henry7184

Don't forget - 11th place.

Yes, but just with other years their score will be higher tonight than Saturday night, likely. It's really stupid and I don't get it.

The 10th place corps never breaks 90, unfortunately. For me, it as a performance worthy of a 90.

1. Vanguard 2018 2. Vanguard 2017 3. Crown 2015 4. Crown 2013 5. Crown 2012 6. Crown 2009 7. Regiment 2012 8. Cadets 2011 9. Vanguard 2016 10. Vanguard 2013 11. Vanguard 2012 12. Madison 2011

Anyone know Scouts score?

Rewind. That's what I'm doing.

Phantom is AWESOME! Really enjoyed that.

Well, I hope you are right. I would love to see this.

It is not that it won't be permitted/allowed. It is that BD is the best corps. I don't think anyone is ever going to score above a 99.65.

Nor is it Madison '88 (and Vanguard '88 for that matter) or Spartacus. The years BD came in undefeated and lost, it was because a truly spectacular show (or two) was lingering dangerously beneath them. Not the case this year.

But Bluecoats didn't win everything going into finals. Before finals, BD beat them three times and they beat BD six times. The biggest spread Bluecoats beat BD by was well under a point. BD beat Bluecoats by just over a point once. The two were neck and neck from the moment they met up. I don't think anyone thought it was Bluecoats to win or lose at any point after the two met up. This year, BD is firmly out front and has been the entire season. Hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see someone else win, but I just can't see BD losing this year. It is theirs to win or lose.

I'd call 1.5 points over the 2nd place corps being leaps and bounds. Yes, yes, I know, Atlanta, but Atlanta was the odd man out this year in terms of scores and spreads. BD has consistently been around 1.5 better than any of the other top corps, and they have the most consistency across captions, and are the only corps that has a legitimate shot at winning all captions. The other four don't. Also, the other four will help BD win by knocking each other down in various captions, which increases BD's lead.

Nope. I would argue both Cavaliers and Cadets had better shows than BD in 1995. This year, no one has a better show from a design perspective. Bluecoats, Boston, Crown and Vanguard are all going to help BD win by a larger margin. Why? Because BD is going to be 1st in most ordinals, with maybe a couple 2nds and 3rds thrown in. The other four will have mainly 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and 5ths in the ordinals. I expect BD to win easily all three nights. Hope I'm wrong - hope they get 5th haha - but not going to happen.

I am wondering that too but I have heard it's both, which will make me so happy if that's the case. But, I wonder if it's only 13th and below that is going to be streamed like before.

This isn't what I want to say, but at least this design is better than 2016 to 2019.

Yep. I don't get it either and now they may lose to a cadet corps.

Oh God, don't do this to me. There are THE two - Vanguard '87 and Inferno that my broken heart will never heal from. The funny thing is, these two shows are probably still in my top 5 favorite shows of all time, and another spot in that top 5 belongs to '87 Garfield. Just as I can't take that '87 victory away from Garfield, I can't take it away from Devils. Two years it could have gone either way. Still the pain is real and will always be there. I was so beyond devastated at finals in '87 and 2015. I don't buy Crown was off or flat at finals in 2015. It's like one person said it and everyone else bought into it.

Exactly. If we were as bad as our jobs as CK and company, we would have been fired long ago. Scott Stewart got fired after missing one year of finals. Why was Mason let go? Mason left them in good standing (8th place in 2015 - I know he was gone before, but 2015 was a Mason hangover) and look what CK and company have since! Now, they might lose to Vanguard Cadets Thursday and Friday. If that happens, I will lose it.

Opening the gender field up theoretically opens up the talent pool. Before allowing persons of different genders to be members, they were limiting themselves to men only. Now they have access to the full talent pool out there. Will that pay off? Who knows.

