[What is the Top News Story of the DCI Season, 2014. (I know it isn&#39]

What would be the highest combined score for the top five finishers? Seems to me that record may be broken this weekend, which in some ways may be more significant than whatever the Devils may accomplish.

[What is your favorite show of the season?]

I wonder how many people love Bluecoats show because of the last 30 seconds of it. Would Bluecoats still be the fan favorite if that 30 seconds didn't include that sound bend?

Just curious since I personally think the opener is good (not great though), the ballad is GREAT, and the closer up until the last minute or so just doesn't do much for me but that last minute is the best possible ending for this show they could have designed!

BD may go down as my favorite show this year just because the entire show is great! Crown and Bluecoats both have some moments that could be better but overall, both shows are right up there with BD for me in terms of sheer entertainment.

It took 6 years BD but I finally love one of your shows again!

1. Coats
2. Devils
3. Knights
4. Vanguard

FWIW, I am not a kid, and there are two shows I continue to go back and watch: BD and Bluecoats. I have gone back and watched the Devils, as many shows as I can get to, and that is easily the best overall program of the year. I tend to not root for the favorite but they are the favorite for a reason. If they had a bigger, more "Ta-Da" ending, they would be even further ahead than they are now. I see no one coming close to them in Indy.

Coats would contend for the title if their guard was competitive with the top groups. Their music program rips your face off. The ballad is incredible. They give you just enough of "blast" to just tease you into the sort of quiet moment that is really hard to pull off in DCI. I would love that show without the pitch bend.

I think Vanguard is the best classic DCI-type show on the circuit this year, really awesome to watch, but does not have the flow and entertainment value that Devils and Coats have.

I want to like the Cadets, but I detest the stage and the narrator. I am a sucker for schmaltz, but that show just buries you in it. I feel like my eight grade social studies teacher secretly manufactured that show. It has none of the magic of the 2001 Scouts.

Crown of course has a crazy horn line and arrangement, but their program just never goes anywhere for me. I watch Devils and Coats and both of those shows just seem to flow and fly by. Crown's show is just forced to me.

Of the rest, I actually really like Oregon Crusaders. I'm not a DCI expert but they look like the next corps to emerge as a contender. They seem to have all the parts to be successful.

[Glassmen]

I am originally from Toledo, though have lived in Nashville since the '80s. I learned recently that the Glassmen folded last year, despite having established themselves as a perennial DCI finalist.

I am sure many of you have had direct interaction with that corps over the years, and am wondering what the inside story was on their financial demise. Obviously, the Bluecoats have succeeded just down the road in Canton.

I am not sure there has been a corps that was that successful fold right when it seemed they were on the verge of becoming a national name.

[Very little suspense]

After all the talk about this being an ultra competitive season there is very little suspense heading into finals week. Blue Devils will (and should) win, that is a given. Maybe Cadets and Bluecoats fight for second, but I am doubtful. SCV and Crown, Phantom and BK seem to be two battles that will be decided finals night. Maybe there is some movement between Boston, Blue Stars and Madison. But that is about it.

Remarkably, what everyone thought would be up for grabs, the 12-15 range appears the most set in stone. As a matter of fact, among world class corps, I would be surprised if their seedlings, 12 through 22 did not hold next week. Maybe the only suspense is how the open class corps fit in.

What a let down.

This past week I went back and watched one of my all time favorite shows, Spartacus. The Blue Devils had won every single event they played all season long, but it was clear that as the season went on, Phantom Regiment was winning the hearts and minds of fans. Regiment went to Indy having never finished above third all season long, but obviously we know how that ended.

Obviously the similarities between the Blue Devils and The Bluecoats is striking.

Does anyone recall how far behind PR was going into Indy?