wallace

Agree, but they just don’t pop on the field. Same thing with the uni fronts with the stripes. It muddies the visual impact moments.

Unless you were there to hear the music and see the performances, it would be hard to understand why the reactions are so different. The videos just do not do the older shows justice. The emotional builds were more effective. I’ll concede that today’s performances are technically superior, but the raw emotion from those vintage shows is hard to match. In some ways, today’s designers have lost sight of connecting to the audience rather than preaching to them.

1. Cadets 93 2. Cadets 87 3. Cadets 84 4. Blue Devils 86 5. Spirit 80 6. Madison 75 7. Star 91 8. Cavaliers 00 9. Crown 09 10. Bluecoats 14 11. Blue Devils 09 12. Vanguard 73 I tried to include shows that were my favorites as well as those I felt were transformative for the activity. For instance, Crown 09 is the year they figured out the formula to win. Vanguard 73 was revolutionary. I included Spirit 80 for its historical significance.

All of us know what cost us the championships in those years. There’s no way we were beating Crown in 13, and the cringeworthy narration in 07 was just an embarrassment. Honestly, from 06 on, we didn’t understand what was needed to win. Our individual performance captions were excellent, but visual and GE...YIKES!

Glutton hater!

I hate the Cadets’ costume. It does not show well on the field.

That doesn’t make anyone culpable of abetting in You-Know-Who’s alleged lawbreaking. It just makes them a bad judge of character.

Here’s how you answer someone who questions rifles, swords, spears, etc. Art imitates life. They’re not real. They’re meant to be a visual representation of the theme the designers are trying to convey. You need to lighten up and have a Zebra Cake.

Yep, the most important task at hand is to clean. The show is fine. It’s a colossal improvement over the garbage foisted upon the members the past two seasons. It’s a good beginning to a new era.

I agree there will be a number of corps fighting for second place. BD’s show is a beast. Expect a spread by finals. It won’t be close.

I agree, and add the fact their brass is top 2 easily. I think their percussion is the weakest, but that’s just splitting hairs on my part. There may be a spread between one and two by finals.

Blue Devils are going to take it again. There’s just too much visual and GE horsepower for anyone else to overcome. Their guard is going to be legendary by finals.

His decline as a designer happened as early as 2006, but it really started to rear its ugly head in 2007 with his obsession with narration and New Age gobbledygook. If the corps members and caption heads hadn’t been top notch we probably would have seen a precipitous drop in placement way before 2016.

Hear.ess! A hundred fifty people could have easily piled on that golf cart!

91 is by far the most competitive season of DCI on record. There wasn’t one lackluster corps in the top twelve.

It wasn’t, but their hypocrisy fails to excuse the alleged behavior of Hopkins and those who covered for him.

Given the political climate, it’s standard operating procedure to distance learning institutions from all instances of impropriety and alleged criminal behavior. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but thirty years of abuse and cover-up cannot be erased with two months worth of record. The corps is off to a good start, but it’s going to be years before its reputation has been repaired.

Well, then those corps need to be exposed as well! You’re right, George. There are examples of similar behavior elsewhere, and I’m not supporting those groups either. The activity cannot tolerate the systematic abuse of its employees and members anymore. I understand the mods are restricting unsubstantiated rumors in other organizations, but we need to encourage and support those who need to speak up loudly and often. Root it out!

It’s too early to say the corps is healthy. Most of the changes that have occurred have been mainly meant to stave off immediate financial ruin or are merely symbolic in nature. I need to see a consistent record of financial stability over a number of years. I want to see a clear and long record of transparency. I want to see a concerted effort to guarantee student safety on all levels. I want to see a system of accountability with a means of quick and decisive disciplinary action for those that violate a revised code of conduct for instructors and officers. Until I see these things in action consistently, I cannot in good conscience donate or send my students to an environment that engenders sexual abuse.

Until I was sure that definitive changes occurred in the entire organization I wouldn’t recommend the corps to any of my students for the foreseeable future.

After the 2016 show, there’s no way the Vatican is going to let him in.

If the DA thought there was incriminating evidence on these videos then a warrant would have been issued to seize it. Honestly, his laptop and smartphone are more likely to be the smoking guns.

What’s so valuable and irreplaceable there that’s worth the manpower to slog through hundreds of video? That hasn’t been saved and/or copied a hundred times already? This is a new beginning. Let’s break free from the constraints of the past while holding on to the traditions that truly matter. Let it go!

Easy fix that would take five minutes. Delete the old account. Start a new account. Email the new account info to everyone.

The Cadets should concentrate on good music and marching and leave the messaging to overzealous hashtaggers on Twitter.