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Best Rifle Line In History


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LoveKathy.

There is no doubt in my mind that 1980 2-7 was doing as much or more than today's best auxs. In jest I guess you were a klutz, but I'm sure you weren't. No one in this thread is wrong. We do get used to scoring and judging, and we he have our favorites. Why not? However I also like analytical thinking and Brasso hit it right on the head. I'm still with him 100%, but I don't intend to change anyone's mind. Enjoy what you enjoy and don't let anyone take that from you. I did mean my earlier comment as a joke and I hope you take it that way.

Kevin

You jest...but you're right. I was in a top 5 guard, but I was out of shape (not talking about overweight...I do understand that you can be overweight and in shape), ate poorly, and smoked. A lot of what I'm noting is that the physical demand of today's guard programs is considerably greater. I could not do it with the kind of condition I was in then...nor now (though I'm actually in much better shape now for my age than I was then...oddly). Don't get me wrong. We developed a great deal of upper body strength and probably a different kind of body control back in the day. Rifles were HEAVY back in the day. And we were so much more precise than anything I see on the field today. But I really suspect that you could take a top guard from today, put them into a 1980 guard program, and they'd be successful much quicker than the other way around.

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I have to go against the tide and say 27 in 1979--quad toss at :40, case in point.

1980's 27 was good too, but they were missing a rifle, and that destroyed what would have been an epic exchange in "On the 20th Century."

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I have to go against the tide and say 27 in 1979--quad toss at :40, case in point.

1980's 27 was good too, but they were missing a rifle, and that destroyed what would have been an epic exchange in "On the 20th Century."

They weren't missing a rifle all season long, only at DCI finals (and that was because she had to be hospitalized with appendicitis). So I wouldn't hold that against them. Watch the high-cam prelims video, if you can find it. There ends the debate right there, IMO.

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LoveKathy.

There is no reason to diminish what you did, and IMO it was better than what these lightweight flitting elves are doing now. There are a number of people weighing in to say that a guard fron 32 years ago was the best guard of all time - and I don't discount great Madson rifle lines - superb.

I also have witnessed modern dance live, e.g. Paul Taylor. A lot of the current aux is light weight and some not.

Kevin

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LoveKathy.

it was better than what these lightweight flitting elves are doing now.

Kevin

I could say something..... but.... nah, why bother.

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There is no reason to diminish what you did, and IMO it was better than what these lightweight flitting elves are doing now. There are a number of people weighing in to say that a guard fron 32 years ago was the best guard of all time - and I don't discount great Madson rifle lines - superb.

I suspect this has much more to do with evaluators (and their abilities to assess guard work) than the performers (and their ability to perform guard work). lookaround.gif

Old school is nice. I'd rather leave it to the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team (who put on a far better show in that respect -- they put sharp pointy things on the ends of their M1's ).

If you want to play the comparison game (which is pretty pointless IMO but everyone's going there) -- imagine you can give 1980's performers today's book and today's performers 1980's book and see what happens. I suspect today's performers would learn the show in an afternoon and clean it surprisingly quickly. Vice versa -- not so much. In fact those performers wouldn't even be able to learn the show. Their training up to that point was so narrow that they wouldn't have the tools to do it. And before anyone gets all huffy about it -- yes if you trained the 80's kids the same way kid's today are trained then they'd be able to do it. But that's the point -- they weren't. Very narrow skill set then. Very broad skill set now.

Edited by corpsband
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Here's how I would pick:

Mid 80's /Late 80's : Cavaliers

Later,

Mike

I have always admired the guard writing that started with the '85 Cavaliers - specifically the rifle line. Whomever wrote the rifle program did a lot of very unique equipment work that was quite effective - even to this day.

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Last summer Carolina Crown had a young man who did someamazing rifle tosses. He's the same young man who smashed the guitar at the endof the show. Now he did his share of dancing across the field. He also tossed arifle while holding a young woman n in the air. I'm not sure I'd use the words "LightWeight Flitting Elf" to describe him. If he's an elf, we'd better watch out forgiants. It wouldn't describe him as a compliment, and he wouldn't deserve the insult,nor do the other young people who march today.

The main reason so many people are saying a color guard of32 years ago is the best of all time is because we had rifle lines back then,people who just maneuvered rifles. We area also talking about a specific skill set. Most of the young womenwho were rifles probably started as flags in a small corps or a feeder unit at age 7 or 8 and worked their way up. Thatas how it was done. The guys who were Kilties, Madison, or Cavies may have learnedtheir skills at a later age, but that's because most color guards were notcoed. Today we don't have feeder corps, and the young people in color guardsprobably did start training at a young age, but in a dance studio or on agymnastics team. Their skills are different, but they probably worked hard toget where they're today.

I'm a great lover of traditional guards, and wish we saw more of them today, but let's not disparage the kids who march today.

[quote name='kdoh' timestamp='1332107191' post='3127051']

LoveKathy.

There is no reason to diminish what you did, and IMO it was better than what these lightweight flitting elves are doing now. There are a number of people weighing in to say that a guard fron 32 years ago was the best guard of all time - and I don't discount great Madson rifle lines - superb.

I also have witnessed modern dance live, e.g. Paul Taylor. A lot of the current aux is light weight and some not.

Kevin

Edited by Tim K
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Corpsband,

No way. Today's aux can't march. They are no more than window dressing. No disrespect to the Kids. I respect their efforts.

Linc, 85 Cavies? How about 62 Cavies? Life didn't exist before you were born?

Kevin

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