I may be a complete "honk" but I do believe that the bluecoats do have a shot at the top 3 this year... maybe even a championship.
Looking back on the corp's history, BlueR36, is 100% right about peaking at the right time. In the 3 years I marched with the corps, we were never in the same place at the end of finals that we were in quarters.
I'm just glad the show has an "edge" this year. I won't go as far as to say 2009's show "stunk" but I will admit that I haven't liked the attitude of the corps or the theme of the show this much since 2007.
I think it gets back to a lot of the controversy on this board. A lot of the "artsy," "cerebral," concepts the bluecoats have tried in the past, just don't appeal to me, and honestly, I don't think as a performer I could get too excited about concepts like 2009.
This show seems different (yet familiar) to me. It's the same bluecoats feeling, that was there in 2005 and 2007. It looks like a fun show to perform, and thats where I think it's going to move forward. This is a concept that people can understand, the performers can get excited about, and comes off as entertaining. Not a bunch of crap about some artist just about no one's ever heard of (2009) or some storyline that has to be explained with a microphone and actors (2008). (unfortunately they're still using synth and autotune... maybe we can fix that another season)