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See this thread: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php/topic/164451-2015-vs-2016-daily-year-over-year-comparisons/

Those three corps aren't the only ones not at Denver and Minneapolis. Crossmen, Spirit, Surf, and Boston all aren't, either. Clearly it is an oversight on DCI's part to not correct it. It has traditionally been based on the Saturday prior's scores (just like SA is used for Atlanta, Atlanta for Allentown). Thus because Denver and Minneapolis are on different weekends, that is not the case, it is Minneapolis and Alexandria this year. Use common sense. It's obvious that it CANNOT be Denver and Minneapolis because there are 7 corps that won't be at either show, and everyone at Denver will be at Minneapolis. Clearly that just wouldn't make sense, as the corps at Denver would then have a lower average than those just at Minneapolis. If DCI were to actually do something like that then they are just asking for everyone to flip even more so than last year. It's already bad enough that they are using two different shows again this year, rather than having everyone go to Minneapolis. That hasn't happened in a few years now, and is a little ridiculous.

Even with staying off of social media, for all corps, there are always alumni around. Especially with a corps like Crossmen who have alumni in much of the northeast, from Virginia up to New Jersey/Pennsylvania, and more recent in Oklahoma/Texas. Members get opportunities to meet and talk with alumni when they volunteer, are at shows afterwards, at rehearsals, etc. It's not easy to get away from alumni in any corps, I feel. Maybe the alumni of any/all corps should just focus on being proud of the work that the current corps is doing, and not care so much about competitive placement as they do about making sure they have a great experience?

I can't wait to see what Spirit has to bring this year! I love the programming selections, and being an anniversary year, I'm sure pride is high, both from within the membership, as well as the alumni and those close to the organization. I am glad that they are making the wise decisions to focus on organizational stability to recover from the poor management of the past decade or so, as well. Though we can't all just assume that everything is in the clear for Spirit! They are a corps that will still need lots of love and support from us the fans. Regardless of what you think of their show when you see it, still seriously consider making purchases at their souvie booth and donations to the corps. A $40 for 40 years campaign is going on, I believe. Every little bit counts!

When was the last time the corps had that many age-outs period? Early 00's? Late 90's?

I have to agree and disagree with you here. Yes, they really are on the cusp of something great. If they were to end up at the top of their neighborhood, they could be as high as 8th potentially. Only time will tell. I agree that there probably is a lot of pressure from the alumni to move up. 3 of 4 years in 12th place would make any alumni group want the corps to have a breakthrough year and move up. But I also feel that the same happened in 2012 as the season progressed and they saw what was happening. But I know that the corps had a blast that entire season, regardless of the pressure from alumni. I'm sure it is much the same this year. From what I've heard so far, they are having a great time and loving the new staff and the approach they bring. If anything, I think some pressure might be more on the admin/design side of things with the staff change. It was controversial and curious when it was announced only a week or two after last season ended. I think it would be more pressure for the new staff to produce results and not be another staff change after only a couple seasons of slow progress upward. This corps has gone through way too many staff changes recently. It would be nice to see what a staff can do that is in place for more than 2 or 3 years and actually truly build something. It can take time to get things moving. Slow and steady wins the race. Hopefully they have patience with the new staff, even if there is only marginal competitive improvement this season and next. But that could all be null if they really do have that breakout year that we are talking about.

Minneapolis and Alexandria. It has been the Saturday prior's shows for a very long time now, which the past few years has been Minneapolis/Denver. It's probably just an oversight on DCI's part as they probably just copy/pasted from last year without even checking the schedule. Denver is the week before Minneapolis this year with most everyone at Denver being at Minneapolis, so that doesn't make sense.

Well you can still do all that if you have access to the recaps, and just hold on to the stories to publish when all recaps are made public at the end of the season, can't you?

Texas is the home for the most corps members save California (which should be expected with the most world class corps in that state). This can be attributed to the fact that most corps have at least one audition camp in the state nowadays.

