George Dixon

She was a massive distraction.

I feel Coats have the best show. Cadets gave the best performance tonight. Crown has amazing talent and THE moment of the year in that massive opening hit. But we have a new mixture of judges so it is very tough to say which way things will go as far as scoring I do think Spirit should see another couple point jump in their score tonight!

yup - I love it.

I love Crown's closer!!

some very not-Crown-like sounds out of the brass line tonight... Unusual for them I do think the changes are improving the show of the flow a good deal!

except this year Hopkins is saying "new ending to come" and last year he was saying "that's our ending" - so...

that's not THE endng - just a space keeper - a lot still to be added the numerous changes and additions tonight were good = Cadets seemed to have a strong run

yeah - and THE lead mello - so no french horn solo...

yeah it seemed a little ragged...

Mandarin's drill goes really good with Boston's music! Yes - I'm watching both feeds at once

as I've been saying, the reports of Spirit's demise have been greatly exaggerated - they'll make finals! Nice job guys. They need to get a little more out of the guard in terms of drill integration and supporting a few of the big moments much more prominently Also think they should OPEN the show with the two soloists up front and then build into that big first hit

trooping the stands is awesome - so wish that would again become a regular thing!

Thanks Mike for your insights. Very helpful in giving me some things to watch for.

yes it is down right now

I gotcha. It's a fair question. I think it comes down to their first loss and the days leading up to BD match-up Before that it was more general, less about how the corps can squeeze another point out of the program So I get what you're saying...

Um... We are FANS on this thread, and we are rooting for them to WIN as this is a competition and we want them to do well. I'm not hearing this from the staff, director or members. But frankly I'm pretty sure they'd prefer winning to losing as well The purpose of competition "is to push one another down the path toward excellence" so I really think the two "topics" aren't mutually exclusive That said - a lot of my own comments have been about the corps addressing the lack of "wow" moments - which has as much or more to do with the enjoyment of the performance as the score. Anyway - not really sure what else where supposed to be talking about in the 36 hours following their first loss of the season. We know the corps is being instructed well, fed well and transported safely - so what's left?

ok cool. not trying to be defensive - I'll PM you the link. Cadets had some issues and the no french horn solo moment was a little sad...

also I tend to agree that BD didn't have a great run Tuesday night - some real issues in very visible spots that night - so I guess I'm a BD honk too lol!!

I don't think Cadets have the edge and I'm actually rooting for Coats to win this year. Cadets have probably my 4th or 5th favorite show I was adding context since everyone was "freaking out" over the gap. I'm sorry but they were missing some very key pieces the other night - not an excuse, just reality.

and what are your thoughts on the 2014 guards? I'd be interested in hearing. I know what impresses me - but I'm no guard expert... I love Bluecoats guard this year. Cadets guard is much improved. Crowns guard seems to have taken a slight step back - or maybe they are just less focused upon in the program BD guard looks impressive on videos - but I haven't seen them live yet

the more I watch the Cadets run from Wednesday night on that video hosting site - the more I don't think the 1 point gap is a big deal Cadets marched 4 holes - which normally isn't THAT bad - but one hole was the inside tenor and the snare line marching/feet was all over the place The other super key hole was a mello hole who is the soloist on French Horn. So cue the french horn solo - all eyes focused ont the stage: CRICKETS I honestly don't think it was a great run. The horns sounded solid and guard looked pretty good but other wise it was just mehhh...

what is this based on? Have you seen Spirit live this season? I saw them Sunday and the crowd really enjoyed them. I'm just curious why so harsh...

and after having seen a video from last night I don't think Cadets had that great of a run, holes / tired feet / tall grass, they just didn't really look that comfortable at times

it's the other way around anymore design dictates when the performances are somewhat in the same vicinity

it's ok to ask the question... that's all. Obviously not "scientific"/ there were many such swings both with the BD/Coats match up and the Cadets/BD match up so things are obviously in flux day to day as you say