2023 Daily Run Down

[Old Corps Guy]

I agree with so many other, this work is great and truly appreciated.

[JAZZER]

11 hours ago, DrumCorpsRadio said:

July 31 Rundown

Huntington WV

The Open Class reset was real for Gold and Spartans with both corps seeing their scores decrease by 1.600 points in their first meeting with a full slate of World Class corps. Columbians decreased by 0.600 points.

Spirit of Atlanta made a strong statement by catapulting to the 12th spot with a 2.800 point increase. The next time Spirit lines up with more than one of the other corps fighting for this spot will be Saturday night in Allentown.

Phantom Regiment joined the 90+ point club, becoming the fifth corps to do so this year.

August 1 Preview

Annapolis MD

Will The Cadets build on its win over Mandarins two nights ago, or even join the 90+ point club?

Salem, VA

Might Troopers (and by association Colts) make a run at Blue Stars for the #9 spot?

Sevierville, TN

The battle for 12th continues with Crossmen and Pacific Crest matching up.

Thanks much for all your hard work!

Also interesting to me will be the gap between Colts & The Cavaliers, as I've followed the Muncie [4.25], Lisle [2.8], Dekalb [2.7] Whitewater [2.55], Houston [2.65], and Trussville [1.85] margins throughout summer.

Go Red Team!

[spacewill]

Crazy jumps in the 12 to 14 range of corps.  Wonder what the next crazy jump is going to be and how this plays out in Indy!  

[DrumCorpsRadio]

August 1 Rundown

Annapolis, MD

Things essentially stayed exactly the same with The Cadets edging Mandarins by 0.450 points.

Salem, VA

Here comes the pressure! Troopers score 0.250 points below Blue Stars. Blue Stars was ahead by over a point when the corps last met in San Antonio.

Sevierville, TN

Crossmen maintained a lead over Pacific Crest, but Pacific Crest narrowed it down to just 0.150.

August 2 Preview

Apple Valley, MN

Colt Cadets return to competition for the first time since July 17th while The Batallion and River City Rhythm are back in action for the first time since July 15th. 

Centerville ,OH

Pacific Crest gets another chance to get ahead of Crossmen.

Glassboro, NJ

Watch the Madison Scouts-Spirit of Atlanta match-up in this one.

[Jurassic Lancer]

Wow … Blue Stars dropping like a rock

[DrumCorpsRadio]

August 2 Rundown

Everything about today's scores and placements should have an asterisk because this is the wackiest shake-up of the season, even when taking into consideration the normal show to show comparison caution. Things will steady this weekend with the Allentown panel.

The reason I include the previous year is for this sort of situation. Boston Crusaders was in the #1 spot last year with nearly an idential score to what Bluecoats put up last night. It all evened out the next night when the two corps faced off head to head.

Apple Valley, MN

The Batallion led the way in score improvement among the corps coming off tour breaks with an increase of 8.450 points. River City Rhythm was next best at 4.650 points over the same time period off tour. Colt Cadets also had a large increase of 3.750 points in its first competition since July 17th.

Centerville, OH

Crossmen made a big statement over Pacific Crest with a 1.650 point spread after being just 0.150 points ahead one night earlier. Spartans took a big score decrease with its mix into this group of World Class corps and direct competition with nearby scoring corps, dropping by 2.050 points in score.

Glassboro, NJ

My first instinct was to explain away the score increases for Bluecoats and The Cadets, however the fact that the rest of the show saw reasonable increases and even a small decrease makes this more complicated. It just is what it is until we see what happens over the next few days. 

August 3 Preview

Lawrence, MA

One small show but it is important for the reset that is likely to follow last night's scores and for some competitive storylines.=. Bluecoats and Boston Crusaders see each other head to head for the first time since July 29th when Boston was ahead by 0.075 points. Mandarins and Phantom Regiment are head-to-head for the first time since July 24th when the corps tied.

[jjeffeory]

...and congrats on the Cavaliers for breaking 90 too to be in that grouping with Cadets, Mandarins, and Phantom Regiment.

[DrumCorpsRadio]

First, a personal word. This is obviously a labor of love that I have been doing for several years now. I truly appreciate all the positive (and even the supportive but constructive) feedback. It is nice to contribute to a thread like this. For most of July, I was actually traveling extensively - first in Canada and then throughout Europe. Your support of the word is what kept me doing all of this early in the morning or late at night around all of those travels.

I'll be in Allentown tonight and tomorrow and Indy next Wednesday through Sunday. The best place to catch me on Saturday is the Crossmen picnic in the park, but I'd be happy to meet anyone who will be crossing paths!

August 3 Rundown

Lawrence, MA

The score reset happened with Boston Crusaders moving back into second place and ahead of Bluecoats head-to-head with a slightly larger margin (0.350 vs. 0.075) than when the corps last met on July 29th. Mandarins came out on top of Phantom Regiment by 0.250 points. The corps last met in San Antonio where they tied.

August 4 Preview

Allentown, PA

Ten World Class corps compete on night one in Allentown including all those "in" blue. Bad draw of the night goes to Pacific Crest as the corps will perform before intermission with Blue Knights after intermission. With the importance of the fight for 12th place, it would have been great to see these two truly back-to-back.

Blue Stars led Troopers by just 0.250 points in their last head-to-head match-up on August 1st. Seeing Troopers live is probably what I am most excited for in tonight's line-up. 

