Madison making their comeback again...

[Roark1]

It seems this tread was meant to be more "for fun" and not a serious suggestion. It seems to me that what the author is getting at, is wanting to see a show that has some more of that old "swagger" in it. The rest is just having fun.

I am serious about SCV though.

[apoch003]

Pay no attention Roark. There are always people who take a killjoy stance. It's no big thing....

[Roark1]

Pay no attention Roark.

Sadly, I am used to this. :(

[byline]

I'm surprised no ones mentioned a comeback for that ace rifle line of the early eighties :)

It wasn't just the early '80s. I remember them having an ace rifle line every year I saw them, and they certainly were legendary before then. Everything I've watched on DVD from the mid-'70s onward looks pretty amazing, especially for its time. It wasn't until about the mid- to late '80s, as I recall, around the time Cavies began to hit their competitive stride, that Madison's guard became somewhat hit-or-miss; far better some years than others.

[ColtFoutz]

It wasn't just the early '80s. I remember them having an ace rifle line every year I saw them, and they certainly were legendary before then. Everything I've watched on DVD from the mid-'70s onward looks pretty amazing, especially for its time. It wasn't until about the mid- to late '80s, as I recall, around the time Cavies began to hit their competitive stride, that Madison's guard became somewhat hit-or-miss; far better some years than others.

1988 was certainly a "hit." High visual score over the Cavaliers by a tenth, with around three to four tenths separating Madison from the other leaders, and second in GE visual to Vanguard by only two tenths.

No, I don't have that carried around in my noggin. Your post sparked my curiosity in how they stacked up in that championship 50th anniversary year, so I looked it up.

[byline]

1988 was certainly a "hit." High visual score over the Cavaliers by a tenth, with around three to four tenths separating Madison from the other leaders, and second in GE visual to Vanguard by only two tenths.

No, I don't have that carried around in my noggin. Your post sparked my curiosity in how they stacked up in that championship 50th anniversary year, so I looked it up.

Of course, 1988 was a high point for them. The DCI championship will do that! :)

But my recollection is that that was something of a blip for Madison. I recall thinking -- and I haven't done any research to back this up; it's just my memory -- that as Cavies began their climb to the top, Madison seemed to begin to struggle a bit. I'm trying to remember what year it was that I wasn't as wowed by Madison's guard as in previous years. It may have been '90 or thereabouts.

[apoch003]

Of course, 1988 was a high point for them. The DCI championship will do that! :)

But my recollection is that that was something of a blip for Madison. I recall thinking -- and I haven't done any research to back this up; it's just my memory -- that as Cavies began their climb to the top, Madison seemed to begin to struggle a bit. I'm trying to remember what year it was that I wasn't as wowed by Madison's guard as in previous years. It may have been '90 or thereabouts.

With Rosemont and Madison so close geographically, I'm not surprised. I bet there's lots of "March Madison this year and Cavies the next." going on.

[Legolaus]

Of course, 1988 was a high point for them. The DCI championship will do that! :)

But my recollection is that that was something of a blip for Madison. I recall thinking -- and I haven't done any research to back this up; it's just my memory -- that as Cavies began their climb to the top, Madison seemed to begin to struggle a bit. I'm trying to remember what year it was that I wasn't as wowed by Madison's guard as in previous years. It may have been '90 or thereabouts.

Honestly I would say starting in the late 80s their guard started to show signs of things to come. 1983 - 1985 were great guards. 1986 and 1987 were okay. 1988 was good again. 1990 and 1991 were off years. 1992 was good. 1993 was the beginning of a long line of not great guards for the corps. Others, like Cavaliers, tapped into the winter guard activity where Madison refused to look outside itself for new ideas and would not work with winter guard performers as well as the other corps would. This led to having to take inexperienced people into the guard and train them from scratch. The mid 90s up to 2007 were generally pretty rough for the guard, although there were exceptions (1995, 1997). I had hoped that Sal and his team would be able to turn this around in the 2000s but I have yet to see a quality guard product come out of Mad Town for some time.

Even the years of exception (1995) I thought the guard concept was better than the actual performance. There were some great moments however. Here's hoping 2008 will bring with it a great performance from the Madison guard.

[byline]

Honestly I would say starting in the late 80s their guard started to show signs of things to come. 1983 - 1985 were great guards. 1986 and 1987 were okay. 1988 was good again. 1990 and 1991 were off years. 1992 was good. 1993 was the beginning of a long line of not great guards for the corps. Others, like Cavaliers, tapped into the winter guard activity where Madison refused to look outside itself for new ideas and would not work with winter guard performers as well as the other corps would. This led to having to take inexperienced people into the guard and train them from scratch. The mid 90s up to 2007 were generally pretty rough for the guard, although there were exceptions (1995, 1997). I had hoped that Sal and his team would be able to turn this around in the 2000s but I have yet to see a quality guard product come out of Mad Town for some time.

Even the years of exception (1995) I thought the guard concept was better than the actual performance. There were some great moments however. Here's hoping 2008 will bring with it a great performance from the Madison guard.

This pretty well jibes with my recollection. Thanks for outlining the years, and also some of the reasons for why they began experiencing difficulties.

[tommytimp]

I don't think there's anyone on DCP who'd object to a throwback-era-caliber rifle line doing their stuff down front, like in the old dayz:

Ahhh. That's the stuff.