jwillis35 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 The activity is a competitive one, and that becomes no more evident than when we see scores from a show and begin to discuss the merit of those scores and the validity of a corps' ability to push for that top spot, or top 5, or top 12. All of us have had some fun with predictions, and now that the season has begun we are watching one of the great competitive activities unfold. Having said all that, and without this becoming too negative, I wanted to share some of my recollections from past years that might help as we continue to analyze the current season. Technology has allowed us to watch drum corps "live" and on demand on the internet. It has allowed us to share our opinions, to receive scores and captions, and to read reviews. To me, this has made summer that much better because I can follow an activity that I love to a greater degree. I got home from calling bingo last night and saw the excitement over scores from the Cadets vs. Crown matchup, and it was thrilling to watch the Stanford show "live" and to see the excitement building for BD, SCV, and Bluecoats. The race between Glassmen and Boston and Blue Stars should be wonderful, and, well, you get the point. Once again, many of the match-ups look highly competitive. This is good for the activity. However, we really have no idea how this will shake down. I see a lot of threads about "when will corps A beat corps B?" or "Corps C will never beat corps D because...," and I am reminded of some years when we all thought the same things, myself included, and we were surprised by the results. Someone mentioned that SCV will not, or might not, beat BD or Crown or Cadets at all this season. Hey, nothing wrong with making the prediction. We all have them, and I have made many. But in reality it is way to early to know for sure. SCV seems to have a great show with some excellent elements that need work. So do the Bluecoats, and Crown, and Cadets, and Cavaliers. Below are some examples (a few snippets I took from something I contributed to another thread), that clearly show how things can change over the course of a season. In 1993, after seeing Star of Indiana, I didn't think anyone could beat them. After seeing Cadets I thought they would be the only challenger, and everyone else was fighting for 3rd on down. Star was undefeated most of the season, but Cadets won the title. We can argue over what we thought should have happened, but in reality what did happen was fun to watch. In 1988 I doubt there was a soul on the planet that thought the Blue Devils would lose a show, let alone place 3rd at worlds. One of the cleanest performances ever, and one of the great brass lines ever, but BD they took 3rd. Madison, who didn't compete stateside for much of the season returned from Europe in time to clean, and win! Nobody saw that coming. In 1996 the field was great, but it was seen as a Blue Devils vs. Cadets one-two punch. Cadets had to play for the Olympics in Atlanta, taking much time out of their schedule, and yet both corps seemed poised for a great finals week. After semifinals the Cadets were only .3 off of BD and everyone was wondering if the Cadets would light it up on finals night. Instead, they phased some in the closer, BD was good, but perhaps a little off their semifinals performance, and Phantom Regiment was HOT, and very clean. They grabbed a share of the title. In 1990, Phantom Regiment and Blue Devils were the two big dogs, so to speak, going undefeated up to the mid season mark. They met at DCI Midwest in Whitewater (a show I was at), and after prelims it was BD, then Phantom. But then something interesting took place, the Cavaliers nailed their show at that evening's finals for DCI Midwest and not only won the show, but won ALL captions. BD was 2nd, Phantom 3rd. By DCI world finals, later in August, it was 1. Cadets, 2. Cavaliers, and 3. Star of Indiana. BD and Phantom, two undefeated corps well into July, ended up tied for 4th. During the 1992 season, Star of Indiana led the way for most of the season. Winning shows all over the place, and often winning big against corps like BD, Phantom, Cavaliers, Cadets, Madison, and more. Cadets were running 6th around the mid-season mark. Blue Devils were beating the Cavaliers pretty consistently. Star of Indiana ended up winning the Quarterfinals, with Cavaliers 2nd and Blue Devils 3rd. Then after Semifinals it was 1. Cavaliers, 2. Star of Indiana, 3. Cadets. After Finals it was 1. Cavaliers, 2. Cadets, 3. Star of Indiana, and 4. Blue Devils. Nobody could have seen this coming. The crowd loved it because the Cavaliers hadn't won a DCI World Title, and a betting man would not have taken Cadets for 2nd after their early- and mid-season woes. Of course, that Star brass line of 1992 still remains one of my favorites EVER, taking high brass that night and really putting on a show. These are just some examples of how a season can take shape, especially as we discuss these top-level contenders. We never know because shows are constantly being tweaked. It is competition after all, and the name of the game is to try and score points while still entertaining the audience. At the moment I kind of see BD at the top, then Crown, then Cadets. Cavaliers, SCV, Phantom, and Bluecoats all have terrific shows and are seasoned corps when it comes to performing down the stretch. I think the Vanguard could be particularly dangerous if they can add layers to the first 8 minutes of their show, because the ending will take care of itself. I still believe it will be difficult to beat Holy Name down the stretch, but I was impressed with BD on the webcast, and never count out the Cavaliers who know, all too well, how to tweak a show and add layers like nobody's business. I think Boston and Glassmen have terrific shows, and the Crossmen have the good for a solid production once they can clean and become confident with their visual book. As we may think about our predictions at the moment, we must also reflect on history to fully understand the daily and weekly ups and downs each corps encounters during the season, and that these unique set of circumstances for each corps will have great impact on their choices, edits, and perhaps whole-sale changes as they work their way toward DCI worlds. I know it gets competitive when we see those scores, and we all want our favorites to do well. But remember, more than anything else, It's fun!! Just sit back and watch how things unfold, because there will be some surprises! 