Sideways

Has not been mentioned yet but you will want to watch Suncoast Sound 1988...easily 15 years ahead of its time.

Less hair!

Athletic supporters already give plenty of protection.

Guns are inherently political...stepping into a quagmire there.

Some just never learn when it’s not appropriate to get into political statements...and when you do keep it classy and subtle. Lady Gaga at the super bowl covering This Land is Your Land is a perfect example.

Natural woman had potential but felt derivative and forced after Everything Must Change. I understand that every year is supposed to be judged independently but when you have that impression of the ballad and they also play Laura and bring back the mosaic theme from 1930...you get the feeling the design was mailed in. Loved the Harlem Nocturne section though...but I cannot forgive hearing brass performance issues on finals week...this is freaking BD!!

That and 1991 Phantom called and wants their fabric back...

Relentless was great up to that ending and even parts of 2017 were good but the rest...you know where I’m going. This year was just silly...BD and Crown were saved this year because of the talent level of their membership and not design.

Now they just need a program that doesn’t suck.

I find it refreshing that they echo a lot of my opinions about the activity. Not the sanitized crap that comes from dci and most corps themselves.

Thanks for the tip...that Drum Corps AF podcast is great!

The judge on finals night knows the required spread to guarantee a caption win...despite given BD the top spot on finals night the spread was kept close enough to allow BAC to win. Read all you want into that.

Star was there only the first four years of the decade and were still that dominate in the medals...that is impressive

Now I want to talk about the Ott with four different corps winning in the last five years. 2014 BD 2015 Cadets 2016/17 Crown 2018 SCV I am loving the diversity in this caption. Crown is the known quantity year in and year out no matter what their book is. Cadets...Gino never seems to change his approach but the talent level varies and everything converged in 2015 to great effect. When BD brass clicks with the book you get something awesome like 2014...but I would kill for one of those early 90s books to make a return visit to the field. All of the above were awesome but were very refined and did not take a lot of chances in their approach. SCV this year stood out from the recent Ott winners. Their approach to brass was very raw...high risk/high reward. The kids were trained extremely well but not held back either. To me this was very reminiscent of Phantom from ‘93, ‘96, ‘03 or SCV ‘98-‘99. I cannot tell you how much I loved hearing them just going for the jugular and on the very edge of over blowing but never crossing it. To me this approach to brass has been sorely lacking from dci in the last decade or so. Granted it suited their book and the emotions they were going for... Do not take me wrong with not appreciating what crown has achieved in the last decade. I can not argue with their achievement numbers and their approach also generate huge effect numbers but there is a certain intangible that their approach cannot match with the way SCV played this year.

I look at it this way...there are two different contests going on during finals week. First and foremost is the contest to determine the dci champion...the traditional who performs best on any given night. In theory, you knock it out of the park and you win the founders trophy. Caption awards are a secondary contest and are awarded based on consistency across all three night (and also helps mitigate for any judging bias...real or not). I really have no problem with this especially since in the case of a tie...finals night judging is the tie breaker.

BD won in 2014....this was the largest spread BD has lost by since 2006.

Jury still out on the drill writer as that still came across as their weak link...was not a great balance between demand and effectiveness. I will admit this was partially execution related as there was a lot more payoff in the drill from Allentown on this year.

No clue why I started thinking about this but after Santa Clara winning brass and percussion last month I had to go back and look at recaps to see the last time someone won both. I clearly remember Cadets 2005 since they won every caption (sub-caption) and the next most recent was BD in 2007. It really did not occur to me how rare it is to have a corps to win both. Brass was being traded back and forth between the top four this year until finals week...SCV peaked at the right time!

Someone has to pick up and continue the Irish theme with Pioneer out of the game.

Malaguena or Malaga - Scouts....multiple years

Price of being a triathlete.

Nothing like changing at the end of the work day and then walking through the building in a pair of bike shorts like you own the place.

Magic was funded by the Brigadiers bingo operation ($$$) for that come back....

The original post reeks of snow flakes and those requiring trigger warning. The reddit thread is a complete 180 with something clearing rotten in the state of Oregon. Truth is likely somewhere in the middle....like it or not everyone has a voice with social media now.

It would be like Spincycle but someone is going to lose an eye...