More 1979 Boston Crusaders

[Bsader]

I have written previously as to the improbability of a Brass Section that featured only 25 Brass somehow coming in 12th place in G.E. Brass in the 1979 DCI prelims. In other words with only 11 Soprano's, 4 Mellophone's, 8 Baritone's and 2 Contrabass the '79 Crusader's Brass section made the D.C.I. finals in GE Brass. The question is.....was that the most amazing score the '79 Crusader's achieved that year? Well, it's arguable that our M&M execution or visual scores were even more remarkable and remarkable over the course of the entire year.  Why? because over the course of that season we beat every Corps in the country in M&M execution save 4.  Which 4 were we not able to beat? Phantom, who took high execution that year, the Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanguard both of whom we did not compete against until the D.C.I. Prelims, and Spirit of Atlanta whom we were only .03 behind at the D.C.I. Midwest. We actually took top M&M execution at the CYO Nationals that year a show that was staged just one week before the D.C.I. finals. In that show we came in over Madison, 27th, Cavi's, Bridgemen, North Star and Freelancer's which were all Corps who were twice our size. One judge gave us a 19.1 and the other gave us a 19.3. Over the course of that year we beat Madison, 27th, Cavi's, Bridgemen, North Star, Freelancer's, Crossmen, Blue Star, Guardsmen (7th place that year) and Trooper's (12th place that year).Those Corps range in placement from 5th to 14th place in the D.C.I. Prelims and again, they were all twice our size. 

So what happened at the D.C.I. prelims? Well the #2 judge had us in 9th place which is where we were ranking the entire season...if not better and he gave us a 19.4  just one week after we scored a 19.2 while winning M&M at the CYO Nationals. Where did the #1 judge have us? In 16th place with a 16.7 behind Avant Guarde whom the the #2 judge had in 31st place.  If you look at the score differentials between the two judges for the other Corps they are fairly close and consistent. But with our score their is a 2.7 gap. Despite the difference in scoring between these two judges we still ended up coming in 13th in M&M execution that year which, all things considered, ain't too shabby.

So, I'm not going to say we got screwed by the #1 judge because no one wants to hear that but I am going to say that I think it's a shame that he didn't give us a score that would have been consistent with our previous scores. If we did get the score from the number #1 judge that I thought we deserved, a score that would have put us in 9th place overall then, from a historical perspective, that score should rank #1 as the most stunning score that any Drum Corps has ever achieved given the circumstances, that score along with our 12th place in G.E. Brass. 

One thing I feel I should add is this.....I was out of Drum Corps for over 30 years and have only been back for the last 8 so I may have missed some other improbable scores regarding Drum Corps. Maybe that's a thread for some else to start. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Bsader

[DAvery]

On 3/5/2018 at 8:31 PM, Bsader said:

I have written previously as to the improbability of a Brass Section that featured only 25 Brass somehow coming in 12th place in G.E. Brass in the 1979 DCI prelims. In other words with only 11 Soprano's, 4 Mellophone's, 8 Baritone's and 2 Contrabass the '79 Crusader's Brass section made the D.C.I. finals in GE Brass. The question is.....was that the most amazing score the '79 Crusader's achieved that year? Well, it's arguable that our M&M execution or visual scores were even more remarkable and remarkable over the course of the entire year.  Why? because over the course of that season we beat every Corps in the country in M&M execution save 4.  Which 4 were we not able to beat? Phantom, who took high execution that year, the Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanguard both of whom we did not compete against until the D.C.I. Prelims, and Spirit of Atlanta whom we were only .03 behind at the D.C.I. Midwest. We actually took top M&M execution at the CYO Nationals that year a show that was staged just one week before the D.C.I. finals. In that show we came in over Madison, 27th, Cavi's, Bridgemen, North Star and Freelancer's which were all Corps who were twice our size. One judge gave us a 19.1 and the other gave us a 19.3. Over the course of that year we beat Madison, 27th, Cavi's, Bridgemen, North Star, Freelancer's, Crossmen, Blue Star, Guardsmen (7th place that year) and Trooper's (12th place that year).Those Corps range in placement from 5th to 14th place in the D.C.I. Prelims and again, they were all twice our size. 

So what happened at the D.C.I. prelims? Well the #2 judge had us in 9th place which is where we were ranking the entire season...if not better and he gave us a 19.4  just one week after we scored a 19.2 while winning M&M at the CYO Nationals. Where did the #1 judge have us? In 16th place with a 16.7 behind Avant Guarde whom the the #2 judge had in 31st place.  If you look at the score differentials between the two judges for the other Corps they are fairly close and consistent. But with our score their is a 2.7 gap. Despite the difference in scoring between these two judges we still ended up coming in 13th in M&M execution that year which, all things considered, ain't too shabby.

So, I'm not going to say we got screwed by the #1 judge because no one wants to hear that but I am going to say that I think it's a shame that he didn't give us a score that would have been consistent with our previous scores. If we did get the score from the number #1 judge that I thought we deserved, a score that would have put us in 9th place overall then, from a historical perspective, that score should rank #1 as the most stunning score that any Drum Corps has ever achieved given the circumstances, that score along with our 12th place in G.E. Brass. 

One thing I feel I should add is this.....I was out of Drum Corps for over 30 years and have only been back for the last 8 so I may have missed some other improbable scores regarding Drum Corps. Maybe that's a thread for some else to start. 

1979 was a wierd year.just ask anyone from the Crossmen. 

[Ghost]

A small corps may have had some execution success in the tick era with fewer mm.