corps8294

I understand that most Division III universities play thier football games during the day; but a football stadium without lights is like a NASCAR race without mullets, trailer trash, 80s "metal" band t-shirts, wife beaters, etc. There are just some things that come with the territory.

The Minnesota DOT decided to join the party. Wonder how many corps will be stuck in the parking lot with "no go" citations?

And here I thought "it" was the warm welcome surprise of the Minnesota DOT that has been known to be awaiting the corps as they arrive!

The guard is good and Shapiro is doing great things for that caption; however, whatever happened to the physically fit guard the Blue Stars had from the past couple of years? D**n, there are some hefty mommas out there! Yeeeesh! I always thought that world class guards had fitness requirements.

I was very impressed when I saw the Blue Stars uniform in person. They have a very commanding prescense with the dominating gray; moreover, that hue is very sophisticated. Again, this uniform is on my all time favorites list.

Expectations: A. 4th or 5th: WOW! That would be mega head turning great! However, I don't think this will be the year. B. 6th or 7th: Ideal and movin' on up the ladder. I see these placements as realistic possibilities. C. 8th: Ho-hum. Been there, done that, keepin' the standard for year three. D. 9th - 12th: What in the bloody hell happened? E. 13th on down: Not gonna happen, no need to worry about this scenario. Regardless, there were some pretty d**n cool changes this offseason and I think a lot of folks are going to be pleasantly surprised by what's been goin' on with the Blue Stars.

If you could bring back ONLY two corps from each region of the U.S.; who would they be? Honorable mentions can be brought up for Canada, England, Japan, etc. South: Suncoast Sound and Florida Wave East Coast: 27th Lancers and Avant Garde West Coast: The Freelancers and Seattle Imperials Midwest: The Guardsmen and The Sky Ryders England: The Blue Eagles and Dagenham Crusaders Canada: Les Eclipse and The Oakland Crusaders

Blue Stars new uniforms are absolutely awesome!

The season has just started, and BozzlyB has already won the top honors for the most creative, unique, and humorous show title!

Phantom Regiment's Panama Jack uniforms 1993 Blue Knights. Wrath of Khan music good; corps uniforms, bad.

The Black Knights! H*** yeah those uniforms were awesome! I totally remember those!

*Sacramento Freelancers! (when they had the black pants) Loved that crisp and commanding look with the white flap on the jacket! *The Guardsmen. Excellence in orange! *Suncoast Sound *Bluecoats up to 1989 *Bridgemen *Avant Garde *Phantom Regiment in the '80s. Loved the long capes, black pants, and white tops. *27th Lancers *Santa Clara Vanguard *Florida Wave when they had the Miami Vice jackets and fedoras. *Madison Scouts 1980s. *Southwind with the yellow *Boston Crusaders during the white shoe with the black sole years. *Spirit of Atlanta baby blue with the delta on the chest.

Spirit of Atlanta when they ditched the baby blue in the mid-'90s for the blue, cream, and gold with the red accents! Ugh! Florida Wave when they went from the Miami Vice jackets to the dark blue jackets with the yellow undershirts (1989). Bluecoats powder blue jackets with the white pants; the "Blue Band" years ('89-'91). Bluecoats 2009. The tie-dye tops....ummmm, nope. The Glassmen '94-'96. Black Gold any year.

After having viewed a run through by the Blue Stars for thier 2010 production-"Houdini", I can honestly say that thier awesome talent and sweet show design are not an illusion! Lots of great things to see and hear as the entire program flows together nicely! The brass has a full and rich sound, the guard is continuing the success that they've had for the past couple of years, and the biggest turn around is the percussion! All three sections of the corps combine and compliment eachother quite well. All of the hype that has been mentioned about the Blue Stars is 100% justified, in my opinion. Great job Blue Stars! Here's to an fantastic summer as you are off to a wonderful start!

Here's a spin off from the "new uniform" thread. Have it at, folks... 2007 Madison Scouts 1995 Northern Aurora 1994 Marauders 1993 Glassmen 1986 Crossmen 2000 Colts futuristic KFC employee uniforms. early '90s Glassmen guard 2007 Blue Stars court jester pants (yeeeeesh!) The years when Southwind went from yellow to black and white. Pioneer any year. Still say they were trying to look like 27th back in '98! 2009 Carolina Crown with the Linda Blair green. More to come...

The Blue Stars have never "started over." They've been through DCI, CCI, DCM and all divisions minus senior corps; but they've never started over. Looks like you've got some history to learn, buster.

Ummm,yeah, about that... Blue Stars 1972. Second place at the first DCI finals. They should have won.

Grey pants! I love it!

Are The Mandarins and Teal Sound still using Premier? Those drums sounded like a cardboard box. Special note to garbage drums: Remember those god aweful Remos that a handful of corps used to march? Yeeeesh! If it's not Pearl or Yamaha, it's crap.

1. Retreat at DCI finals does not include the playing of Miley Cyrus and other degrading teeny-bopper music (wishful thinking). 2. Major DCI shows will no longer have childish little games like spin around the bass drum mallet during intermission (wishful thinking). 3. A lot of corps have a lot of kick a** instructors! Once again, a final push will be made for that 12th spot on finals night (speculation based on corps updates). 4. Two or three of the corps in the middle of the top 12 will be giving the G7 corps quite a scare this year; and if all goes as it should, if so deserving, may even take down one or two of the "top acts." And for special note: Here's to Aungst and his crew for putting the Blue Stars drumline on the path towards musical and competitive success!

So, how long before Hopkins turns his attention towards DCA? When the damage is done here, DCA will be ripe for him to sink his claws into and stomp around on with his cloven hooves.

I think there will be a lot of folks pulling for The Blue Stars and The Boston Crusaders as a result of this current announcement. Hopfully the judges won't be swayed in light of this movement to "slot" the might-makes-right seven. If a corps deserves to best one or two of the G-7s, it should happen.

I'm sure some of these directors were pushed and prodded by the caption heads and designers of thier respected corps to vote in favor of this. It's more than just a Hopkins ideology. There are a lot of influential designers and instructors out there that are quite good at getting what they want or moving on to another corps where they will get thier way. The current state of the the activity, folks.

Good grief, here we go again. Geez, I recall some years ago in Orlando when I saw a couple of Blue Knights, in uniform, playing electric guitars at I and E. Looks like Hopkin's dreams and desires are coming true.

Any parent that sends or lets their kids go to the Blue Devils should tell them to "Just say NO!" while on tour or enroll them in a local D.A.R.E program before they leave for the summer. ho-ho-ho, he-he-he, ha-ha-ha!