Are there any Bluecoat traditions?

[Galen]

finishing 6th

B(l)oooooo

[perc2100]

finishing 6th

WAY better than their old tradition of finishing below (sometimes far below) 6th. PLENTY of corps would LOVE to have the tradition of finishing below 6th.

And not to be a jerk, but I'm sure your corps would've absolutely killed to have the tradition of finishing 6th (or even 12th, for that matter).

Sorry, about that last statement, but throwing out kind of a pseudo-subtle jab at a corps who has proven recently that they belong in Top 6 is crappy in its own right, but coming from a dude who marched in a corps that didn't ever make finals seems even worse. Perhaps you meant it in "good fun" and I'm just in a bad mood tonight, but it smacked of downright rudeness that made my eyes roll...

Edited April 26, 2010 by perc2100

[John Murray]

Shots Fired.

[xXThRowTHeFlaGXx]

A girl I marched with this winter who's returning to Blue Coats for her 2nd summer has a tatoo on her left wrist that says "Six Words". If anyone asks her what it means she say's it's Blue Coats thing. Just like SUTA is with Phantom and DOBA with Jersey Surf

[84BDsop]

A girl I marched with this winter who's returning to Blue Coats for her 2nd summer has a tatoo on her left wrist that says "Six Words". If anyone asks her what it means she say's it's Blue Coats thing. Just like SUTA is with Phantom and DOBA with Jersey Surf

Bluecoats....one word....no capital C....just sayin'.

[84BDsop]

A girl I marched with this winter who's returning to Blue Coats for her 2nd summer has a tatoo on her left wrist that says "Six Words". If anyone asks her what it means she say's it's Blue Coats thing. Just like SUTA is with Phantom and DOBA with Jersey Surf

Bluecoats....one word....no capital C....just sayin'.

[nukeme70]

I don't THINK these are secret or anything, at least when I marched they weren't...so if they've moved into the realm of myth and someone wants me to remove this, just let me know...

The pennies started in '92, hanging from a blue shoelace, because that year we played Penny Lane, and had just switched from the white pants/powder blue tops to full blue, from the shoes to the jacket. Ted had pennies silver-plated with the year the member marched on them, retroactive to all in the corps at the time.

The crowbar is named Gunther and started a year or two before I marched ('92). Not sure exactly why, but one of the contras had a full-sized construction crowbar that was painted fluorescent orange. Gunther was traditionally taken out onto the field at retreat carried on one of the bass drum harnesses, then after the retreat block was formed, there was the ceremonial handing off of Gunther from the drummer to one of the selected contra players, who would then return to the arc-ed contras, who would then pay proper homage, then (if natural turf), Gunther would be spiked into the center of the arc. Other than the contras and some/most of the drummers, I'm not sure if anyone else in the corps was even aware of Gunther, as contras were always at the very back of the field.

We were lined up one time getting ready to march in for retreat, when our drummers found out that they were playing all the corps onto the field. Couldn't run Gunther back to the trailer, so one of the contras dropped him down his bibbers, hooked over the top. Keep in mind that Gunther is nearly 3' long, so went down almost to Bobby's knee. We marched out en masse with all the other corps, with our contras at attention...every step that Bobby took, Gunther clanged into the contra bell. Needless to say, we were nearly in tears by the time we formed the retreat block...and then we had to extricate Gunther from Bobby's bibbers without being too obvious.

We (low brass) had another one in '92, not sure if it lasted past the season. Someone picked up a brick from one of the housing sites and put it in one of the other LB guys luggage with no one knowing. It got passed around the rest of the season, nobody knowing who had it, you would just get to a new housing site, open up your suitcase, and find a brick under your skivvies.

[BlooContraGuy]

I don't THINK these are secret or anything, at least when I marched they weren't...so if they've moved into the realm of myth and someone wants me to remove this, just let me know...

The pennies started in '92, hanging from a blue shoelace, because that year we played Penny Lane, and had just switched from the white pants/powder blue tops to full blue, from the shoes to the jacket. Ted had pennies silver-plated with the year the member marched on them, retroactive to all in the corps at the time.

The crowbar is named Gunther and started a year or two before I marched ('92). Not sure exactly why, but one of the contras had a full-sized construction crowbar that was painted fluorescent orange. Gunther was traditionally taken out onto the field at retreat carried on one of the bass drum harnesses, then after the retreat block was formed, there was the ceremonial handing off of Gunther from the drummer to one of the selected contra players, who would then return to the arc-ed contras, who would then pay proper homage, then (if natural turf), Gunther would be spiked into the center of the arc. Other than the contras and some/most of the drummers, I'm not sure if anyone else in the corps was even aware of Gunther, as contras were always at the very back of the field.

We were lined up one time getting ready to march in for retreat, when our drummers found out that they were playing all the corps onto the field. Couldn't run Gunther back to the trailer, so one of the contras dropped him down his bibbers, hooked over the top. Keep in mind that Gunther is nearly 3' long, so went down almost to Bobby's knee. We marched out en masse with all the other corps, with our contras at attention...every step that Bobby took, Gunther clanged into the contra bell. Needless to say, we were nearly in tears by the time we formed the retreat block...and then we had to extricate Gunther from Bobby's bibbers without being too obvious.

We (low brass) had another one in '92, not sure if it lasted past the season. Someone picked up a brick from one of the housing sites and put it in one of the other LB guys luggage with no one knowing. It got passed around the rest of the season, nobody knowing who had it, you would just get to a new housing site, open up your suitcase, and find a brick under your skivvies.

Haha I never knew about the brick. Awesome.

...and I don't think any of that stuff has to be kept secret.

[BlooContraGuy]

Bluecoats....one word....no capital C....just sayin'.

Seems to be a good deal of tradition in people getting that wrong.

womp womp

[BlooContraGuy]

WAY better than their old tradition of finishing below (sometimes far below) 6th. PLENTY of corps would LOVE to have the tradition of finishing below 6th.

And not to be a jerk, but I'm sure your corps would've absolutely killed to have the tradition of finishing 6th (or even 12th, for that matter).

Sorry, about that last statement, but throwing out kind of a pseudo-subtle jab at a corps who has proven recently that they belong in Top 6 is crappy in its own right, but coming from a dude who marched in a corps that didn't ever make finals seems even worse. Perhaps you meant it in "good fun" and I'm just in a bad mood tonight, but it smacked of downright rudeness that made my eyes roll...

I think he was joking around. I mean, we definitely do the same to ourselves. Obviously we'd like to move up, but as of now I have no issues with him or anyone else saying that. The season hasn't even started!

To answer the OP, yeah we do have traditions. A good amount of em. They just aren't as prevalent as things like SUTA, SPLOOIE or the BD incense.