Well put! In the past, I had a lot of arguments with friends regarding (for example) Crown in 2009, 2012 and 2015 and many other corps and placements over the years. I got into a shouting match with a friend about BD once because I was so outraged they won. It was so bad I thought it was going to end our friendship. I thought I was going to end our friendship. I ended up apologizing. He did too. When you finally stop thinking everyone is against you or trying to get a reaction out of you, you learn and you grow. Now, I can look back and see why BD has deservedly won every time they have won, and why the corps I thought should have won or placed higher didn't. It also freed me from being so anxious about scores and placements. I just don't get upset about it anymore. We are all passionate about this activity. This is our common thread. I just can't be all sunshine and roses, especially about corps I love. I have to face things as what they are, not what I want them to be or my bias is driving me to. I couldn't give a flip about most corps, which is why I'm not on their threads. I'm passionate about corps like Crown, which is why I'm here. If you're going to be a fan of any corps, you have to take the good and the bad. With Crown, the bad is still pretty darn good. Many corps would kill to be the fan favorite and in the top 4 year after year. I think they have the talent to win, but their design holds them back - that's where my frustration lies.

I'm tossing Atlanta out. It was an anomaly. At least I think, LOL.

Yes, and that's why I think DCI is slowly killing itself. When you look at Bluecoats vs Madison for example, you can tell the Bluecoats production is a lot more $$$$ than Madison's, and Bluecoats have a lot more $$$$ than Madison. The same can be said for most of the top corps vs the corps just outside of finals or lower. I was really upset with Crown and Bluecoats when that whole G7 thing was happening, because had it been there in the '80s, '90s or early 2000s those two corps would have never found themselves in a position to be part of the G7. It's not a level playing field anymore. It used to be much more level back in the 80's, 90s and early 2000s, which is why a corps like Regiment could go from 10th in '86 to 3rd in semis in '87. That's not the case anymore. These corps keep voting and approving things that favor the top corps, like increasing the number of members to 150. That was so dumb IMO. DCI should be figuring out ways to support the lower corps, create new corps, and create a level playing field. It would be a lot more interesting. Not to mention it's pathetic when I go to dci.org to the head-to-head scores page and there is only 24 world class corps. When I marched about 65 corps total competed finals week. It's just not as exciting anymore, to me.

Probably. I'm sure a lot of them ignore me and I ignore a few of them. I don't know why it's so upsetting. I get that it's tough to read criticism of something you love, especially if you don't see what the person criticizing sees, but it's not the end of the world. It was tough for me to read comments about Vanguard earlier the season, but I understood it and agreed with it. They've really turned that show around. I've said plenty of good things about Crown, but those comments seem to be completely glossed over and the focus is on the negative.

I understand. I used to be like that back in the day when the corps I wanted to win weren't winning, or corps that were 5th/6th, whatever, should have placed higher. A big part of that was Crown vs BD (2009, 2012, 2015). I was so mad when they didn't win, especially in 2015. 2015 finals ruined the entire year for me. I was pulling for Cadets most of the year, but what Crown did with that show over the course of the season was remarkable. I thought they should have won. I thought their loss was going to ruin drum corps for me entirely. I was furious. Now I look back and I understand why BD won in 2009 and 2012. I still ain't over 2015, but I can see that it was so close it could have gone either way. It all really started when I was introduced to this activity in '84 and completely fell in love with it. In '85, '86 and '87 I was upset Vanguard didn't win. I was completely devastated in '87 that I cried in the stands at Camp Randall when they lost. I still get emotional thinking about it. It took a few years, but I finally let it all go and now it's so much more enjoyable. No one can control what the judges do and it's hard to understand what they are looking for and why BD is 1.5 ahead of anyone. Crown is still amongst my favorite corps, as are Vanguard, Regiment and Cadets (the demise of these last two was tough), but I look at things through a different lens (including the critical), which helps me to understand why BD almost always wins, and why everyone else almost always doesn't. It's freeing. With Crown, I am just frustrated that their design team can't figure out how to produce a winning design.