LeastLikely

alright, my official guess is Academy

The Cadets are as close to BAC uni's as you can get, very misleading. So are we talking color? Because that really leaves the door open, or perhaps just simply having a sash?

Where in those scores does it say that anybody "Marched" better? You should read the visual performance sheets, there is a lot more there than just marching. Are you sure you aren't working with this Jason Bentley character to get hired as the new vis cap, it's easier to probably just send in a resume.

Yes, they watered their parts, but I find it quite hard to beleive that it was to get the visual scores to go up. I mean, if it's on a judges sheet, i'd love to see it, I'd frame it even. Keep Chillaxin'

Wow, where did you get that information from? That doesn't sound even remotely true. Dig It!

Umm....pretty sure he got demoted from that postion , and is now an everyday over the counter WGI judge (for example) no better or no worse than Rob Overvliet. He should be on the look out...not too many demotions left for this guy in the pageantry world.

I was the one who started this brush fire yesterday and I have read with some interest the 60 some posts about this topic. I will try to refrain from adding anything else after this. Thank you all for posting, regardless of whether you agree with my vitrolic first post or not. I appreciate the dialogue that's been created here and I hope you take what I am saying now in the spirit of continued dialogue. We would all like to think judges who judge competitions are fair and honest. Of course, judges have favorites and they see things about one corps or another they like or dislike. This is all part of the natural process of judging and no reasonable person would quibble about the process. Umpires and referees miss calls in sports all the time. That's obvious, especially in the age of instant replay. What you hope is that these very natural tendencies to like or dislike a certain style of play or performance in DCI judging does not sully the end results. I have every reason to expect judges talk to one another about what they see on the field and try to explain their scores not only to the corps they are judging but to each other. This is how the process should work in a perfect world. That said, if you look at the hard numbers, there is a problem with this judge and the way he judges the Bluecoats and the Trropers. When I posted my remarks, I did not realize he was judging the Troopers as harshly as he has been judging the Bluecoats. (By "harsh" I mean giving both corps scores well below what they had been receiving from other visual effect judges). As Nero14 pointed out in post 19 of this thread, there is a link between the Troopers and the Bluecoats in Mitch Rogers. That both corps have shows on the field designed by Rogers and that both are being underscored by this judge is irrefutable. Look at the scores! (Thanks to Nero for doing the research and for making the connection). This information strongly suggests this particular judge has a personal beef with Rogers, the visual designer of the Troopers and the Bluecoats, and may be using his position as a judge to punish these corps because of their association with Rogers. While this is a strong inference to make, a cursury glance at the judge's scores of the Troopers and the Bluecoats this year and last year leads one to make this inference. This needs to be explored at the highest levels of DCI. We can hope that our discussion on this thread might provoke a discussion among the judges and perhaps even lead to a clearing of the air between the judge in question and Mitch Rogers. It is human for personal animosities between people to color their judgment of one another. But it's not too antagonistic to suggest here that it is unprofessional for a judge to allow such personal animosities to hurt innocent people, in this case the kids who march in the Troopers and the Bluecoats. I can accept that disagreements between reasonable people are part of this activity. I can agree with many of the posts here that argue different judges can see the same show in vastly different ways and that we should respect their opinions and their scores. Nevertheless, I would like fans and members of other corps to ask what they could do in this kind of situation. Should we just be quiet about it and hope the problem goes away all by itself or make a stink? I hate to be perceived as a chronic complainer, but it just doesn't seem fair on the face of it. I agree it is not nice to "name names." But the Bluecoats have worked very, very hard to crack the top 5 in DCI. As far as I know, they HAVE used the proper and official DCI channels to try to get past this judge. If fans of the Cadets, Cavvies, Phantom Regiment and Blue Devils can show us Bluecoats fans evidence of a single judge who is consistently marking them well-below the judging norm, I will stand corrected and come back and post an apology to all of you. I mean no slight to any of the other corps. For all I know, you may well have grievances with a particular judge too. If you do, it would almost make me feel better about the one we have a beef with. Otherwise, I think it is fair to suggest you would probably make the same inferences we have. This judge seems to be holding a grudge. We're not asking for any special favors from the judges. We just want a level playing field.

Yes, this is the same judge (a West Coast guy) guy who seems to enjoy taking a large carving knife to the collective backs of the Bluecoats. The best they can hope for is that other judges see through his biases and do all they can to keep him off the field at Pasadena. It's almost unbelieveable the corp's score can drop two points from one night to the next because a single judge. This kind of judging fluxuation makes the entire DCI scoring system seem incongruous at best and downright hapless at worst. DCI should be monitering this judge closely.

Well, you heard it from the man himself: George "Hoppy" the Hopkins does not support the N.O.W.! Talk about a flip-flopper... chilax!

Well...the Blue stars don't... chilax!

I posted recently about Phantom's "phantom" jazz run (by which I mean...it ain't actually there) in their closer. And now having had seen the Blue Stars a few days ago I am proud to say that there is in fact one corps that is playing the Firebird suite while doing a legitimate unison jazz run across the field. Check it out, this corps shows up Big Bad Phantom BIG TIME. They even jazz run at a slide...a slide for Christ's sake! The demand is INSANE...INSANE I tell you. Blue Stars may have one of the most underrated shows this year in terms of programming, and I would love to see a side by side comparison w/ their show vs. Phantom's. But are teh Blue Stars really back, or is this just another example of Phantom's tendency to make their visual program as easy as possible for their members...YOU BE THE JUDGE!!! chilax! :)

Forgot the link! here it is, so now you can check out the recap, and see how PR's jazz run technique really helped them out in field performance last night! http://www.dci.org/scores/recap/view.cfm?e...f6-c370dacdb278 chilax!

Ummm, has anybody noticed the actual step size that PR is taking during most of their "jazz run" technique moments??? I swear to the Holiest of Holies I saw euphs and tubas using "jazz run" technique for an 8 to 5 step size. And that ladies and gentlemen is the kindof BS, that gets you 7th in Vis. performance, and 6th in GE visual. The unison jazz run hit in Firebird that everyone has been jizzing themselves over, just take a closer look sweethearts, I think you'll notice that the high brass is indeed moving at an extended step size for the first half of the move, but after that they continue to jazz run at a 6 to 5, so they can "play" easier or something. 7th place over-qualified people of the jury, 7th is where that gets you. Oh yeah, and if anybody's "FLYING" this year, it's the f#$%ing Cadets...what's that closer at? 214??? Regiment couldn't sniff 214 if they were coke fiends! Chilax!

Chilax is the new "dig it!" Chilax! :)

Cadets 2005! Ok, maybe it only had one door...