Opening Night!

[mjoakes]

42 minutes ago, barigirl78 said:

My ticket says 8:30, but I know Crossmen are scheduled for 8:35. Is it really starting just 5 minutes beforehand?

The DCI page saws National Anthem at 8:25; Crossmen at 8:35. Looks like you've got it right (assuming DCI actually follows this schedule).

http://www.dci.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=965779&SPID=166025&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=33500&ATCLID=211280003

[Tim K]

1 hour ago, corps8294 said:

Let's be realistic. Even if the Blue Stars truly deserved to place higher than the Cavaliers or Cadets; do you all believe the judges would let that happen? The Blue Stars totally deserved to place 7th back in '10; but finished in 8th.

I'm not sure Blue Stars show has enough visual punch yet, at least based on the video going around Facebook, but yet is the key word. The show has potential and I think we'll be surprised tonight. 

Regarding 2010, a lot has changed. I know I never would have expected a Cavies plummet in 2012 or that it would take a few years to recover, I never would have expected Cadets to fall three years in a row with shows that had such potential. I expected a Crown title at one point, but not a Bluecoats title. I never expected a Blue Knights surge. I never expected we'd see a Glassmen in finals for the last time in 2010 and that in two years they would cease to be. In 2010 I would not have expected Crossmen or Spirit to have returned to finals. We also have different scoring sheets. The only constant since 2010 is Blue Devils being either 1st or 2nd.

While you may be correct, you also never know.

[Slingerland]

2 hours ago, corps8294 said:

Let's be realistic. Even if the Blue Stars truly deserved to place higher than the Cavaliers or Cadets; do you all believe the judges would let that happen? The Blue Stars totally deserved to place 7th back in '10; but finished in 8th.

They finished .1 behind SCV in 7th. That's the equivalent of a rounding error, not a conspiracy by The Man to keep the Blue Stars in 8th.

[superOOk]

10:03 BLOO

Show reveal coming @7

Edited June 22, 2017 by superOOk

[brians]

21 hours ago, Kevin. said:

Blue Stars have some great brass this year

Nice article in flomarching about the Blue Stars brass this year!!!!

http://www.flomarching.com/article/57905-blue-stars-brass-5-things-to-take-away#.WUsMrE0o5LM

[barigirl78]

1 hour ago, mjoakes said:

The DCI page saws National Anthem at 8:25; Crossmen at 8:35. Looks like you've got it right (assuming DCI actually follows this schedule).

http://www.dci.org/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=965779&SPID=166025&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=33500&ATCLID=211280003

For some reason I remember a lot of interviews before the first corps last year.  I remember George Hopkins getting interviewed about the statues.  But, that could have been between corps.  I guess I'll get to the theater before 8:30 just in case they start before 8:30.

[ZachDrumCorps]

I'll be at KOP Imax again this year! Hope I'm able to get to some live shows this year too

[littlejaw]

1 hour ago, Tim K said:

I'm not sure Blue Stars show has enough visual punch yet, at least based on the video going around Facebook, but yet is the key word. The show has potential and I think we'll be surprised tonight. 

From the spring training finale it didn't look like their was much content visually aside from the guard. The guard had some really nice writing (execution wasn't great but it's really early and the conditions were sub-optimal). I would be surprised if their visual scores were close to many corps other than Crossmen tonight. But I could be biased because I like to see a corps move a lot and play while they are moving.

[geluf]

1 hour ago, Slingerland said:

They finished .1 behind SCV in 7th. That's the equivalent of a rounding error, not a conspiracy by The Man to keep the Blue Stars in 8th.

This.

To even attempt a collusion effort to have a corps place *.1* behind another one would be extremely difficult.

Who was "in" on the conspiracy if this was the case?  Certainly not the Percussion judge, who not only put Blue Stars above SCV, but left enough of a gap to put *Boston* above SCV right behind.  Not GE Music 2, who also put Blue Stars 2 ordinals above SCV.  Or color guard.  Not to mention the conspiracy must have been extremely complicated since in a handful of captions the difference between SCV and Blue Stars involved a gap of 2 ordinals and not one, interjecting a third element.  It's just ridiculous.


This idea that judges don't break the "status quo" ever is ludicrous because the counter-proof is staring us right in the face:

Bluecoats and Carolina Crown

Neither of these corps are historical powerhouses and both have won it all in the past half-decade.  In fact, both Bluecoats and Crown were perennial bottom-of-the-top-12 finishers from the mid-90s through the mid-2000s, and the Bluecoats even missed finals entirely in 1999, losing the 12th slot to the Colts.  Bluecoats climbed into the mid-tier a few years sooner than Crown, and then Crown won a championship before Bluecoats, but the point is that both of these corps are very, very new to the top tier of the activity, but are undeniable Top 3 contenders now.

Meanwhile, we've witnessed:

- Phantom Regiment go from being the absolute darling of DCI in 2008, winning it all in dramatic fashion, to 9th in literally the space of one year.

- Cavaliers completely dominating the early-to-mid aughts in dynastic fashion, to finishing as low as 8th in 2012 (losing 7th to the Boston Crusaders, which was *unheard of*).

- The Madison Scouts go from dominant force in the early days of DCI, to reliable middle-of-the-top-12 competitor, to yo-yoing in and out of finals at whiplash speeds.

- The Cadets go from being one of *the* pillars of the Top 3 to fighting to stay top 6.

DCI is not afraid to let the Blue Stars take the spot they earn.

 

Edited June 22, 2017 by geluf

[brians]

9 minutes ago, littlejaw said:

From the spring training finale it didn't look like their was much content visually aside from the guard. The guard had some really nice writing (execution wasn't great but it's really early and the conditions were sub-optimal). I would be surprised if their visual scores were close to many corps other than Crossmen tonight. But I could be biased because I like to see a corps move a lot and play while they are moving.

Like Whaaaat? ....really?, like maybe you need to watch their show again.