When to deploy the "secret weapon"

[JKT90]

I'd deploy the secret weapon after the Atlanta regional, and save a small tweak to it to add in at semi's. The change at semi's wouldn't be anything "major"...think more of how Cadets left the field Finals night in '87.

[afd]

There is no secret weapon. It's all about performance.

[Precious Roy]

I'd deploy the secret weapon after the Atlanta regional, and save a small tweak to it to add in at semi's. The change at semi's wouldn't be anything "major"...think more of how Cadets left the field Finals night in '87.

That's a good point. The larger the secret weapon (IOW, the amount of change made to the show) would probably need to be directly proportional to the number of judged performances left. A major re-write of the ending would need to be done sooner, while a smaller change (new silks, or drum major murder) could wait until championship week.

[jmc5682]

I feel like Crown might be doing something big with the trampolines. Pure speculation but hey.

Hopefully, leave them on the truck and off the field. I actually like Crown this year, but I do not think the trampolines add anything to their show,

[Anstig]

If your already in the lead, play it safe and deploy it in Allentown then clean it. If your well behind you might as well use it as a last hurrah and do it much later when people may not expect it.

[ElSuarez]

Seems like some of the finalist corps could help each other out with this. Cadets narrator could appear at the end of SCV and proclaim "That's what she said. That's what Scherazade said." Crown could use Madison's clock to turn back time and once again end with The Promised Land. Cavies could open the coffin to reveal BD's runway soloist (He kind of moves like he is a character from Walking Dead anyway). Cadets could use Cavies marimbas on wheels to race up the ramp and give all those performers who are just standing there something to do. Blue Knights could use Blue Coats "Flying Boy (or Girl?) and have (her) him freeze midair to emphasize that one moment in time.

[ajlemm]

Seems like some of the finalist corps could help each other out with this. Cadets narrator could appear at the end of SCV and proclaim "That's what she said. That's what Scherazade said." Crown could use Madison's clock to turn back time and once again end with The Promised Land. Cavies could open the coffin to reveal BD's runway soloist (He kind of moves like he is a character from Walking Dead anyway). Cadets could use Cavies marimbas on wheels to race up the ramp and give all those performers who are just standing there something to do. Blue Knights could use Blue Coats "Flying Boy (or Girl?) and have (her) him freeze midair to emphasize that one moment in time.

And the Bluecoats could grab all of Blue Devils lights and shine them on the jumper at the end.

[cajal]

I think Crown should loan the Bluecoats a trampoline to put their last jumper on the catwalk at Lucas Oil. Pow, GE.

Hm, might want to wait for a domed stadium to try that at, though.

[frachel]

If the thing you are adding finals week is so darned great, why didn't you added several weeks before...or in June?

I said this in the Cadets thread and got lambasted - because it IS about the scores more than the audience and the educational experience (not saying it isn't about those latter two things, just less). All the "nobody cares about scores" talk is nonsense. They add things this late to appease the judges and get a higher score. Same reason they hold things back when they might be somewhat "dirty" even though the audience would probably want to see it - because it may make their score go down for a night or two.

[bob Clark]

If I recall, SCV in 1979 practiced the "Bottle Dance" in secret and used it only at finals. Spirit was in third going into finals. It is possible that the addition of "bottle Dance" for just the finals performance may have pushed them over the top into third place. I seem to recall it wasn't the cleanest performance of "Bottle Dance", but with all of the babies flying around, it was hard to tell if there were any GE issues.