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Madison Scouts 2011


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Crowd was on their feet tonight from the second hit of the closer to the end. Entire crowd up cheering loudly!

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I think that's a bit rough, and kind of a "glass half empty" approach to their season. I think design is a step up from last year (far more complex show idea this year), and the performance quality, other than percussion, seems better to me than last year's corps. To me they seem to perform a bit more mature than last year: kind of like last year was a bunch of guys not quite used to being Finalists, while this year is a corps that performs like they expect to be Finalist, and perform with more confidence and swagger than last year. I think the biggest issue from a placement stand-point is that most of the corps around Madison Scouts have gotten substantially better than last year, while Scouts "only" got a bit better.

The past 5 or 6 years I've made a big point of saying that the current Top 7 = the equivalent of mid 90's Top 5 from a prestige and quality standpoint. Bluecoats are an incredible non-Top 6 corps/show this year! Conversely, I think we're now finally seeing the lower-achieving corps also improve by leaps and bounds. I think we've consistently seen high quality Top 10 corps the last few years, with this year having likely the best Top 10 Finalists DCI has ever seen. It's kind of like this year's Top 10 = mid-90's Top 8 or so: that is to say, the 10th place corps (Scouts, or Blue Knights, or whomever) is on par with previous era's 7th or 8th place corps in quality, where they're aren't quite Top 6 caliber, but not that far off either (think SCV 92, or Crossmen 93).

In that regard, Madison Scouts maintaining 10th place, while everything above them is incredibly high caliber quality, is an achievement. This corps took a heavy show concept, and made it an achievement on both an intellectual and entertainment level.

Not to mention, the design staff is obviously taking small, achievable steps in building Scouts back up to perennial Top 6 (or higher) status. If you remember Star, they started their existence in 10th place, then jumped to 8th, and "hung out" just outside of Top 6 while their staff "struggled" ( don't want that word to come off as not knowing what they're doing, more of a 'intensely scrutinized' maybe) to find the balance between difficult and effective Top 6 book that is achievable for their members. I give kudos to Scouts' team for not jumping to far too quick and designing a show over the members' heads, thus slowing progress. They maintained Top 10, showed they have staying power and aren't going anywhere, and will be able to build on that next year.

And that, my friend, seems like a pretty positive season to me...

Like it or not, Madison finishing in 10th place this year is a big disappointment. I'm a homer...an alum...I want nothing more that to see the Scouts return to top 6, but if they don't fix the drill & drums problems, it wont happen.

Edited by FlamMan
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Crowd was on their feet tonight from the second hit of the closer to the end. Entire crowd up cheering loudly!

And that's how it's done! :thumbup:

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Like it or not, Madison finishing in 10th place this year is a big disappointment. I'm a homer...an alum...I want nothing more that to see the Scouts return to top 6, but if they don't fix the drill & drums problems, it wont happen.

They most certainly will fix those issues. Again, this staff knows how to

slowly and steadily build a program for long term success. And of course I would

have loved to see them finish 8th this year (and it's not exactly over yet), but

having seen them several times in person, they are significantly improved over

last year regardless of placement. Be patient brother, they will eventually

get to the top six level again!

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Great show, great closer.

. . .a year to be proud of. :music:

Amen. Bravo! :worthy:

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Great show, great closer.

. . .a year to be proud of. :music:

Yes you bet! Congrats Madison!

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Went to Semi-finals last night - and just got home (couldn't get another day in to go to finals tonight). I just had to see this show, live, one more time.

I was in the top row of the 200s so I could see quite a bit of the crowd. Guys - if you were too focused on the show and didn't see it - the crowd started standing and cheering the moment you walked out of the tunnel. By the time you were coming down the 50 nearly everyone in my eyeline were on their feet. There were pods of people for the other corps - but the appreciation of you and your show was nearly universal.

By the end of the show everyone was back on their feet and more than a few around me (well, including me) were tearing up. I would bet the same thing happened again tonight.

Fabulous show - you should all be very proud - and I can't wait to see what you do next year.

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Scouts scored 87.200 at DCI East on Aug. 5 in Allentown; Blue Knights scored 86.700 at DCI East on Aug. 6 At DCI finals on Aug. 13, Scouts scored 87.550 while the Blue Knights scored 89.200. So BK improved by 2.5 and the Scouts improved by 0.35. I loved both corps' shows, but find the lack of improvement in Madison's score more than a little strange.

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