WestCoaster

Thoughts? The Boston Crusaders have to factor in somehow, but I'm not exactly sure how to rank them. Most consistent over time would probably go to Spirit of Atlanta, no? Suncoast Sound kicked the crap out of a lot of corps for some years too, though. Others? EDIT to remove Blue Stars

No, it's for counting. And it hasn't been around forever, believe it or not (plenty of incredible, championship winning drumlines did NOT do it, but there was that one with the perfect score who started the whole thing ).

This from a Bridgemen guy?

that

Yuck.

No doubt. What a nightmare that was! To make matters worse, the corps I was teaching stayed at a school next to a chicken slaughterhouse. That's a smell that you just NEVER want to experience! Ugh.

It was more the machiavellian "offender takes a break while the rest are punished " thing that got my attention. Remember Full Metal Jacket and the jelly donut? Like that.

I think that sentiment is a throwback to the old days when the Cadets most definitely DID beat the crap out of their kids. In fairness, though, a lot of corps did so back then. The Cadets were just best at it. No, but there are some stories I could tell ya. Here's one of the milder ones. One of the rookie sops was a half a step off his dot, so Mark Sylvester made him take a water break while the rest of the corps ran laps (hollering at him as they passed by each time, naturally). Funny thing was, the sop player used to tell the story almost fondly. Go figure.

iirc they kept changing things even throughout the year, so at certain shows winning on the field meant the trophy, and others would be a combo etc... that plus the lack of prelims results sure lead to some frustration, no doubt.

That was such a weird year. I believe it was *just* a six judge panel right? And the field score didn't count towards the caption award, only GE? Or was it a combo. In any case, Garfield won on the field but Vanguard took drums. My favorite Garfield drumline? 86. Honorable mention to 85.

Okay, seriously now...my advice would be for your student to contact the caption heads of the three corps and talk to them. Make a list of questions and ask away. The groups are all excellent, but of course they have their differences. You end up spending a LOT of time with the caption head and their staff over the year, better make sure you like them and are really into their teaching styles.

Well, that's logical. Hey, wait. Those other corps took second (and FIRST) lots more times than Crown.

I should've known...I was wondering how the heck BD scored so high in 1980 (I figured I must've missed something lol).

Oh, okay.

Interesting points there, but just for the record...Float didn't join up with the Blue Devils until 1982. If you want to check out his record from 80-81, you'd need to look at how Spirit of Atlanta scored.

Okay, my bad. That came out wrong. What I meant was, the quads, bases, and pit were all incredible that year, as well. And there were DEFINITELY no weak links at finals. Is that okay?

I remember the crowd being a bunch of hooligans when the rain came, and they started booing the Vanguard for not starting their show. Then later I remember Dave Gibbs talking to the crowd in front of the Cavies about how marching was "just too dangerous", and then Cavies, BD and Cadets did standstills (Vanguard never came back). I remember Cadets guard did their guard work in the front which I thought was weird, and also since that was the first time I'd ever seen them standing still I remember thinking "they're a lot better when they're on the move". Anyway, as to the question...87 Vanguard. I thought they were boring and cheesy and I was totally hoping that Garfield would beat them (got my wish, too ). But over the years, I've really grown to appreciate them tons...great show! Same for 91 Star and 94 Devils (though 94 Devils only lasted through the first viewing when I was just shocked that they were so, different...seeing them many more times over the season I totally fell in love with the show).

Actually, the snare line in 90 was the weakest link of the drumline that year. It all came together in the end, though. 88, different story (those guys were unreal...probably the cleanest snareline in DCI history!)

Wow...the Devs squeak by at the last minute to surpass the Cavies scorewise for the decade. Pretty cool! Even so, no doubt this decade belonged to the Cavies...CUDOS to their dominant reign!

They did it at finals in 88 and it was amazing (only saw finals so I don't know about the rest of the season). Then they did it again for MOST of the year in 89, but changed it up for finals (leaving a mask on the 50 and the black tarp thing "ran away" out of the stadium. Honestly I liked it better in 88.

I love Catherines writing! Here's one more note on 1990, speaking of her. The keyboard ensemble work you hear just before the drumsolo (following pinball wizard) that is featured was originally an ACCOMPANIMENT to some brass parts. Apparently the staff liked it so much they cut out the brass and left the keyboard stuff as a (very cool) feature.

At finals, yes. Earlier in the season, there were 8.

Wow. Lotsa love for the 90 line here too. Very cool.

I wonder if you're thinking of Al Murray? I don't think Marty was in that line.

Wow, really? I thought they were amazing. And it's not all that often you get an undefeated year, that's saying something right there I think. EDIT...just popped over to check out the BD website and found some backup to my pick here, from ScoJo himself. He said that of the TWELVE high percussion trophies he has been involved in winning, this one was at the TOP. I think I'll take his word for it.