corpsband Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 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 No - they don't march because they choose not to march (thank god). And no -- you don't respect their "efforts" because quite frankly...well... never mind. DCP Member guidelines and all that. Perhaps you might be best served talking to people who taught or marched guard in the 80's and are still involved in the activity now. Without exception all of those people I've spoken to pretty much share KathyG's opinion. You're just showing your ignorance calling guard performers today 'window dressing'. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Doherty Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Part 2: George Parks was throwing a Mace into the skies in the 70s and 80s. Who in today's DC can match his feats? No one, which doesn't mean someone won't get there, but it hasn't happened. The corps of the 50s were spinning M-1s, not light weight cut-outs. Sure, times have changed. Now it's easier. Kevin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Part 2: George Parks was throwing a Mace into the skies in the 70s and 80s. Who in today's DC can match his feats? No one, which doesn't mean someone won't get there, but it hasn't happened. The corps of the 50s were spinning M-1s, not light weight cut-outs. Sure, times have changed. Now it's easier. Kevin ahha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Part 2: George Parks was throwing a Mace into the skies in the 70s and 80s. Who in today's DC can match his feats? No one, which doesn't mean someone won't get there, but it hasn't happened. The corps of the 50s were spinning M-1s, not light weight cut-outs. Sure, times have changed. Now it's easier. Kevin who in the 70s and 80s matched George Parks' mace work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 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 He is talking guard work, so 1962 "anybody" doesn't even rate a mention as compared to the current time. There just wasn't any guard work then as compared to even a decade later, let alone the amazing guard shows of today. As for your 'no disrespect' comment...you call today's performers "window dressing" and say they "can't march"...hardly indicative of any respect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 who in the 70s and 80s matched George Parks' mace work? Kim did a pretty good job in 82 (snag from a video below :) I started as flag, tried rifle and enjoyed sabre 40 years ago. Guard restricted movement due to heavy equipment and uniforms. As the equipment and uniforms became lighter, the movement increased and it felt good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 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. The current color guards could learn those 70's books in an afternoon, clean them in the evening, and then take tomorrow off out of sheer boredom. Yea, that stuff was cool back in the day, but has all the appeal of a tree stump to today's ridiculously talented guards. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveKathyG Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 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 I'm not diminishing what we did. I loved what we did. I often find myself pining for my marching days. It was one of the most formational experiences of my life. I don't think I'm taking anything away from our accomplishments to say that the activity has become considerably more demanding as it's evolved. To me, it only makes sense that an activity would get complex with time. Is anyone going to argue that figure skating is more demanding today than it was 10, 20 or 50 years ago? True enough, you'll hear older commentators say that they preferred figure skating back when the scoring valued the artistic elements more. But is anyone really going to argue that today's figure skaters are doing far more difficult work than in decades before? I have no problem with someone saying that the greatest guards were of ___ era. I have my preferences too. But my original point is that the activity has evolved to the place that most of us who were part of those late '70s and early '80s guards could not compete in today's guards. I don't think that's an outlandish statement, and I don't think it takes anything away from the accomplishments of generations of color guards. Were it not for the work I did, the programs that today's guards are doing wouldn't have been possible. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordog27 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Lots of Scouts years to choose from... If you look at the recaps from 1988 prelims you will see the Madison guard scored a 99 out of 100 and that was with 6 corps, including the up to then undefeated Blue Devils, left to perform. The judge must have been pretty confident in his scoring to pop a number like that. 27th was, "da bawls" and Madison was as well. Can't go wrong with either group. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordog27 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 The current color guards could learn those 70's books in an afternoon, clean them in the evening, and then take tomorrow off out of sheer boredom. Yea, that stuff was cool back in the day, but has all the appeal of a tree stump to today's ridiculously talented guards. I must disagree with this. Look at the precision of the guard books in the 70's, 80's and 90's, in addition to the actual, "Marching and maneuvering", required by the guard members. Today most guard members do not ever attend basics with the corps proper, learn any form of a marching technique, or even learn, "Eight to five." The guards from the 70's and 80's did all of this in addition to performing an 11.5-13 minute show that was largely unison work. I sat at Lucas Oil last year at Finals and watched more than one finalist guard never actually "March" and even then only have 24-36 counts of full color guard unison work their ENTIRE show. Movement/body vocabulary may be taking more of a place of importance on the field on the guard sheets of today, but if one wanted that, one could attend WGI. Most DCI guards these days do not even learn double time with rifles or double time with flags. Let's see them do 1000 counts of either, just as one facet of a typical warm-up back in the day. You think a rifle line of today could perform the rifle work from Danny Boy in 1980 with that degree of cleanliness? Or Slaughter? You stop the DVD at any point in 1980 27th Lancers or Scouts (or many other years of either), and the rifle and flag tosses are not only uniform in height, but in velocity of rotation. You do not see that at all today. Give me a flawless triple, quad, or five, caught flat with the echo of the uniform "thwappp" of the leather strap, from and entire rifle line or guard, over one featured performer chunking a 7 or 8 and catching it at an angle or worse, like catching a baby thrown from a burning building, any day. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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