BDCorno

Might have three in 641, row 3, 35 yard line. Good seats, $80 (basically face value plus the $5 service charge I paid)...will sell for what I paid plus shipping cost. Have two for sure right now, probably will have all three available soon. Let me know if you're interested.

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I'll take them all. Pretty please. With a cherry on top.

FYI for y'all...had checked with Shawn a couple of days ago, and he had a buyer already for the three seats together in row 20...both finals and semis. I guess I was next in line in case something fell through, but I've heard nothing. Have inquired further via PM as to the single in row 19 for semis, hadn't heard back and DCP says he hasn't read our PM thread since 7/26 midday. I'm sure he's busy like most of us with work, but figured I'd at least lend what I know to this thread.

1980, while a very long time ago now, was still the most competitive finals IMHO. The top four were within .8 of each other, and Phantom was barely two points back in fifth place. Each of the top five shared or won a caption (BD horns, 27th GE, Bridgemen & Spirit drums, Phantom M&M). This season reminds me a lot of 2010, with BD leading the way, and the corps chasing them busy knocking each other off in captions - leading to the gap between first and second widening. Unless one of the Cadets/Bloo/SCV/Crown group can clearly break away from the others on the majority of sheets, nobody is likely to catch BD.

I am not kidding... Why are Blue Devils not in first....never mind.

I know what you're saying, Brandon. Might reconsider that comment about pushing the envelope...that 2013 program was pretty much a swing and a miss (or blip, if you will). What I'm saying is that there is not a "okay, let's create a program with x, y and z, because this is what we need to do" kind of approach. Any top instructor knows intrinsically what level and type of content you need to be competitive. Those instincts apply as they structure their programs within the creative framework that is set by the designers. The top tier programs consistently put out competitive programs because of their creative capabilities, not some "ABC" approach. That's simply not enough to win a title.

BD's staff could give a whit about the sheets. Trust me on this. "Writing to the sheets" is a recipe for disaster, for any group. Ridiculous.

Cfirwin, I guess BD should just pack it up? Kinda sad to hear they're out of the running for percussion and possibly brass. Sure, the scores will naturally narrow as corps start bumping up against the limits of the system. I wouldn't count anyone out in either of the music captions just yet. BD has been running a very consistent first or second in both, so they're certainly in the running. More than any year in recent memory, percussion is truly a crapshoot. In addition to SCV and Coats, it's clear that BD, Cadets and Cavies are all groups that will have something to say. In brass, Crown is once again fantastic, but BD and Cadets are formidable competitors. Remember, Cadets have already beaten Crown in that caption as well. BD might end up winning it still, with GE *and Visual* leading the way. No matter what, it will be quite interesting down the stretch. Someone needs to separate themselves from the "chase pack" to truly challenge, but that will require rising in all captions. If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Vanguard for second. Second best program out there, edging out Coats by a nose. I was very glad to see Coats fix the ending of the show...was wondering how long they were going to keep making the crowd sit down after getting them off their feet and cheering! Bravo!

Hey, me first!

PM'ed you. Would like all three for finals, maybe some for semis as well. Thx.

I'm in need of tix for finals, and possibly semis if the price is right. Really looking for seats in x39-x41 sections, up to the 400's.

Wow. If they think that wearing blue cummerbunds will put them over the top, they're in more trouble than I thought.

Yeah, they go with this "everyone is a winner, let's give everyone a chance to go on later" mentality. I get it, but in practice it's flawed. More difficult for the judges to make side by side comparison of corps in close races, for one. If I'm a spectator, I don't want to see the top groups early in a show, then have a group that is a step down come on. It reduces my appreciation for that group. I'd like to see groups with ascending quality throughout a show. It makes for a better viewing experience, and each group is the "champion" of the show so far, or at least close to it.

Any schedule or judging slate posted anywhere? I do know Blue Devils get the early spot once again. I don't like the practice of 'random draw' on these events. I think it robs the crowd of the best experience possible. It also depresses the scores...look at last night.

