staplestable

Made this one for you guys.

What if we're overthinking things, and the show's name is actually "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue"?

Because I'm indecisive and I feel that it's all up for grabs (mainly the former), I'm going to give some brackets for placements. The Cadets: 1st - 5th, this show has potential to be something incredible but at the same time I don't know if they'll still have their momentum from last year. Blue Devils: 1st - 3rd. I don't really see them dipping below 3rd. Cavaliers: 1st - 3th. In general I feel that they're pretty solid in this department, and they'll definitely be bringing it this year. They generally end up in this ballpark. Carolina Crown: 1st - 6th. Now this is where it gets tricky. Crown definitely has the potential to the gold, but at the same time they could place really low not because of their ability but because everyone else is also performing at a high level. ~~~ Phantom Regiment: 5th - 9th. I feel like they are going to drop due to staff changes and their percussion as well. Santa Clara Vanguard: 3rd - 6th. Theoretically speaking, their programming this year and their staff will definitely bring them up the ranks. But they probably won't get higher than a bronze as long as the Cadeviliers exist. Bluecoats: 4th - 7th. After this year I feel they'll start to rise again. I think they're bound to find that winning formula in the next couple of years. Boston Crusaders: 7th - 9th. Boston's program was pretty impressive this past year. I don't think they'll move out of this boundary at all. Blue Knights: 7th -10th. If they keep on doing what they've been doing, they shouldn't have anything to worry about. Madison Scouts: 8th - 12th. They will probably still be in finals, but a killer brassline can't cover for any other weaknesses. ~~~ Blue Stars: 8th - 14th. I really hope they go back to doing something like Houdini. Spirit of Atlanta: 10th - 15th. They improved so much last year, but who knows if they can maintain their lead. Glassmen: 12th - 15th. They've been in the lower pack of finals for a while, so who knows. Troopers: 12th - 16th. Their steampunk show was probably my favorite announcement so far. I just don't think that it'll be likely that they'll make it in, but who knows. Academy: 12th - 16th. They're probably the strongest contender for their finals break-in. Plus their uniforms are sexy. And for the rest I don't really have too much of a prediction. I only listed the potential finalists.

Best show for the corps in ten years: Blue Knights. Best BK show (in my opinion), probably my favorite 9th place show. Best section during Cavaliers upside down madness: The pit! Did you see those splits? I didn't either since the DVD showed only the upside down tenors Most causalities: Phantom Regiment Most catchy: Tie between Madison's Empire State of Mind and BD's Say a Little Prayer Best ballad: Vanguard Best preshow vibe: Bloo. Runner up: Boston Crusaders with them singing "Do You Hear the People Sing"

I'm actually attending this on Saturday! Except tomorrow I'm checking out a mello from my band director, and I've only played the mello two times before. I can play an octave and a half and I'm not used to things in the key of F (I'm a clarinet player), so let's see how well I do

As far as I remember, there are usually 24 sops, 16 mello, 24 bari/euph, and 16 contras if I'm not mistaken. Unless you're Madison, then bump up the number of contras to 20

EDIT: I was a little confused. Thought you were the same person who posted the original comment. Apologies.

Most people would say that "BD is boring" because of certain musical and visual styles that many don't agree with. From your post, I got the impression that you wanted to slam on Pioneer because of their position in world class, which is a whole different reason than for someone hating on BD. Not cool. Are you implying that kids who bust ### all summer belong to a boring organization? Many kids join Pioneer because of their world class tour schedule which is often more busy than open class. Not to mention that Pioneer won several Div II/III competitions back in the day...

We need a drum corps rage comic thread. I have a few I can share.

Next season I also hope that Madison's show will have enough gas to make it all the way to the end of the season, without peaking before. They even beat Phantom and were creeping on BD during early/mid season last year.

The Grass Is Always Greener + A Second Chance = Deja Vu

Madison will be Madison. I await the time when the Scouts can finally get back in the top 8.

What is a pirate's favorite show from this year? XtrordinARRRY. What was a pirate's favorite show from 2010? BARRRRRRtok. 2009? Ballet for MARRRtha. 2008? SpARRticus! And I could go on...

Don't forget all the cavie gimmicks too SCV's ballad, BD Say A Little Prayer, Cadets drum battle, Bloo Creep, there's more I can think of but I'll do that later.

The resemblance to Blue Stars 2009 would be obvious. In a good way.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the Glassmen, but I think Key would fit right in. Best of luck!

Also, on the contrary, do you think we could get a list of the LOWEST placing scores of each placement? It would be interesting to compare them with the highest placing scores from each placement to see if a show would have won had it been performed a different year.

If someone made a spreadsheet of all the corps scores over the past however many years, it would be a piece of cake to find those.

Does anybody have a list of which shows in DCI have scored the highest in their ranking? For instance, SCV 09 scored the highest 5th place show of all time with a 95.650.

Name their show "Stairway to Heaven"

VANGUARD: 2014 Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary show?? Indigo by Epica. SCV had the best ballad this year (The Eternal Knot) and I feel like they could use this to make another awesome ballad. Or a pretty awesome opener/preshow. CAROLINA CROWN: CADETS: Alice in Musicland would be awesome to play on the field. Yes, it's a vocaloid, and yes, it's in Japanese. But I think there's potential for this to translate well on the field (And to follow up 2005 and 2006) BLUECOATS: I could see this being the opener similar to Brave New World, with members dancing and doing choreography while grabbing their instruments.

(Wild) Predictions: -Phantom Regiment will play "Romeo" -The drumline of SCV gets used to Paul Rennick and takes top percussion next year -Bluecoats will probably drop the Metropolis-esque themes and do something like Imagine or Criminal -Blue Stars will NOT have a gigantic prop that impedes movement (and will hopefully use their aggressive books to an advantage) -Blue Devils will do a "weird" show next year -Cadets will use their split uniforms in some way next year (some members with maroon pants and white tops??)

Even though BK probably won't rise into top 6 status, what they are doing is still really impressive. Before I saw them at DCI West, I though that BK was just a corps that can't pull off good excitement, but after seeing them this year I was impressed! Granted, you won't see them winning championships as long as the other corps are still improving as well, but the organization as a whole is still improving lots and also pleasing the crowd. I'm placing money on the prediction that BK will break 90 tomorrow at finals. GO BK!

Blue Stars 2012: UnBorne: Busted! Santa Clara Vanguard 2012: Stairway to Heaven Carolina Crown 2011: Th3rd Time's a Charm

NOTE: THIS IS A WHAT-IF QUESTION. I AM NOT SUGGESTING ANYTHING LIKE WE SHOULD EXTEND THEM. Suppose that there was another week or two of drum corps. How would you think the different corps from this year would fare? Would some of the shows continue to rise? Or did some of them run out of gas for that last week? If this were to happen, how do you think finals placement would turn out?