Here is my observation and suggestion for what it's worth. Everyone who is a Bloo fan I think wants to see them medal (whether they say it or not) Based on the adjudication sheets, my guess is that they are getting dinged during the ballad in GE, Visual, and Color Guard. Now you could make an argument either way (on what, if anything should be done) but the design staff has decided that their vision is to have the guard dancing with bowler hats (which is probably not getting them the credit they deserve on the score sheets, and quite frankly is probably lost to anyone high up; let alone in a press box...i.e. GE Judges, Guard). So how do you fix that while still being true to the integrity of the design? Well...it's too late to teach the guard any type of weapon or flag work, so what you do is add a long strip of stretchy fabric (let's say in neon blue) and you continue to allow the color guard to dance with their bowler hats, but during the big push of the ballad they reveal the fabric (perhaps out of a bowler hat) and manipulate the fabric into a jagged line to tie in the visual effect and overall theme of the show. It's an easy fix that may just get them those extra tenths in a couple subcategories they need to push them into 3rd. ...or maybe I'm just crazy :-)