Room_101

"But but but but but guys, our show really WAS hard! Promise!" Also in regards to these extended "jazz running" sections, there are FEW to NO tough direction changes--everything is rounded. Once you start the jazz run, it's actually pretty easy to keep it going! It's not until you have a direction change that makes it really difficult. (you even hinted at this in your last line) Another reason why the ends of PR 2007 and 2008 have NEVER ONCE impressed me.

1. I know most of the design staff of Crown. Though the "second chance" might not be 100% about winning, it IS a very large part of it. Trust me. I know them. 2. Does anybody else think it's a little bit strange to have Eric Sabach posting on DCP about Crown's show? I feel like he's going completely against what Crown has always been about--staying quiet, and letting their actions on the field speak for themselves.

Preach it brotha! It was the same in 2008 PS - Just a few weeks ago I watched a tuba player jazz run a 7-to-5. I've become a ninja at counting their steps between yardlines.

Concerning DRILL, Cavaliers, Blue Stars, and Phantom have the highest difficulty. Crown's drill is actually quite easy, but it's the combination of other various physical demands that make their show difficult. I'll put on my flame suit before I say that Having performed both types of visual show at very high levels for a number of years, the old school "run your *&^ off drill" is much, much more physically exhausting.

Easy, cowboy. Those posts were made like 10 hours before the scores were announced!

I'm pretty surprised by the judging discrepancies between these two corps, as well. In my opinion, Academy is above Troop. I'm not trying to start any conspiracy theory here, but I wonder if Academy is actually competing with the 2009 Troopers, instead of the 2010 edition. That is to say that judges are (perhaps subconsciously, perhaps not) thinking, "Hey, the Troopers made Finals last year...the Academy never has!" and allow these thoughts to bleed into the numbers. I'm thinking that Academy will be above Troopers in the end. In my opinion, the shows with the better judges (Atlanta, Allentown) have put them on top, while it was the "lesser shows" with the lesser experienced judges that put Troop on top. With the top judges out for Finals week, Academy will get the nod.

Explain.

2002 and 2006, IIRC. And let's not forget their tie with Phantom for high brass in 2005...that lasted about 30 seconds ...seriously, how did they mess that up?!

They still only have two dynamic levels...LOUD and OFF

The "Biggest Surprise Corps of the Year" Award goes to PIONEER!

You and I are right in sync with our thoughts from this show. Fantastic review!

96 -- BD. I think Phantom's score was a gift. You just can't be that dirty and in 1st place. 99 -- SCV. Sweeeeeeeeet. 2000 -- Cavaliers. The beginning of a dynasty. There's nothing like that last minute.

I like Phantom, but it just seemed like a bunch of random quotes taken out of context and spliced together to cheesy "inspirational" music that got loud at the end after you barely heard someone say, "move them." ("you have to move them")RANDOM ELECTRIC GUITAR BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Doesn't mean much to me, sorry.

Reminds me of when everyone here called Cavaliers 2007 a "bad year." Yeah...third place! Just awful

I think I remember him saying that his computer only does tenths, and he chose to round down (so that a score of 99.95 would be 99.9, NOT 100).

Looks to me like he just did a top 6/bottom 6 and a semis/quarters separation. He's kept that pattern the same all summer long, I think.

Are The Cavaliers really the only ones not staying at a high school? That's kind of strange.

I absolutely agree with your point, but I was speaking more from a "numbers" perspective. In 2002, here were The Cavaliers' scores from Quarters, Semis, and Finals: 98.7 99.05 99.15 Compare this to The Cadets in 2005: 98.05 98.125 99.15 Or The Blue Devils in 2009: 97.95 98.4 99.05 Again, I agree with your statement that the 2002 Cavaliers are far from perfect! It's just that, in 2002, they had broken a 99 in Semis, so popping a 99.x was all but expected from that group. Conversely, The Cadets jumped over a point to garner their 99.15, while BD jumped 0.65. That's what I meant by "out of the blue," strictly from a numbers perspective.

I vote 2002 Cavaliers, because everyone knew they were going to pop the score that they did. In both 2005 and 2009, I thought the 99 was sort of out of the blue. I don't think many were shocked by the 2002 score...but many were by both the 2005 and 2009 scores, at least in the sections where I was sitting. It would also be interesting to re-do this poll in about four years' time, after seeing what (if any) impact 2009 BD had on show design compared to the other years listed.

Yes. Let's just agree to disagree

Maybe I should clarify/restate my thoughts. It's not that I hate the jazz running. It's just that, for the past four years, I have seen RANDOM members of the hornline elect to jazz run at a size that should be marched, especially considering the fact that everyone around them is marching normally. To me, this is a mistake on the Emmerts' part. Somewhere along the way, a)the education these marchers got from the Emmerts told them it was okay to jazz run a particular set for little to no reason; b)the Emmerts just plain out told them to jazz run that set (eek); or c)the Emmerts never noticed this particular member at that particular set, and therefore it stayed for the rest of the season. In any event, I find the blame to be on the teachers' part, not the students. And, as such, I repeat--get rid of the Emmerts!

Regarding #4, I can see some of your point. I just fee like since 2007 they've been trying to create this image of "look at us, we're jazz running AND playing balls loud." Well, yeah...sorry...but not. You ARE jazz running...but you're not. As for the tuba player on the end, I saw it all throughout the show, some random marcher jazz running. Rarely did I see someone jazz run something bigger than a 6 to 5. (I've become quite good at counting Regiment's steps from yardline to yardline ) I guess my overlying point is perhaps that I think this jazz running thing is a poor visual decision, which ultimately looks poorly upon the Emmerts, who likely made the decision to do this jazz run in the first place. One last thought--if Myron IS going to work out with his condensed forms, GO BACK TO DARK UNIFORMS. PLEASE. The white just bleeds against the green of the field and makes it all look a mess. Either stretch out the drill, or get dark uniforms.

I'm worried about their visual performance all around, both from the guard and the rest of the corps. I think Myron was a HUGE step up for them, but here are my thoughts: Get rid of Rick Subel. Get rid of the Emmerts. You all have already discussed the guard situation, but after seeing a recent show, I'm more worried about how the rest of the corps looks visually compared to Blue Stars, BAC, etc. I'm shocked to see recaps with them decently high in visual performance, because in my opinion, they don't deserve it. I'm also just plain sick and tired of watching their tuba players "jazz run" an 8 to 5. Yes. An 8 to 5. I saw it right in front of me. He was at the very end of the line, and he was the only one jazz running. At an 8 to 5. They've been doing this "fake jazz run" since 2007, and I really hope somebody starts to get them on this soon.

I think you also have to look at the talent level of the students nowadays. Back then, it was mostly a local affair with a bunch of neighborhood kids. Now, these corps are getting incredibly talented musicians from all over the country (and, in some cases, the WORLD). Also take into account that the high school marching arena is so much different than it was back then, and is a great "lead-in" and preparation for today's drum corps experience. To the OP, I won't be surprised either way. I have seen years where the top corps is at a 93 at SA (for example) and they will hover between 92-94 for the next two weeks before magically jumping up to a 98 at finals. I've also seen years where it seemed like the judges said, "wait a second...it's Finals week!" and magically jumped the top groups up five points just because it was the end of the season. Wherever the top corps places this weekend, it will all work itself out in the end.