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PRAng Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Below is something that I just posted in the PR thread that seems to be right in line with your point here..... Just for reference..... on July 1, 2008, Regiment had the 6th highest score in the country....behind BD, Vanguard, Cavaliers, Cadets & Crown..... and their score was 5.5 points behind the leader (BD). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Great post, and a great perspective on how to have fun watching the competition without getting too caught up in the competition! I sort of see BD, Cadets and Crown as the likely top 3 at this point, but none of them have really convinced me that they've got a championship. I can also imagine Phantom or Cavies making enough changes and adding enough layers that they climb up into that group. Just like last year, it seems like there's a lot of ability and entertainment in the top 7 or 8 shows, and we're going to wind up with a bunch of good corps packed pretty tightly at Indy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesop08 Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Below is something that I just posted in the PR thread that seems to be right in line with your point here..... And if I am not mistaken, they didn't actually get first at a show until Finals Night... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRAng Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 And if I am not mistaken, they didn't actually get first at a show until Finals Night... They did, actually, but they were early season shows where their only real competition was Crown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 Great post, and a great perspective on how to have fun watching the competition without getting too caught up in the competition!I sort of see BD, Cadets and Crown as the likely top 3 at this point, but none of them have really convinced me that they've got a championship. I can also imagine Phantom or Cavies making enough changes and adding enough layers that they climb up into that group. Just like last year, it seems like there's a lot of ability and entertainment in the top 7 or 8 shows, and we're going to wind up with a bunch of good corps packed pretty tightly at Indy. As for " entertainment " ( actually more important to me after who gets to be 1st ), I wouldn't stop at " 7 or 8 " Corps. There are Corps like the Mandarins and The Academy that are putting out very good shows on the " entertainment " front this year. Much more " entertaininng " in my opinion than in previous year's editions with these Corps too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 As for " entertainment " ( actually more important to me after who gets to be 1st ), I wouldn't stop at " 7 or 8 " Corps. There are Corps like the Mandarins and The Academy that are putting out very good shows on the " entertainment " front this year. Much more " entertaininng " in my opinion than in previous year's editions with these Corps too. I agree that some of the lower corps are also quite entertaining this year. But in terms of the "Top N" high-achieving shows, I think we'll probably have an N of 7 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Rohn Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 I'd jump for joy if we had a Crown vs SCV finals week. It is possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbandguy Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 (edited) Being a Scouts fan I think back to the 2005 (Carmen) season when the corps had on July 4 received the highest score in DCI to that point. The corps finished 6th. Predicting can be fun, but as for a 2009 champion it's probably going to take a score of 98+. No one is close to that yet. Edited June 30, 2009 by oldbandguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdCoast Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 In 1988 I doubt there was a soul on the planet that thought the Blue Devils would lose a show, let alone place 3rd at worlds. One of the cleanest performances ever, and one of the great brass lines ever, but BD they took 3rd. Madison, who didn't compete stateside for much of the season returned from Europe in time to clean, and win! Nobody saw that coming. I still want to know where this urban myth began. We were in Europe for 2 weeks of first tour from late June to the first week of July. We came back in time for DCM Championships and did a full DCI tour including numerous regionals competing against every corps on several occassions (with the exception of Cadets who we only saw once) prior to DCI in Kansas City. We saw Blue Devils and Vanguard at least 5 to 7 times each before DCI. We didn't just roll into KC and sneak up on people. If you look at scores on CorpReps you will see that the gap with BD and many corps was closing as finals approached. Cavaliers came within .4 of them in St. Louis one week before finals. On the same day we were .4 behind SCV. Two days later SCV beat Cavies by .6. The race was pretty tight heading into finals. Yes we (Madison) were a dark horse but it is all about peaking at the right time. That being said, I think the OP has opened an interesting topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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