murphpuppy37

First time seeing any show this year, and here are a few quick thoughts. 1. I thought it should have been between Cavaliers and Phantom. I don't know if I just don't get BD's show, or if it just doesn't connect with me, but I didn't really enjoy it at all. 2. I can't believe how good Crown has become over the past few years. Just an amazing show. 3. I enjoy watching the Bluecoats more than just about any other corps. Their show design is just incredible, and I absolutely loved the boxer theme. 4. The Blue Stars' ending is fantastic, and their whole show is really, really good. 5. Narration aside, the Cadets' show is just "meh." Probably the least memorable show of theirs I've ever seen, which is a shame. Great ending though. 6. I'm no big fan of Phantom, but their show is great and championship caliber (although I'd put Cavvies slightly ahead). And how much fun would it be to be that Drum Major who gets to kill everybody? They should have made him pay double dues. 7. Dennis DeLucia is the most awkward man on the planet. All in all, it was a great time. All of the top four are incredible, championship-caliber shows, and I really look forward to seeing who comes out on top.

Ten pages and no one in the Nashville area? Weird. I'll be at Green Hills with the girlfriend (who's never seen a DCI show before). Maybe this time the satellite feed won't go out, like it did 2 years ago.

Wow, lots of Cavvies backlash here, which I guess isn't that surprising. Here's my list of who shouldn't have won, for whatever it's worth. Cadets 1993 (Come on, how could Star not have won this?) Cavaliers 1995 (One of my all-time favorite shows, but BD - and Scouts for that matter - were even better.) PR 96 (BD should have easily won outright) BD 99 (Loved this show, but SCV should have taken the title on its own.) Cadets 2000 (Loved this show too, but Cavvies outperformed them on finals night, IMO) BD 2003 (Should have been either Cavaliers or Cadets, or even SCV or Phantom. This show does nothing for me.) Cavaliers 2004 (Like the Bond show, but loved BD and SCV.) BD 2007 (Probably should have been beaten by Cadets, although I didn't really like either of those shows all that much.)

Well gee, thanks for contributing. So are you saying she isn't a good singer? I don't think that you can really argue that she isn't talented. But is that what you're trying to do? Do you even know? And just for the record, I was going into the Cadets show expecting to hate it. I didn't think I'd like the vocals, and I didn't think I would like the show. But boy...was I ever wrong. I absolutely loved the show. And the ballad, WITH the singing, was my favorite part of the show. Believe me, it was the last show I expected to like tonight, but I was very pleasantly surprised. So for the record, it is possible for people who aren't too keen on vocals in drum corps (that would be me) to really like a vocal part in a show. Imagine that...

Exactly! Would anyone have been upset if they showed the Cavvies entire show on high cam? And I actually thought the cameras did a good job, for the most part. With two exceptions. 1) Phantom's show was, to me, ruined by the ridiculous camerawork. I feel like I missed half the show while I was having to look at Faust, the devil, and the girl run around the whole time. They showed so much of that they it seemed like they forgot that there was a very talented drum corps performing. I really wanted to see more of the visual (which I was very impressed with, by the way) and a LOT more of that drumline. I feel like I missed out on a lot. 2) The same thing goes for the Cavvies. I feel like I missed so much good visual because they always cut to some pointless close up during a cool drill move. They basically completely missed the corps skipping like a record (and the guard guy restarting them), and they didn't show the ending very clearly either. Again, I feel like I really missed out on a good portion of their show.

As it turns out, you're not the only one. My friend and I will be going. So there's at least three people. And since I've never been to DCI in the theater before, how is it? Is the Green Hills theater good with volume and all that? I'm very curious here.

Yes, yes we do. "My god King that's.....that's....the Godfather's music!"

The funny thing is, a few of your posts have made me feel the same way about Phantom alums. There are people here who feel the same way about you, and the attack dog mentality of a few of the "phans" on this board. So don't think it's just the Cavaliers people. There are plenty of annoying people representing just about every corps out there. It just seems like lately, all I'm seeing are a few "phans" who not only don't stop talking about Phantom (and they shouldn't have to), but start bashing any corps who is beating Phantom. It seems like if you don't like Regiment, then you're stupid. At least that's the attitude of a few on here. So what's the point? I guess my point is I'm pretty tired of seemingly every topic on here being about Phantom. I almost miss the nonstop grumbling about the Cadets. Look, Phantom has a great show this year. I have no trouble admitting that. But there are people on this board that make it really hard for me to actually root for Phantom. I might be the only one here who feels that way. But I doubt it..

So are you saying that the Glassmen are wimps? Or are you saying that kids today aren't tough? What is your point?

I think that absolutely nothing has changed. They still don't, IMO, have enough of a show to beat the Cavvies.

Well that's great, except that the amps were not the reason that this particular show was rained out. As people who were actually there (unlike yourself) have said, this show would have been rained out with or without amps. But don't let that get in the way of your standard anti-amp musings.

Yeah, this was the first year since 2000 that I haven't gone. This was definitely a good year to have to work. I feel awful for those fans, because it was always such a fun, knowledgable, and interesting group of people, who really appreciated every show. I always had a good time there.