1982, 2007 or 2012 Blue Devils. Might have to go with 2007. The experience of marching a DCI finals on the west coast would have really been something.

"Fallacious decontextualization". Hahaha! Shouldn't use words like this here...heads might explode. Bravo!

theChezman's comment about the judging panel "...found the Bluecoats more entertaining than deep in content" kind of sums it up, I think. I really like 'Coats show, very entertaining from a pure spectator level. Plenty of demand and content on a technical level, but not as much purpose, depth and maturity to that content as BD (or Cadets, for that matter). The results to date bear that out. All that said, I believe Bluecoats could certainly end up in the medals, but I think ceiling for them is second place. I believe Crown has similar issues with their program, but they've been hiding out for a few days so we'll see what version 2.0 looks like. Spectacular horn line from Crown, and drum line from Coats, will keep them both in the game. Vanguard is a bit of a wild card in the situation. The shows on Sunday and Monday should really start sorting everything out. It's going to be a wild and competitive year.

DrumManTX, don't take it too personally. Perhaps my example didn't get the point across. Let me try again...the DCI system has eight captions. We can deduce from this fact that a proper panel size would be =/> 8 judges. Pointing out that shows here on the West Coast had the proper amount of judges, as some sort of unfair advantage, is misplaced anger. Fans should be taking DCI to task for *shortchanging* groups in the Midwest and East (aka "an unfair disadvantage"). THAT is where the BS resides. If you had a horn line and your horn manufacturer shipped your new set of horns with all of the baritones missing the main tuning slide, would you be going to them and complaining that all of the other horns were shipped with all the parts? Of course not. If this doesn't make it clear for you, then I'm afraid I can't help you. No need to get butthurt. Oh, and no, it wouldn't be the same point. Think about it.

Yeah, but it's too bad nobody goes to the show any more. I think the second place group will be Madison. In its day, it was the next most important/looked forward to show after DCI finals. Now it's just another show.

LMAO!!!

You should actually change the name of the thread to "why does the East Coast get stuck with short panels?". Somehow the West Coast is the bad guy for having a panel that is the correct size? It's like complaining that it's unfair that people have cars that actually work, when you and others are stuck with cars that break down all the time. Misplaced anger IMHO. B!tch about what's wrong, not what's right. SMH.

For me, Bluecoats without a question. Great program, entertaining, and once the horns and color guard get humming like the percussion, they'll be formidable. Actually, I wasn't surprised to see them beat Crown the other night. Like all first time titleists, they're finding out it's harder to follow up with a repeat championship than it is to win in the first place. Wouldn't count them out, though.

Back when I judged in the mid 1980's, we did an interesting exercise in which we watched a number of corps across the spectrum of excellence and scored them. It became very plain to see that there was less disagreement in terms of score, the better the group. "Box 5" type groups had very slim variance from judge to judge, and once you got down in the "Box 3 units", scores really deviated wildly. The lesson is that it takes more evaluative and observational skill to deal with groups that had multiple flaws. Easy to pick out a missed note here or a bit of intonation there, when the group had very little to criticize. Same thing applied to winter guards. Judges really earn (or not earn) their money trying to make sense of, and fairly score, a mediocre group. The criteria and "box" system is designed to help prevent too much variance, but there is a hell of a lot of scoring room in that middle range. For example, friend of mine has a kid who marches in the Colts, and they had a span already in which their score went 64-62-60 over three shows, then 64-65-67-68. Short panels on all the shows, and to be fair to the judges, groups in this range are less consistent with their performance level. There are sooo many factors early season anyway, in terms of stamina, show changes being made, new people being plugged in, logistic issues, etc.. On the judges side, first viewings, first shots at a particular caption/corps for the season, trying to establish some sort of relativity nationally, etc.. I usually take anything before San Antonio with a grain of salt. That's about the time everyone is firing on enough cylinders to get a real comparison.