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There's never any reason to assume BD won't win a season until literally the final day of that season proves otherwise. Does Vegas take those bets?

I get the BD frustration, because there have definitely been years in the past decade where I absolutely thought they weren't the best corps on the field, but this year they were. My worries about how good that is for the activity remain, but this year at least it's undeniable.

The fact that Morrison is even still on the Board after what happened in 2018 is extremely negligent and frankly unacceptable. He is who we thought he was.

This isn't really happening, though. The Bluecoats or BD, for example, aren't picking either/or. They're playing to the judges AND to the audience and the reactions they get bear that out. Young people *are* enjoying it, and that is who DCI is targeting here. These kids are used to the current direction of the activity because they participate in their HS marching bands, WGI groups, etc. Those corps that are winning right now still get tons of audience adulation from the exact demographic DCI wants to impress. For them, this IS Drum Corps. It's not going back.

This. Look at "Tilt". That show completely changed the game moving forward even if it didn't win outright (although everyone I know remembers that show more than BD's from that year, not a knock on BD, just an example of how Tilt changed the field). It paved the way for Downside Up two years later. Simple themes that can be played with in multiple ways visually and musically. While I don't think the "narrative" show style is inherently inferior, I think the delicate balancing act of story vs. effect is much harder to accomplish with them. If you aren't dead-on in your design and execution, they completely fall apart. In shows like "Tilt" or those like it, you're jumping from moment to moment. One weak aspect doesn't have time to settle before you're on to the next thing.

It's just a guess, mind you, but I do judge that caption (or the equivalent) at the high school level and the spread is so small there that it could definitely be that. It might not put them in 1st in the caption, but any improvement helps the bottom line.

I think 10th is their floor, but my money is on 9th.

Didn't like that 11th place slot they gave Cadets I'm guessing. 😄

Music Analysis is largely concerned with balance between all the musical elements, the clarity of orchestration, and ensemble cohesion. If I had to guess, based on when I saw them live about a week or so ago, BD's musical through-line is occasionally muddied by some balance issues in the amplification. (I'm not anti-amp, but Music Analysis is where you see questionable amp settings hurt you). There's a few moments where it overwhelms, and the orchestration becomes more confused than intended. This is an easy fix, and BD will fix it. Because they're BD (and I am the furthest thing from a BD stan).

You are. Look at BD's Music Analysis score from Atlanta. They were 4th. But amps and such are only a fraction of the total consideration for the caption. You're not going to have big 2-3 point swings in total score with that.

It isn't as though Madison can't turn around it's competitive fortunes in relatively short order with some savvy moves behind the scenes. We have perfect examples of corps generally relegated to the 18-22 range that in 2-3 season have become Top 12 mainstays of late: Blue Stars and now, Mandarins. From there, you can easily find yourself in the medal hunt given some further refinement, see: Boston. Fortunes can turn much faster in this activity than most people think, you just need a staff willing to commit to playing the game.

The net competitive effect of this would be zero. There's a sentiment I see often where the "solution" to a competitive slump is for a corps do "something, something, tradition". "Tradition" is nowhere on the scoring rubric. In terms of actual effect on placement, it has none. What *does* is show design that either keeps up with or improves on current design trends. A 9th place Cadets that walks out with maroon and gold tomorrow is a 9th place Cadets that happens to be wearing maroon and gold.

The entire premise of this thread is baffling to me. The competitive make-up at the top shifts all the time. Sure, it's slow sometimes, however: The Bluecoats are basically brand new to the Top 3 (relatively speaking). Boston has come up from the very bottom to now sit in the Top 5 in VERY short order (3 years ago in 2016 they barely made finals!). A little further down, look at the ascendancy of Mandarins. Frankly it wouldn't surprise me to see them keep climbing over the next few years. It's fine. There's no issue here. The only truly consistent member of the Top 5 is BD.

This would have the exact opposite competitive effect than you're hoping for. In 2020, with design and judging trends being what they are, if you don't keep up with them, you aren't climbing anywhere.

The very next year they finished 8th, which was the best Madison had done since 2005. But that was the high point of the 2010's. It was followed by 13th in 2016, then a brief bounce back into finals in 12th in 2017, then last year 16th. They are currently on-pace to finish 17th this year, assuming none of the open class groups competing in prelims surpass them (not a guarantee). So I'd say the trend is decidedly downward post-Mason. Last year's 16th placement was the lowest the corps has finished since *1964*.

I don't think anyone thinks there's no chance. Just that PR is one of about 3-4 corps likely fighting for one slot.

No. I means the GE and Analysis judges put BD up and the Brass/Percussion and Visual Performance and CG judges didn't. Every caption can essentially be split into two parts: content and execution.

Well that at least explains what you've been saying in this thread pretty well. So we have that, I guess.

Note: I judge in a system that uses DCI and WGI scoring templates as a baseline (though they aren't exactly the same). Basically it's the Box system. You hear "Box 4" or "Box 5" etc....there are 5 boxes. 1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest. Generally speaking the first thing you do is decide which box the performance you just witnessed falls into...then everything runs from there. As the season goes on the scoring range for what constitutes each box shifts. There's pages upon pages that can be written about what each box means and the criteria for being placed in each one that I won't go into...but basically a combination of improvement/perfecting AND shifts in what each box score range is causes the gradual increase.

Indeed, I imagine it's more of a "guideline".

You may be unaware of this, but prior to this year there was no such rule restricting judges to the sidelines. In fact, judging at the field level basically involved going all over the field. "Wandering Judges" has been a reality in DCI for decades. I imagine old habits die hard.

Imagine having written that post and believing it as you typed it.

As things stand now, that would require one of Crossmen or Spirit to be out. We haven't seen BK yet but its safe to assume they will be in the Top 12.

I agree that Will Pitts doesn't deserve the *degree* of ragging he's getting in this thread...buuuuut I'm going to quibble slightly with the idea that his product is improving. If it is, it isn't being borne out by the scoring. In fact, one could fairly easily draw the *opposite* conclusion: In 2016, Phantom scored 8th in Brass and 8th in Music Analysis 2017: 10th in Brass and 11th in Music Analysis 2018: 10th in Brass and 12th/10th in Music Analysis (2 judges) Now in 2019, although we haven't had a regional yet, they seem to be scoring in a way that will drop those captions below 12th. My take on Will is that he was thrown into way too much responsibility, way too soon. He's barely 30 and the program coordinator and brass arranger for a (possibly former) Top 12 WC corps. Now as an arranger I've always sort of considered him pretty middle-of-the-road. He won't hurt you and he won't help you, so to speak...but there was nothing in his time at Phantom as an arranger to indicate that making him the arranger AND the program coordinator was in any way a good idea. It looks like "favored son" status, to be honest, and I have to wonder if someone else, who wasn't so linked to Phantom's big 2000s push to grab their first non-shared gold, were to have output what Will has there to this point if they would even still be on-staff...let alone elevated to Program Coordinator. This year's show concept and design are just not good. Full stop. That buck stops somewhere: When it comes to show design, it stops at the Program Coordinator. It's one of the major tenants of the job. Will is taking a lot of heat, yes...but he's the Program Coordinator. It comes with the territory. I think if he were still just the Brass arranger he could be continuing to grow, but he got thrown in the deep end and doesn't have a life vest on. That's on administration.

I think that's a bit much. Plenty of corps exist in the semi-finals realm and have for quite some time. Madison is going over ten years of downturn, competitively, as an example.