DCI-86

I completely agree with this. I feel that is the responsibility of a champion to try new things and break new ground - I think BD did that to get into their modern era of championships but have stuck with a formula (give or take) and where there was a 'weakness' (e.g. losing guard to Boston), they have followed what the winner was doing (e.g. more tricks and harder work in the context of guard). But when was the last time we saw something truly innovative from them?

Colts guard is 10 points better than anything else we have seen today

Crossmen’s guard is so much stronger than anything that has come before them

I fear that if Troopers don't sort out their colorguard, their guard will pull their placement back when they go head to head with their peers (Colts, Blue Stars, Cadets etc). They look young and like they need to spend a month or so just working on technique!

Great start for BS. I think they will pass Phantom fairly quickly. Lots to clean and lots to develop but a great start for the corps and I love the direction they have gone!

1. Bluecoats 2. Boston 3. Blue Devils 4. Crown 5. Blue Stars 6. Cadets 7. Cavaliers 8. Phantom 9. Troopers 10. Colts 11. Mandarins 12. Blue Knights

I agree with much of what ContraFart wrote - there is a big difference between a corps having its own unique style (e.g. Bluecoats) and a corps doing a 'rinse and repeat' show every year. I don't enjoy BD and it has nothing to do with them winning almost all the time but it has everything to do with taking a winning formula and applying it each year. They have become highly predictable. I believe the role of a Champion is to keep innovating and I think BD (in recent years) rarely does this. I saw the run of their preview show and yep - the same thing as last year and the year before ...... with a thinly veiled theme and the same kind of narration, staging, guard book, etc. I totally appreciate that it's not 'my cup of tea' anymore yet others will love it, and that is fine with me but sadly I find BD predictable and boring because I have seen it all from them before - for the last 10 years!

You don’t have to be a top medalist corps to attract talented guard members, you just have to give people a reason to join. Blue Stars always have a ton of members audition for guard (both male and female) because people want to spin Michael Shapiro twirls and they know they are gong to be super challenged and never bored.

We saw a number of firsts in finals that we haven’t seen all season (Phantom beat Cavies, BS guard beat SCV, BC win percussion, BD winning guard over BC etc) . Is this the first time judges really disregard everything else and solely judge what they see? (Maybe because there are no consequences for the judge for the decisions they make in finals ?)

On his FB page (& visual)

Lol there is no way Michael Shapiro is leaving Blue Stars. He is a very loyal person.

It’s that time of year. Who is going where? I’ll start Daniel Wiles leaves Cavaliers

Cadets guard is book one of the simpler ones in the top 12. They executing it extremely well.

Achievement isn’t just how clean you are, it’s how clean you are relative to the written book. Ie if you stood and did perfect drop spins for 12 mins your achievement score would be very low. BS written book contains WAY More content that Cadets and relatively BS achievement therefore is higher.

They just need a better run. Last night definitely wasn’t the guard’s best run

There seems to be 2 key areas SCV is not being credited for (or being penalized for) and that is 1. how spread out the guard is for 2/3rds of the show - and how challenging that is from a timing perspective and 2. How much body/dance the hornline does. I suspect both these demands are creating more debit for SCV then credit (e.g. it's quite easy to see the differences between hornline members when they are dancing and the guard creates less effect when so spread out)

His name is Tommy!

I thought Music City was great. Best guard so far.

They seem to have stopped announcing any scores!

Cos there is so many American drum corps you don’t need any international groups, right?

Guys It’s drum Corps INTERNATIONAL and that means accommodating differences. Eg most European corps compete with no age limit. If you don’t like it then change the name of DCI to DCA (Drum Corps America)

Watch it in a browser- copy the url and then 🙂

THIS! I just watched Cavies 2019 and this year's show is not a patch on that. Whilst they have been playing catch-up because of Covid, they have visual issues that I think are too late to fix this year. In the end it may be DESIGN that keeps them behind BS not EXECUTION

The issue with the guard getting 'lost' is less to do with the color choice and more to do with their staging - they are SOOOO spread out around the corps most of the show. Right towards the end when they come together in a block you can see how effective they are. Unfortunately I feel this staging choice has really limited the guard's ability to be featured and be a dominant section - like they have been in the past, and like the drum line is now. The secret to a winning show is to figure out how to feature all sections (this is what BD does so well - like them or not!). I suspect at SCV, the drum line staff get to call the shots a lot more than the guard staff does!

Just catching up from last night’s show. Blue Stars guard isn’t just getting cleaner but they are one of the most musical guards. Every note of the music is clearly interpreted somewhere in the guard book. Great job! I wonder how high they will place in guard IF they can get clean?