2017 DCI Finals Scores (well, maybe)

[henry7184]

10 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

It's amazing how long that particular record has stood. Of course, the best-ever sixth-place score dates from the following year--and I suspect that one won't ever be broken.

The highest 6th place score ever was 1989 Star of Indiana, at 95.3.

[N.E. Brigand]

5 hours ago, MotoSurfBass said:

2009, but yeah, that was a killer top 6. 7th held the record until 2007, too, and still sits in 2nd place.

I'm sitting on a gold mine of "what ifs?" and other silly stat comparisions/projections. One of them is basically creating a "Finals" of every corps finishing in a position at Finals (Top 12 1sts, Top 12 2nds, etc.)  I should start posting them...

EDIT: Looking at the 12th place rankings, I have a bold prediction that 1st place in those rankings will fall this year...

That would be cool. Of course, a lot of the year-to-year variation is arbitrary. There seems to have been a decision in 2015, for instance, to deliberately lower scores, probably driven by the record set by "Felliniesque" the previous year.

[henry7184]

41 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

That would be cool. Of course, a lot of the year-to-year variation is arbitrary. There seems to have been a decision in 2015, for instance, to deliberately lower scores, probably driven by the record set by "Felliniesque" the previous year.

I think that's why too - the ran out of room with BD that year.

[E3D]

20 hours ago, BRASSO said:

... Calif. would take every last nickel of it, So in retrospect, you haven't lost a dime, Chief Guns. ( ..haha)

So true. Why anyone would bet or predict against the Devils is not something I can understand. 

AnyWho I think somewhere along the way Chief called me a troll or something not so nice. No big deal because I don't like squids. 

[soccerguy315]

 hostrauser is one of the best posters on DCP

glad to see you make an appearance 

[Chief Guns]

3 hours ago, E3D said:

So true. Why anyone would bet or predict against the Devils is not something I can understand. 

AnyWho I think somewhere along the way Chief called me a troll or something not so nice. No big deal because I don't like squids. 

I love you too Devil Dog!! :) My apologies if i did refer to you as a troll.

[hostrauser]

5 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

That would be cool. Of course, a lot of the year-to-year variation is arbitrary. There seems to have been a decision in 2015, for instance, to deliberately lower scores, probably driven by the record set by "Felliniesque" the previous year.

To be fair, I can't argue with that Felliniesque score. It's the cleanest, best-performed drum corps show I've ever seen. Everyone knew BD was only competing against themselves and history on Saturday, and I think it made them really loose and they just blazed away.

"Felliniesque" is not my favorite show ever (heck, I enjoyed "Tilt" more), but is it the best performance I've ever seen in DCI? Yeah.

Sidenote: the day after 2014 Finals, not only did I run into Scott Johnson in the rental car return garage, but we were also on the same flight out of Indianapolis and I met him again at the gate. I got to tell him first hand (1) my admiration for how good the kids were, and (2) my amusing (now, in retrospect) Blue Devils cut story.

[BoaDci]

1 hour ago, hostrauser said:

To be fair, I can't argue with that Felliniesque score. It's the cleanest, best-performed drum corps show I've ever seen. Everyone knew BD was only competing against themselves and history on Saturday, and I think it made them really loose and they just blazed away.

"Felliniesque" is not my favorite show ever (heck, I enjoyed "Tilt" more), but is it the best performance I've ever seen in DCI? Yeah.

Sidenote: the day after 2014 Finals, not only did I run into Scott Johnson in the rental car return garage, but we were also on the same flight out of Indianapolis and I met him again at the gate. I got to tell him first hand (1) my admiration for how good the kids were, and (2) my amusing (now, in retrospect) Blue Devils cut story.

Thats an awesome story.  Lucky you!

[N.E. Brigand]

6 hours ago, hostrauser said:

To be fair, I can't argue with that Felliniesque score. It's the cleanest, best-performed drum corps show I've ever seen. Everyone knew BD was only competing against themselves and history on Saturday, and I think it made them really loose and they just blazed away.

"Felliniesque" is not my favorite show ever (heck, I enjoyed "Tilt" more), but is it the best performance I've ever seen in DCI? Yeah.

I wasn't criticizing the score for BD '14. I was just saying that DCI seems to have felt that they needed to give the judges more room to work--as I recall, two other placements that year were also records--because the scores in general went down in 2015.

[PopcornEater1963]

On 7/6/2017 at 0:37 PM, hostrauser said:

Well! I never!

I never... have gone this long without getting hate mail in my private messages and, honestly, I'm starting to feel a little neglected. A man has needs! And so, I present to you, with absolutely no apologies to Carnac the Magnificent, the 2017 DCI World Championships Finals scores, a full MONTH before they happen!!

For starters, no, The Mandarins will not make finals. That's still no blemish on their best season ever as they finish 13th, ahead of The Academy (14th), Colts (15th), Blue Devils B (16th), Spirit of Atlanta (17th), and Troopers (18th). But they get edged out for the final Saturday spot by...

In 12th place, with a score of 86.575... The Madison Scouts
Look, the Scouts easily could have made Finals last year until they let it slip away. This show is better, but I'm not sure it has the juice to crack the Top 10. Despite the wild uniforms, this show concept just doesn't feel that fresh or novel, you know?

