Who will be the next to win?

[mellodramatic]

And that's exactly the point! HISTORY has shown to be more accurate than any pre-season account! (Which is sad, actually)

For Crown to win in 2009, they'll have to do a few things never before done:

1) Win w/o coming in 2nd or 3rd in a prior year

2) Win w/o winning a single caption during finals week in a prior year

3) Win w/o beating everyone else in a prior year (I don't think they've beaten Blue Devils or Cavies yet, but I might be wrong)

Especially 2009...it just won't happen. All of the pressure will be on the judges to reward Cadets. Cadets have all of the hype. They're in their 75th year; they've changed their name; they're playing WSS; they've been hyping this since last summer, even before 2008 DCI Finals was over! They're going to be GREAT, and we all know it. The judges know it. (expectation...is huge in CI)

Let's assume--just for fun--that Crown will MATCH that intensity and excellence. Do you REALLY think the judges will give Crown the benefit of the doubt? HECK NO. (nor should they, IMO, which I said in the original CI post back in 2007)

Taking that logic further, what if Crown DOES do something very special, and surpasses all historical expectation, and plays to such a level that EVERYONE thinks they're #1.

They MIGHT win. But I predict they'll come in 2nd, by a tenth, to Cadets.

THEN, in 2010, as long as Crown reaches that same potential, they'll have a much greater chance at winning. But they'll be going up against some ###### off corps in 2010, and there's a another whole set of subtle CI built into that, but I won't go into it now.

I'm usually like "ughhhhhh more CI garbage, here we go", but I completely agree with this post.

[jamesjones0611]

In order to win, Crown will have to surpass everyone's expectations and perform at a level that no one has seen them perform at yet.

If it happens, good for them :)

I personally think they could do it, but its going to take the entire summer of them consistently outperforming every other group...which is VERY hard to do.

[cowtown]

My money would be on Bluecoats, mature show design and a good track record – they really need to up their visual /guard game but brass / drum / music is right where it needs to be

[DCImonkey]

This thread is from 2009. I quite enjoy it too :)

[Jeff Ream]

and now it will be harder with all of the infighting in the board room

[DCImonkey]

and now it will be harder with all of the infighting in the board room

What? I don't follow. Splain to us slow people Jeff :)