Have you tried the various corps that are selling tickets for the show? Are all the corps blocks sold out, as well?

Yes, this is more so how I feel. If those 7 corps are clearly by far and away the best 7 corps, then yes, the rankings should reflect that without question. I just wish there were more competition across the board like we've been seeing outside of the top 7, where corps can move up or down as many as 5-6 places in a given year. Jumps such as those from 17th to 12th are seen as much more reasonable to predict and happen more frequently than those from 11th to 6th or 9th to 4th. I just like unpredictability and change in the standings to keep things exciting rather than the built in self-fulfilling prophecy that is the G7.

With Crossmen having much of former Crown staffs and that philosophy, they could continue their climb on up that far. I think Blue Knights had their time in the sun, but might be falling off this year. Could be wrong (and hopefully am, I love BK the past couple years). If they have another 6-8th place finish this year, they could easily still continue to climb with some new innovation next year. Other than that, I don't really see anyone breaking into the top 3 within the next 8 or so years. At least right now. Blue Stars have been consistently inconsistent between 8th down to 13th, same with Madison.

It's looking to me more and more every time I see it: I'm gonna pencil in BD for top 2. The only way I see them dropping to 3rd is if both Bloo and Crown greatly increase the sophistication and complexity of their productions (Bluecoats more than Crown). They need to add more layers and need to both be cleaner than BD. The likelihood of this happening for both corps? Not that likely, but possible. For one? Very well could happen. Other than these 3, it's probably going to be an outside shot for Cadets and Cavaliers. As much as I want to see SCV in the mix, especially with this show, I just don't think its going to happen this year. I also think that once everyone gets together, you're going to see these as the solid top 6, with Phantom by themselves in 7th. Then another gap to the rest of the field. Yay another year for the G7...I hope I'm wrong.

Not because of recaps not being there do I not go to the DCI website anymore unless I need to (I was happily able to get perfectly good, clear, accurate recaps via the drumscorps app no problem last summer). I stopped going since the redesign of the site made the schedule much less user friendly, the increase in load time, among other little annoyances. I miss the old DCI website.

As far as I recall, the biggest jump that we've seen so far is 5 points. But please correct me if I'm wrong! And I think that this peculiarity can likely be attributed to the lack of recaps, as has already been said. We shall see what they decide mid-season about if this experiment is working and should be continued.

And is this a problem? Especially early season, there is much more variance in performance day to day than late season. Corps are making many more changes and additions during these weeks than they do during the weeks after Atlanta. They're still working on endurance to be able to fully complete the show to its maximum performance level. If judges are truly calling it like they see it on that days performance, then this should be expected, same with spreads between corps getting larger and smaller and larger again day to day for these very same reasons.

One visual judge, so visual analysis.

Hence part of the reasoning of no recaps this year! To free up the judges in making their decisions! Then again, if Marie put BD's guard only .1 lower, or crown .1 higher, they would have tied last year. And how does Phantom's guard go from 13th to 6th overnight?

Even a number of us who have been around the activity a long time can't get past BAC's windmills. Those things have gotta change if they want to not be on the threshold of not making finals!

No problem! I just don't like mis-information and mis-conceptions going around and being spread. Like how it is totally reasonable to compare scores across shows halfway across the country. (That is still okay to do, right?)

Let me just clarify that it is not if/when necessary. The caption awards are ALL determined by the average of all three nights of competition. Period.

We might (sadly) be looking at another rainout. I hope not, though! The Bristol crowd was always one of my favorites.

edit: I'm tired and am dumb.

See, for me I absolutely love it! Because if you are familiar with past drum corps arrangements (especially Crossmen 2002), or the original, there is a build up, and then right when you're expecting to get slammed in the face with a great impact, the brass stop and its just percussion for a little bit longer again. Then WHAM! there it is!

Probably beating them in guard and maybe analysis. If I had to take a guess, I'd say visual proficiency is the weak link there, at least for now. Gotta clean those feet and body moves!