Orange Roughy

Now THIS I believe.

The Crown trumpet (sigh) playing "First Call" at the beginning of the closer. The corps is holding the resolved chord from the ballad, and he bursts in with an acutal, living, breathing, BUGLE call. In a drum corps show - imagine that! If somebody tells me that he picks up an actual bugle to play that, I might pee my pants. Even with a trumpet, it's still

Sounds... strangely... familiar. Maybe it's because one of these three corps has won the championship every year since 1991. The more things change...

(When the Cavaliers guard walks by) "I like your sleeves"

Listening to Phantom now... I think I liked "1000 Airplanes on the Roof" better before... when it was called "The Canyon".

Good idea. You could make flyers and hand them out at Finals so that everyone could follow along. Heck, you could even have a "speak-along"! This I believe.

For me, it's Crown by a wide margin. Three straight years of an unreal horn sound. I could listen to this all day.

True, but.... It doesn't happen very often any more. In fact, the only example I can think of this decade was Carolina Crown in 2003. They were 16th the year before, opened up sub-60 in June (more than 5 points behind Spirit, who finished 12th), and surged all the way to 10th at Finals. But they were the exception to the rule. Low June scores typically mean low August placements any more.

So let me get this straight. People were able to see all of the webcast except for the first minute of Spirit (thanks to some adept scrambling by the DCI staff), and people were able to get exchange seats and see the entire show (thanks to some adept scrambling by a DCI staff that was given the incorrect seating chart by the host site) - and yet people come on here to complain about said DCI staff. And we wonder why people consider us the most spoiled country in the world.

Oh, there's need for excitement alright. Especially for those in the SCV family. Rough times in '05, a struggle to climb back in '06 (including early 5 point deficits to the Devils) - and now beating their rivals the first weekend of the year. Plenty of excitement to be had by all.

Last time SCV beat the Devils was what - early 2004? 2002?

As do I. I would love to see Bloo or Crown break into the top 3, and I would probably faint if Phantom won it all. But until the Blue Devils and Cavaliers show a chink in their armor, it's ridiculous to predict that they will fall. Blue Devils? MAYBE. They've been 4th and 3rd the last two years, and their identity is somewhat missing after the Yowza experiment. Maybe they slip to 4th again, but I doubt it. Cavies? Not a chance. Their design team is a well oiled machine, one which has never been matched in DCI history. In fact, they got stronger last year. I just can't see them falling out of the top 2. BOTH of them missing the top three the same year? I give it 1-200 odds.

In the last 7 years, the Cavies and Blue Devils have BOTH finished in the top 3 every year except one - 2005, when the Blue Devils yowza'd down to fourth. And yet this year, BOTH will miss the top three?? Um, no.

Winner: Bluecoats. Another great decision by a leadership team that has made a lot of great decisions over the last 5 years. Runner-up: Colts. A corps that calls themselves the red team should be, well, red. Bronze Medal: Crown. It'll grow on me. Last place: Madison. Bring back the fleur...

Remember... '99 - 8th '00 - 7th '01 - 6th '02 - 5th '03 - 4th '04 - 5th '05 - 3rd '06 - 2nd '07 - ???

Twas my mistake to include Madison in that statement. I was attempting to list the corps that made the top 5, but couldn't break through to #4. Suncoast did it in 1986, Glassmen did it in 98, 99, and 01, Boston did it in 2000 & 2002. I had meant to type "Crossmen" instead of Madison, but a review of their scores showed they never got to fifth - they peaked at #6 in 1992 and 1997.My point remains, however. Since 1981, seven corps have filled the top 4 spots (stunning dominance in ANY competition). That all changed last year when the Bluecoats broke through the top 4. Pretty amazing. Looking forward, I expect to see Crown punch through soon, followed by The Academy. Can any new corps win it all soon? I doubt it. But the quality put on the field by the "second CD" corps is better than it was 10 years ago, IMO.

All these posts and not one person has answered the original question? It's quite simple, actually: Long ago, in an attempt to boost his fledgling career, John Williams made a deal with the devil. As has been established on DCP over the past 3 years, George Hopkins is the devil. There you go. :P

Bears mentioning again... The 2006 Bluecoats were the first corps not named BD, SCV, PR, Cadets, Cavies, Madison, or Star to finish in the top four since 1981. That really is a stunning statistic. Many corps have surged to 5th over the years (Suncoast, Madison, Glassmen, Boston), but couldn't break the top-4 stranglehold. The last corps to punch through to the top 4 (Star) won it all a few years later. Good work, Bluecoats. You're slowly winning me back after the "no amps t-shirts for sale one season, followed by taka tiki taco bell the next season" incident from a few years ago. Oh, and I really like the new uniforms.

2002 Cavies

Phantom 1989

Hardest one yet. SO close between 1990 Star and 04 SCV. But, based on one chord, one glorious, peel-back-your-face chord at the end of the opener, my vote goes to: 1990 Star of Indiana

06 Crown

This has been mentioned before, but it bears repeating. The Bluecoats were the first non-champion corps (BD, SCV, PR, Cavies, Cadets, Scouts, & Star) to finish in the top 4 since...1981! Suncoast almost got there in the mid to late 80s, but they didn't make it. Glassmen tried in the late 90s, but couldn't crack it. It had been 25 years since 27th Lancers finished 4th in 1981 - and then the 'Coats pulled it off last year. That's a ginormous accomplishment. An no, I'm not a homer. In fact, I'm a bit of a hater after the "we'll have 'no amps' t-shirts one year, and then takatikitacobell the next year" thing. But I can recognize and outstanding accomplishment when I see it.

As I recall, Star 1990 took a penalty for all of the babies thrown onto the field...