IO Finals

[Musical_Spinner]

1 Alter Ego 98.20

2 Diamante 96.30

3 The Academy 93.80

4 Ventures 93.30

5 Black Gold 91.70

6 Top Hats 90.40

7 Rhapsody Independent 90.00

8 First Flight 88.30

9 Juxtaposition WG 87.60

10 The Cast 87.50

11 Ars Nova 85.40

12 USF Winterguard 85.20

13 Univ/Alabama Alta Marea 83.50

14 The Pride of Missouri State 83.20

15 Etude 81.00

16 The Pride of the Netherlands 80.90

Congrats to Texas IO guards Black Gold and especially Ars Nova who made it back to finals this year!

[cmguard87]

looking at the recap... ventures would have been 3rd had it not been for the movement judge putting them in 9th place... oh well im glad the academy came out of nowhere and medaled

[Ventureparents]

looking at the recap... ventures would have been 3rd had it not been for the movement judge putting them in 9th place... oh well im glad the academy came out of nowhere and medaled

As you might have guessed I am very biased, but the movement judge in IO semis had Ventures 2 tenths ahead of Academy then the next day we are a full poiint behind them,give me a break. That one judge stole the medal that the Ventures deserved. Sorry ,had to vent. Regardless, as part of the floor crew & a parent our guard made us very proud. They were fantastic!

[Ventureparents]

As you might have guessed I am very biased, but the movement judge in IO semis had Ventures 2 tenths ahead of Academy then the next day we are a full poiint behind them,give me a break. That one judge stole the medal that the Ventures deserved. Sorry ,had to vent. Regardless, as part of the floor crew & a parent our guard made us very proud. They were fantastic!

Maybe this particular judge would like to change WGI to WGUSA

[Meaghatron]

Congrats to USF Winterguard making Finals and then finishing 12th. Their show this year is a massive step in the right direction over last year's show. I'm glad to see them reap the benefits of a great season.

[Brandon Paul]

Edited April 14, 2008 by Brandon Paul

[Hipposduck]

Ok, I had enough. Give me 1 reason why Academy did not deserve the medal? Ventures didn't beat them once the entire championships week, so how can you say that they deserved the medal more? Even the review posted on the WGI forums said that academy "has quickly and rightfully jumped to the top of this class." It's okay, Ventures, you had a great show, but the judging panel didn't do anything out of the ordinary when they gave Academy the medal.

[Slow Adam]

Ventures, you had a great show, but the judging panel didn't do anything out of the ordinary when they gave Academy the medal.

Semifinals Movement Caption:

Academy - 18.3 (4th)

Ventures - 18.5 (3rd)

Finals Movement Caption:

Academy - 18.8 (3rd)

Ventures - 17.7 (9th)

So, the judges did nothing out of the ordinary, huh?

[johnnyO]

It's okay, Ventures, you had a great show, but the judging panel didn't do anything out of the ordinary when they gave Academy the medal.

Nothing out of the ordinary??? I guess not if you consider three 3rd place ordinals, one 4th place ordinal and one 9th place ordinal "ordinary", that would be true.

The Academy and Ventures did not compete head to head until Semi Finals. In fact, in prelims, The Academy was on approximately 4 hours after The Ventures so it's unfair to use anything that happened in that competition as a direct comparison no matter how much you think judges remember how they've ranked the previous 40 color guards.

The night of semis they competed back to back and The Academy ended up one-tenth ahead of Ventures (overall). However, Ventures took the movement caption by 2 tenths. In less than 24hrs, at the very next head to head competition, that very same caption completely swung the other way and not just by a couple tenths but by almost a full point. Academy ended up 1.1 ahead of Ventures in movement that day. Um...that swing in numbers is what's questionable on the part of the judging community, not who deserved the medal. I didn't see Academy's semis performance but I did see Ventures both nights and they definitely stepped it up a huge notch and rocked the house in Finals. In comparison to semis, they should have gone up in ALL captions, not down in any and again, that's what opens the door to questionable reward/non-reward.

I for one, congratulate all the medalists in the class on their accomplishments!

To the Ventures, if you take nothing else away from the weekend, remember this...

You did what was within your control. You stepped up to the plate and delivered an excellent performance. I had the pleasure of seeing you in New Jersey and you were a completely different color guard by the time Dayton rolled around. Your finals score was 3.5 points hire than your prelims score. That's a huge jump in less than 48 hours. You had one of the most entertaining programs in your class. You had thousands of people on their feet at UD Arena (which was definitely not the case for some of the other guards ahead of you). Be proud of those accomplishments!

PS...Big kudos and congrats out to Alter Ego. Magnificent show guys and truly a pleasure to watch!

Edited April 14, 2008 by johnnyO

[byline]

Thanks for the championship week overview of the two groups' movement scores, johnnyO.

Before I buy into the "anti-Canadian/international units" conspiracy theory (Lord knows, marching with a Canadian corps, I heard that often enough), did Ventures ever score/place that low in the movement caption throughout the entire season? If so, then that may signal a problem that some -- though not all -- judges might have caught in that particular caption. (Though, of course, most guards also progress well beyond those early-season scores.)

If not, then yes, such a drop is problematic, to say the least. But again, whether it's a conspiracy against Ventures, or just the occasional flawed result that's typical of subjective judging systems, is still open to debate.