How are the Blue Devils winning?

[GMichael1230]

Ladies and Gentlemen, they won SA for the first time since 2001. Yet this is the most boring show out of every corps this year... How are they scoring so high right now? and how are Cadets, for that matter?

They do not sound any better than the Cavaliers this year, and everyone i've talked to agrees that the Cavaliers music should be placing first. No other corps has better balance and intonation that the Cavaliers.

Why is DCI rewarding the Blue Devils since it is their 50th year anniversary? That's what it seems to me anyways. What are your thoughts?

Its your opinion, not fact. Fact is they are both good, exciting corps with quality, exciting programs. No shock they lead the activity with the most titles, most caption awards, and are always a threat to win it all...thats the fact.

~G~

[GMichael1230]

give me a break... BD isn't marching their shoes off. The cavaliers run ALOT more than BD, and I don't know how they are winning visual performance. Now, Phantom and BD are rumored to march and play more than double what the cavaliers do, but who cares about that? Cavaliers have much better music and much better drill. DCI rewarded us for this for many years now. Why are they changing their minds about our game plan this year?

BTW I don't think the Cadets would stand a chance even without their narration, but that is just my opinion. I think their music is just too darn choppy.

Oh, I get it a Cavies homer, a form marching member...oh well, cedibility is now lost, are all fmm's like you, I will have to rethink how I feel about recent Cavalier shows.

sad

~G~

[2000Cadet]

give me a break... BD isn't marching their shoes off. The cavaliers run ALOT more than BD, and I don't know how they are winning visual performance. Now, Phantom and BD are rumored to march and play more than double what the cavaliers do, but who cares about that? Cavaliers have much better music and much better drill. DCI rewarded us for this for many years now. Why are they changing their minds about our game plan this year?

BTW I don't think the Cadets would stand a chance even without their narration, but that is just my opinion. I think their music is just too darn choppy.

OH I get it. You marched there. Well listen, I absolutely love almost everything the Cavies have brought to the field in the past six years but honestly, BD is a lot better as of now. There's still time though.

By the way, I think Cadets WOULD stand a chance...but this thread is about BD so let's keep it that way.

[SACMellos2010]

Randil.....

That might be the biggest verbal temper tantrum I have seen from someone over the age of 5 and as said above all of your credibility has been lost.

As to why they have given "YOU" credit for years and now are not may be that it took them until now to figure it out by reading some of the threads discussing the difficulty of marching and playing at the same time and now get it. On the other side, maybe they feel the show with the same concept as "what has been given credit for years" is not as good as the shows that they did give credit to or that the other competing corps are cleaner while having higher demand.

But to help you maybe not lose sleep or harm yourself there are still a couple of weeks to go and lots of things could change.

And lastly you better be real careful in that glass house with the 50th anniversary argument because there was an anniversary in 1992 that gave a gift.

Edited July 25, 2007 by General Blunt

[pags]

Firstly, let's keep the comments about "bordeom" phrased in such a way that it is obvious that it is opinion...no one here speaks for the entire activity. I have the APD of the San Antonio show and the Blue Devils got a great crowd response at the completion of their show, so let's not act like this is a universally disliked show. I guess I should also mention that I was there to experience the reaction as well, so I am not basing my opinion off brief video clips or just what I listened to on the APD.

I prefer to view shows as whether or not they engaged my attention at all, or for what length of time.

For instance, The Cadets engaged my interest initially, especially when they were going through all the technicaly music features of every section. That was incredible and had me waiting for more. When the heavy narration started and they kept trying to talk not only in down times but also when the corps was actually playing, the show failed to engage me.

For some reason, despite the fact that I found the music to be fairly enjoyable, The Cavaliers show failed to engage me from beginning to end. Yes, they moved around alot and very fast, but there is more to an engaging program than that, to me and the family members I was there with. For us, a quality program involves not only very good music, but staging within their visual program that properly accompanies the music. For us, The Cavaliers program lacked that element.

The Blue Devils, on the other hand, had us fully engaged from beginning to end. They fully developed their theme of darkness to light both visually and musically. I don't think they moved around the most or the fastest over the course of the evening, but the quality of their marching was the best (to us) and where they placed themselves and what they did when they got there completely "told" their story. I have long felt that the Blue Devils and Cavaliers are the best at "staging" a program, but this year I think the Blue Devils have a much better all-around program.

That, to me, is why Blue Devils are winning, and deservedly so.

Edited July 25, 2007 by pags

[BlueByYou2000]

BD Visually to me has the best show. The guards black wings in opener is a very cool effect and really sets the tone for the show. Music, to me is very boring, but thats just me. They have just been cleaner head to head vs. Cavies and Cadets. Im not so sure the Cavies and Cadets are the corps Id be worried about. Ill say this, if Bluecoats can clean, watch out because they have the music and execution to win. The are so strong musically.

[PR ROCKS]

They are winning simply because the judges - who have far more experience and training than most of us here - think they are the best at this point in the season. The judges must not be too bored.

PR is my favorite corps, but all biases aside, you have to let the judges pick the winner. If a particular corps bores you or isn't your taste, don't listen to them or watch them online or on CD/DVD. I think they all bring something worthwhile to the table.

[X DM]

Ladies and Gentlemen, they won SA for the first time since 2001. Yet this is the most boring show out of every corps this year... How are they scoring so high right now? and how are Cadets, for that matter?

They do not sound any better than the Cavaliers this year, and everyone i've talked to agrees that the Cavaliers music should be placing first. No other corps has better balance and intonation that the Cavaliers.

Why is DCI rewarding the Blue Devils since it is their 50th year anniversary? That's what it seems to me anyways. What are your thoughts?

I think the Blue Devils won both The Southwestern Regional Champonships and the Southeastern Regional Championships because they executed a better show than either the Cavaliers or The Cadets.

In my view, the Cavaliers show is more disjointed this year than in most past editions. It's a choppy show. Individually the parts are fine, but when the parts are put together they do not fit in a coherent, flowing pattern. Last year's " The Machine " was a wondeful show that flowed seamlessly. No so this year. The Cadets brass sounds muddled and their intonation crass at times, and their guard is not as good as last year. And their show has obvious distracting elements, and their feet are dirty. Don't get me wrong, both the Cavs and the Cadets have talented Corps. But the Blue Devils have the show this year that flows from start to finish and is well executed. If they can tweak their brass line, they will win another DCI Title this year. I have listened to the Blue Devils on audio a couple of times after seeing them ..... and they have some brass licks that are awesome in power and demand. Same with the perscussion line. Unbelievable demand in their show, and performed with precise precision relative to the others right now. The Corps marches with GREAT technique. They are just so fundamentally sound here. There is no grand conspiracy by the 2 dozen DCI judges that because "it's their 50th Anniversary " all these DCI judges feel some sort of compelling need to give the BD's an Anniversary present.. That's lunacy talk. The Blue Devils are winning the all important regional championships because they are currently executing as if they are the best Drum and Bugle Corps in the Country. It's no more complicated than that in my opinion.

Edited July 25, 2007 by X DM

[Tone Quality Matters]

No other corps has better balance and intonation that the Cavaliers.

Wrong on this one. Carolina Crown is playing with the most balanced, in tune sound than any other hornline in DCI.

The corps that hides the most mistakes and wants it the most, wins the championship.

Edited July 25, 2007 by Tone Quality Matters

[sobe]

It doesn't matter who has the "harder' show, or the "more difficult" music, or the "most complex" drill..

If one corps executes their program better than the other, and has strong drill and strong music (maybe not the strongest, but it's still up there), they will be on top.