Excellent topic. All my choices are relatively newer, but that's because I'm 23. Cadets 1998 Cavaliers 2000 SCV 2000 Blue Devils 1995 Madison 1995 Phantom 1993 Blue Knights 1999 Glassmen 2001 Crossmen 2002 Colts 1999 Magic 2002 Spirit 2003 Carolina Crown 2003

Here are my unscientific predictions. 1. Cavaliers 93.15 2. Blue Devils 92.475 3. Phantom Regiment 91.9 4. Bluecoats 91.575 5. Cadets 91.4 6. SCV 89.95 7. Crown 86.65 8. Madison 82.45 Honorable Mention: Boston Crusaders and Blue Knights, two corps who have no business not being at this contest with Madison there.

I'm really surprised that this is the general concensus here. I'm thinking this is more of a "if wishing made it so" situation. I mean, these are the same things that were said about Phantom's show last year, and they finished a good distance out of first. They have a great show, don't get me wrong. And I think 2nd is not out of the question (although it would be surprising to me). But in terms of a total drum corps package, I just don't see how they can beat the Cavaliers this year. The Cavvies just have it all in their show, and that is the only show, in my mind, that just screams "championship show" this year. I'll be just as upset as Studio Tan if Phantom beats Cavvies at finals.

' So why is what he said BS? You can't say something like that and not provide any evidence. Although I'm guessing that's exactly what's going to happen.

You're kidding right? Hyping Phantom on this particular message board is "going out on a limb?" Wow...just wow. To answer the question, I really don't see it happening. And people were saying the same things about last year's show, I might add. From what I've seen, Phantom has quite a ways to go to catch up with the total package that is the Cavaliers this year (not to mention BD, who will probably peak too soon, in my opinion.) I don't care what changes they've made, Phantom's package (again, in my opinion) will not be as good as what the Cavaliers are putting out on the field. Sure, Phantom can play. Sure they can march. And sure they have a great package. But it's just not quite a first place show. And that has more to do with the competition than it does with Phantom. Could it win? Anything's possible. But I would be absolutely beyond shocked if Phantom, at any point this year, beat the Cavaliers.

Wow, there are way too many of these, and most of my favorites have already been listed. Star 1991 - the crosses were just amazing Madison 1995 - can't even hear the last 15 seconds or so, just incredible Cadets 1998 - are they really moving that fast? SCV 1999 - just raw emotion SCV 2000 - just more raw emotion, brought a tear to my eyes live Phantom 2003 - i've never seen quite that much emotion at the end of a show since then BD 2004 - loved the walking right out of the stadium And a couple that haven't been mentioned yet.. Boston 2002 - i'm a sucker for an American flag apparently Cavaliers 2003 - i absolutely loved the reversal of the show's beginning SCV 2003 - not only did the cymbals get to go on a dead run, but they got to do the chop/jump/whatever you call that thing, and the "V" right in the front of the field. I really get a kick out of that every time i see it.

Gotta go with BD. I loved the train theme, and the ending was excellently done. That's another reason why I was so disappointed by this year's offering. It just couldn't stack up to a great show last year, in my opinion.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I love the music for Spin Cycle, and it's the show I listen to the most on my CDs. I would put Frameworks 2nd, 007 3rd, and Four Corners and Niagara in a tie for 4th, but I really love all of those shows.

I don't think I was responding to Nikk specifically, but more what seems in my mind like a mindset on this board among some fans. These Phantom fans aren't any worse than other corps' fans, and I admit i was a tad worked up at the time. The show didn't do much for me either (again, not a Gershwin fan), but it was incredibly performed and they absolutely deserved to be where they were. I think just the mindset of people who cannot accept honest criticism of a show bothers me a lot.

OK, I'll bite.. 1) Cavaliers 2) Bluecoats 3) Cadets 4) Madison 5) Boston Crusaders (And I'm sure if I would have seen SCV, that they would be on the list.)

I absolutely agree. Wonderful job by The Cadets this year. Your show amazed me, you guys performed wonderfully, and you more than deserved your championship. Well done guys!

So people can't criticize a Phantom show now? Everyone has to love the show? I don't like Gershwin, so I'm wrong for not liking the show? It seems that when anyone dares to say anything bad about Phantom, people just jump all over them. And they call Cadets borg bad... Anyways. Me personally, I would have put the Cavaliers on top, because I'm 1) a huge Cavvies fan and 2) always impressed with their shows, and this year's was no exception. I would have had the Cadets second, then Phantom, Bluecoats, Madison, and BD. But that is based on nothing other than my very uneducated opinions on execution and, to an extent, how much I enjoyed the shows.

Oh, OK. I guess i either missed those or they didn't register. Anyone who says that Phantom doesn't have high demand in their show doesn't know what they're talking about. But people are also saying that about The Cavaliers and Cadets. I think my only point was that people are criticizing all of the corps pretty equally in my opinion. There just don't seem to be as many Cavvie or Cadet defenders. But I will most certainly allow for the possibility that I'm wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.