In 11th place, with a score of 88.775... The Blue Stars
I like the IDEA behind this show (even if the Blue Devils did it 19 years ago *cough*) but from the videos I've seen it hasn't quite gelled yet. That said, the two corps above them are far from invulnerable and if LaCrosse can keep jacking that performance level up...

In 10th place, with a score of 89.325... The Blue Knights
What the what? I've really like BK's past three shows, but this one has me scratching my head a bit. Perhaps they will grow a lot over the course of the summer, but considering they've already been passed by Messy Regiment... I'm not sure that's a good harbinger.

In 9th place, with a score of 90.600... The Crossmen
Bones is really playing the heck out of this show, the pink and orange works far better than I thought it would... and yet, I just don't see them going higher than 8th in a best case scenario. I think there is a pretty low ceiling for this show compared to the corps around them.

In 8th place, with a score of 90.825... Phantom Regiment
Optimistic? Maybe. And yeah, I fully admit to being a Phantom homer. Unlike the past two years, this doesn't feel like Generic Drum Corps Show #14. There is a distinct Phantom identity to this show. I also like that the staff is writing stuff that, frankly, is beyond the corps' abilities at this moment. I would rather see Phantom go for the gusto and fall short than be content with an 8th, 9th, 10th place show design. That said, the difficulty is eating Phantom alive right now. I watched their Oceanside performance, and they were gawd-awful dirty. They have SO MUCH cleaning to do in the next month. But the vehicle is there. The ceiling is high.

In 7th place, with a score of 92.400... The Boston Crusaders
When I heard their performance in the park, I was AMPED. I was really hoping they would crash the Top 6. But man, no one ahead of them is letting up even a little! Of all the placements, this feels the most secure to me. Boston is noticeably better than every corps below them, but there's still a gap between them and the Top 6. Still, the new staff obviously has big goals for this corps.

In 6th place, with a score of 94.300... The Cadets
There's another really hot thread right now, "Can The Cadets Medal?" Yeah, I'm just not buying it. They are better than I think we all expected, but to me this is another low ceiling show. I just don't know how they keep pace with the corps above them as those corps continue to clean and improve.

In 5th place, with a score of 95.050... The Cavaliers
THIS SHOW IS... well, really cheesy, not to put too fine of a point on it. Oh come on, you know you're thinking it too. This is the drum corps equivalent of an eye-rolling Arnold Schwarzenegger one-liner in a special effects laden action spectacular. And I'm not thinking "I'll be back" from Terminator 2, more along the lines of shooting alligators and saying "You're luggage" in Eraser. Sure, they're performing great. But I mean seriously. Yes, you're an all-male corps, we GET IT already.

In 4th place, with a score of 96.050... Carolina Crown
Every year I think, "man, there's no way that a corps who plays THIS WELL can not medal." And yet, almost 50% of the time (four of the past nine seasons) Crown has finished just out of the medals. Crown is starting to remind me of early 2000s Blue Devils, though: they're SO CLEAN, SO EARLY... where do they go from here? Also, are they going to fix that show-flow disaster of a closer? New drum corps or old drum corps, bigger faster louder closer or slower and emotional closer, I'm still of the old-fashioned opinion that a show design should build up, build towards the finale. This show really feels like it kind of decays and falls backward into the last minute of the show.

Receiving the bronze medal, in 3rd place, with a score of 96.925... The Blue Devils
Concord has medalled in 22 of the past 23 years. They have been Top 4 in 41 of the past 42 years. I'd bet on the SUN NOT RISING before I'd bet on the Blue Devils falling out of the Top 5. They always finish at or near the top... even with a poorly designed, poorly performed show (cough). Look, by THEIR standards, okay? They have been Top 2 for an amazing ten years in a row, but I look back and I don't really see a show with the (small, but noticeable) question marks this one has. Also... is no one going to comment on how much park and bark they do this year? Oh sure, you can add all the hip shimmies or rocking on your feet like superhuman autistic drum corps savants you want, whatever the trend is this year, it's STILL park and bark.

Receiving the silver medal, in 2nd place, with a score of 97.350... The Santa Clara Vanguard
If anyone is going to catch the defending champs, I think it will be Gail Royer's legacy from the south bay. Brass, percussion, guard, visual... they have it all. The double-tonguing they do in the finale is unreal. The new uniforms (like 80-90% of the new uniforms, to be honest) might be non-traditional, but they work with the show. They have a lot of ensemble cleaning to do, and some fine tuning of the musical effect flow in the second half of the show, but they COULD win it all.

Receiving the Gold medal, your 2017 Drum Corps International World Champions, with a score of 97.925... The Bluecoats
My first viewing was their stadium run-through in Texas before the season, and all I could do was marvel at the amount of effect they were cranking out of a show that was still so, so dirty. I mean, the sky's the limit here. The show design is the best in DCI this summer, both musically and visually. Their staff is amazing. Doug Thrower might be the most underrated arranger in DCI HISTORY, much less working today. Successive viewings of regular season shows hasn't changed my initial opinion at all. This is still their championship to lose, no one else can catch them if they get this show to its full potential.
 

I think you have the top 5 right ( not a stretch, huh? ) but at this point I'm still unsure of the order.