Blue Devils in the Details 2023

[KVG_DC]

Yeah the fuzz is real.  Its not dramatically bad or anything.  I mean there are very few corps that wouldn't LOVE to have a line that can play that insane book with the bits of fuzz they have.  

But here's the thing, with the rest of the sections cleaning up fast, it sort of sticks out that the battery isn't getting that squeakly clean.  The decision comes down to:

A: leave it alone and work to clean it while trying to keep pace on content while lagging in achievement knowing other sections can probably carry to the overall score to ring #21.  If they can clean it to squeaky clean, they might have a run at the Sanford. If they don't, the fall down the ordinals could cost them full tenths as percussion judges tend to use the full tenth to separate lines. Getting passed up by 3 or 4 corps could mean a full half point against the total.

B: water the book a bit to let them clean it up.  Thus probably sacrificing some content score to achieve their book more fully and maintain a consistency in cleanness.  This would probably conceed the Sanford but might lock in the ring because the consistency would let the show seem all the more consistent. But...it could cost a bit too as you know the percussion judges would catch that it's been hosed a bit and depending on how much they drop the content and raise the acheivement...who knows, particularly if they've not had a read of the "new book" until Indy.  

 

[crumdorpslove]

3 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

Yeah the fuzz is real.  Its not dramatically bad or anything.  I mean there are very few corps that wouldn't LOVE to have a line that can play that insane book with the bits of fuzz they have.  

But here's the thing, with the rest of the sections cleaning up fast, it sort of sticks out that the battery isn't getting that squeakly clean.  The decision comes down to:

A: leave it alone and work to clean it while trying to keep pace on content while lagging in achievement knowing other sections can probably carry to the overall score to ring #21.  If they can clean it to squeaky clean, they might have a run at the Sanford. If they don't, the fall down the ordinals could cost them full tenths as percussion judges tend to use the full tenth to separate lines. Getting passed up by 3 or 4 corps could mean a full half point against the total.

B: water the book a bit to let them clean it up.  Thus probably sacrificing some content score to achieve their book more fully and maintain a consistency in cleanness.  This would probably conceed the Sanford but might lock in the ring because the consistency would let the show seem all the more consistent. But...it could cost a bit too as you know the percussion judges would catch that it's been hosed a bit and depending on how much they drop the content and raise the acheivement...who knows, particularly if they've not had a read of the "new book" until Indy.  

 

I believe they will keep it and see where the number fall. They have enough in other captions to compete for other trophies. It doesn’t take every caption award to bring home the win. But you never know until the last note. I think it shows a very healthy activity to wonder where all the individual captions will end up at finals. 

[saxfreq1128]

9 hours ago, Chief Guns said:

So we had this conversation a couple weeks ago.............now might be time for ScoJo to water down the book. 

They have been consistently getting first in Content maybe some 2nds here and there, but 3rd-4ths in Achievement. 

I think it's time. 

It’s too bad because it felt like they had serious momentum cleaning things up earlier on, and then things seemed to shift after stuff with their tenor went down. I wonder if it’s a morale thing.

I think they could have pulled this book off in a year without hitches, but that’s not the reality this year. Probably the staff’s calculation is that this a mind over matter situation, and it’s about taking care of the members and getting their heads back in the game rather than watering down too much. Not that there’s any shame, at all, in watering down. But this line felt like they really wanted to prove a point, and I bet that’s still true. 

[saxfreq1128]

6 hours ago, crumdorpslove said:

I believe they will keep it and see where the number fall. They have enough in other captions to compete for other trophies. It doesn’t take every caption award to bring home the win. But you never know until the last note. I think it shows a very healthy activity to wonder where all the individual captions will end up at finals. 

I agree. It’s riveting. Guard too — BD,  BAC, Crown and Bloo are all in it to win it and the judges see that. 

That said I’ve got Erin Brockovich on speed dial if BD doesn’t eke out a Zingali this year for their body lines alone. I’ll own DCI by this time next year if the judges defy me. 🫡

[resipsaloquitur]

12 hours ago, Chief Guns said:

So we had this conversation a couple weeks ago.............now might be time for ScoJo to water down the book. 

They have been consistently getting first in Content maybe some 2nds here and there, but 3rd-4ths in Achievement. 

I think it's time. 

I believe this guy is or was on the Coats staff. I don't know anything about how percussion is scored. Interested in the pundits' thoughts.

[Chief Guns]

5 minutes ago, resipsaloquitur said:

I believe this guy is or was on the Coats staff. I don't know anything about how percussion is scored. Interested in the pundits' thoughts.

My only pushback (to Josh) is in the last 15 years, BD and SCV (West Coast corps) have collected eight, maybe nine Sanfords in that time frame. 

Sure there might be some bias here and there (we are human after all) but I don't think it's as bad as Josh is making it out to be. 

[KVG_DC]

Uh yeah. "We're not winning percussion this year so there's East Coast Inflation" isn't a good look given the pushback on the "west cast inflation" cries.

 

🤣

[wilme861]

3 hours ago, resipsaloquitur said:

I believe this guy is or was on the Coats staff. I don't know anything about how percussion is scored. Interested in the pundits' thoughts.

I semi agree with him honestly. I wouldn't necessarily say it's HEAVILY impacting their scoring but it just seems like it does come into play at times. Now, its definitely more mixed than it has been in the past and definitely more staff based than corps location based. Crown is the obvious example of probably the most west coast style line in DCI now with Jackson, compared to a more east coast style of Cadets or Boston but most lines in DCI honestly seem to be more of a hybrid of both styles.

I don't think its a secret that I'm a big fan of west coast "flowy" style of playing (love Jackson lines) so I'm not afraid to admit I will always be partial to that style but I also don't judge. Judges shouldn't have that "favoritism" I'll call it for one style over the other even though it seems like some judges definitely hit Crown harder than others. They'll beat Bluecoats one day then the very next be down a point to them the next from a different judge so it's just hard to attribute all of that to just a bad performance and not attribute any of it to a difference in how to judge that style of playing. I personally probably have Crown around 5th or so this year just based on everyone having a clean run (based off just the lot). I still think BD could win it if they get Cavie clean but again that might be my west coast bias coming into play.

[saxfreq1128]

wait so there’s a bias AGAINST bd in something? can i be reading all of this correctly … what you’re saying is that from now on when they lose percussion i can say “east coast bias” is this correct? 

[KVG_DC]

inflation...its gotta be east coast inflation if you wanna stir the pot all the way around.