pain. I know that some retired NFL players can barely get out of bed in the mornings. Just wondering if I'm suffering alone, or have it completely wrong about where my back pain may have originated. Thanks for the responses.

I came here to check out how the scores turned out and I find this? Really people? Booing the Blue Devils? Drum Corps has turned into something I don't even recognize anymore, i.e. G7, amps, elec/bass guitars, and now booing. It saddens me. The spirit of Drum Corps is lost.

I went a few years back in Dallas (off 635 near Garland). My problem then was the screen had a slight blur. It was ever so slight, but by the end of the night, I had a rip roaring headache. Never again.

In 1984, Suncoast Sound used one balloon during the Viet Nam Memorial scene. Very effective.

Trying to decide what 80s drum corps shirt I'll wear. I can still fit in most of them, but there is a slight "muscle T" look to them.

I'm thinking about going. But I don't have a ticket yet, and not sure about the weather. I prefer not to sit on either 10 yrd lines.