vferrera

I recall a bass drummer running onto the field. I didn't hear that he/she had been kicked out. What did they do to get kicked out?

can you elaborate?

really? when did that ever happen?

No. What I'm saying is that if you have A and B, you don't need C. Design is over-rated. Performance trumps all. If this is so obvious, why do the corps with better design get beat by BD every year?

First off, I don't like the Blue Devils. My favorite corps are Scouts, Cavaliers, and, to a lesser extent, SCV and Phantom. But I understand why the Blue Devils win. A lot of people seem to have trouble with this, so allow me to share my thoughts. Blue Devils don't win because they have a better show. If you are wondering what it is the judges see that you don't see, you can stop wondering. There aren't any subtleties in their show that you are missing. The judges see exactly what you see. What you are missing is the fact that the show is not "the show". The details of the music and drill are largely irrelevant. They could do 8x8's and play Come to Jesus in whole notes. It wouldn't matter. The real show is the performers themselves. It's not what they do, but the way they do it. Every year, BD picks the most talented and attractive performers in drum corps. They train these performers in a system that emphasizes one thing - performance. Not education. Not self-discovery. Not camaraderie. Just performance. So what happens when these performers hit the field? Surprise! They perform. They show off their talent and ability with confidence, with aggressiveness, with attitude, with style and with swagger. They exude esprit de corps. They love to show off and it shows. You might not like what they are doing, but I dare anyone to say that they don't appreciate and enjoy the sheer professionalism and physical grace that is on display whenever they are on the field. The way they move and play generates its own effect. Bottom line: they are just fun to watch. Drum corps is pageantry. Pageantry is a form of display behavior. Fundamentally, it is no different than a peacock showing off its tail, a moose showing its antlers, or a songbird singing to attract a mate. It's not subtle and sophisticated, but basic, primal and instinctive. It's all about "strutting your stuff." The Blue Devils strut their stuff better than anyone else. That's why they win. It's that simple. It's not rocket science, just simple biology. Just my .02. btw, I hope my Scout and Cavalier brethren don't see me as a traitor for posting this. It's just the way I see things. I still hate Devils

and now for your pre-determined DCI Champions - The Bluezzzzzzz..... now there's even less reason to go to Indy.

of the Hopkins or marriage variety?

Dmitri

They could change the closer to a re-enactment of Lebron-athon while the horns play "My Way."

Scouts beat PR in guard and BAC in ensemble music

but didn't the corps just do a 5 minute version of their show for prelims? And wasn't it common for scores and placements to change quite a bit from prelims to finals? I don't think these kinds of jumps were that unusual back then.

just in case anyone's wondering: their NET income from gaming was 1.25M in 2008 their total revenue was 3.5M their surplus was 0.45M

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...is worth an ocean of blue.

and in brass.

I'm not really in the "know" about that kind of stuff. I just know we had a pretty nice drill that year. I know he wrote it. Maybe there were payment issues or maybe Atchison made some changes he didn't like. I looked it up, we were 5th in visual GE with a 9.7 out of 10. Beat PR. A lot of current judges were members/instructors/designers for various corps. I noticed that Richard Saucedo, Cavies brass arranger for most of 2000s, was doing music GE at the same show. DCI obviously has a very lenient policy with regard to conflict of interest. If judges can't be objective, they should recuse themselves.

.85 from Blue Stars

let's get all bent out of shape because they relaxed a bit during an extremely sparsely populated stretch of the parade route. Gotta love the misguided outrage.

Unfortunately, some people, alumni included, do feel this way. But in my experience, they seem to be in the minority. But think about what it's like to go to a BD reunion without a ring

Czapinski had them way down in vis GE, so that's a bit of a concern. bit of Trivia - Czapinski wrote Madison's drill in 1978. Check it out.

BK's score has been rising fast, but in the absence of any real competition. They've gone up over 10 points since June 25. That's almost a point per day, which is very unusual. So, they might be a bit overscored right now SCV, otoh, may be a bit underscored. Their trend puts them around 82. They've only gone up 5 points since June 25. My guess is that SCV is still finishing their show and could improve dramatically once they get comfortable with it. In any case, it looks like BK, BAC, Bluestars, PR and SCV are all in roughly the same grouping. We won't know how they really stack up until they go head to head. Odds are that SCV and PR will be in the 6 and 7 slots, with BAC and Bluestars right behind in 8 and 9. I expect BK to be around 10th. And watch out for Madison. If their guard is for real, it will boost all their visual numbers and make them a strong challenger for 10th. But I could be wrong.

maybe they should hire Bud McCormick

I'm pretty sure he is full-time at SCV. If people want more "information" they can probably find it in the forum archives. Jeff retired from Cavies in fall 2007 and accepted the position at SCV in spring 2008. I think there was ample discussion about both moves if you go back and search around those time periods. BTW, I marched with Jeff in 1977. I'm sure he's reading this and having a good laugh. Especially the aspect of me, who he knew as a rookie who could barely march in step, answering questions on his behalf. It speaks volumes about the absurdity of online discussion forums. But, honestly, the decision to go from Cavies to SCV seems like a no-brainer to me: 1. increase in status (corps director to CEO) 2. bigger organization 3. chance to work with a legendary corps 4. higher salary 5. change of scenery and on and on...

Don is retired. But even before his retirement, he had the final say on all critical decisions. Nothing "honorary" about it.

People forget (or may be unaware) that Cavaliers have a position above corps director. Up until 2008, this position was occupied by the "President and still Founder" (har!) Don Warren. So, Jeff went from #2 at Cavaliers to #1 at SCV.