Scores across shows stabilized a bit thanks to last night's results in Lawrence. Still, it will be intriguing to see whether Blue Devils deliver a knock-out blow 8 days out from finals as they appeared to do last weekend.

Cedar Rapids, IA

Gold has been off the competition field since July 31st. Will a few rehearsal days help them make a push to challenge Spartans for the title?

Orrville, OH

7th Regiment (July 23rd) and Guardians (July 22nd) rejoin tour on the way to Open Class championships in Marion. 

[DrumCorpsRadio]

August 4 Rundown

Allentown, PA

Blue Devils continued its undefeated season, but Bluecoats made it clear that recent score increases are real finishing just 0.525 points back, the closest margin to the Blue Devils for the Bluecoats so far this season. Definitely no knock-out blow.

The Cavaliers continue to push the conversation that was 5-7 to one that is now 5-8.

After being down 0.250 points on August 1st, Troopers moved ahead of Blue Stars and by a nearly one point margin.

For the second straight match-up, Blue Knights beat Pacific Crest by nearly a point in the important fight for the last spot in Saturday night's show. Blue Knights also had the highest score increase (1.738 points) of the night.

Cedar Rapids, IA

Colt Cadets put up a big 2.800 point gain which not only moved the corps ahead of Les Stentors, it did so by a 2.200 point margin.

Orrville, OH

The corps that hadn't been on the field in awhile put up the expected large score increases (7th Regiment - 5.100 points; Guardians - 5.525 points). The corps with recent scores saw their scores decrease (Columbians - -1.250 points; Raiders - -0.800 points). Now that everyone is on the same Marion-bound schedule, things should settle in.

August 5 Preview

Allentown, PA

The storylines are pretty clear to anyone following along at this point. Boston Crusaders-Carolina Crown. Boston has been falling back a bit, finishing behind Crown the last time the two corps met on July 29th. With Bluecoats already having made its push against Blue Devils, will one of these corps do the same?

The Cadets, Mandarins, and Phantom Regiment have not all been together since San Antonio two full weeks ago. In that show, Mandarins and Phantom Regiment tied with The Cadets behind them by 0.300 points. Since then: On 7/25, The Cadets beat Mandarins by 0.450 points. On 7/26, Mandarins beat the Cadets by 0.050 points. On 7/28, Phantom Regiment beat The Cadets by 0.400 points and by 0.350 points on 7/29. The Cadets beat Mandarins by 0.450 points on 8/1. Mandarins beat Phantom Regiment by 0.250 points on 8/3.

In sum, it's extremely tight among these three corps and 9:28-10:19pm is going to be a lot of fun tonight.

Crossmen was over two points ahead of Spirit of Atlanta the last time the corps matched up on July 29th, but that was before Spirit went on its run. Tonight's match-up between the two corps and Madison Scouts is crucial for the finalist battle with Blue Knights emerging from Allentown Night #1 as the front-runner in the Blue Knights-Pacific Crest showdown.

On a personal note, it's pretty exciting to have three corps I was associated with all performing tonight as an alumnus of the Hawthorne Caballeros and Crossmen and a short-time staff member of Jersey Surf. A great night of drum corps in Allentown awaits!

Avon Lake, OH & Mattoon, IL

With Spartans joining the show tonight, all Open Class corps competing in Marion are on the field tonight so we will have a true Saturday Showdown report Open Class style tomorrow.

[DrumCorpsRadio]

August 5 Rundown

Allentown, PA

Let's start at the top. Boston Crusaders edged Carolina Crown by 0.037 after Crown being up by 0.350 points the last time the two met on July 29th. Despite Bluecoats being closer to Blue Devils than any other corps so far this season on Friday night, somehow Boston Crusaders and Carolina Crown fit in between and there is now a 0.525 point gap from 1st to 4th!

The 5-7 battle did not disappoint either. The Cadets, despite going down in score, came out on top with a 0.137 point margin over Mandarins who in turn had a 0.013 point margin over Phantom Regiment. The Cavaliers are less than a point back from this group.

Crossmen made a solid statement for the #12 spot with a 1.450 point victory over Spirit of Atlanta. This puts the corps 0.800 points ahead of Blue Knights for that coveted spot in finals.

Avon Lake, OH

Very large score increases in this show up and down the line-up although interestingly Spartans (this show) and Gold (Charleston show) ended up with the exact same score tonight.

Charleston, IL

The Batallion saw another large jump in score (2.000 points) while those at the top saw more modest gains.

August 6 Preview

Pittsburgh, PA

There is just one show tonight, but it has two good match-ups. First Blue Devils and Carolina Crown meet head-to-head coming out of being in separate shows in Allentown. Will Blue Devils open up the spread again? Another match-up that did not happen in Allentown but is important to Indy is Blue Knights-Spirit of Atlanta. Will one corps emerge as the likeliest challenger to Crossmen for the #12 spot?

Saturday Showdown

 

Competitive Landscape - World Class

The race at the top is closer than it has been at any point this season with four corps all within one point. While close, Boston Crusaders return to the #2 spot after dropping to #4 in Atlanta. Bluecoats turned up the heat Friday night but end up in its lowest placement after a regional weekend of the season at #4. 

The 5-7 grouping has truly become 5-8 with four corps all breaking 90 this week and tightly grouped together. 

Troopers went from 11th in San Antonio to tied for 10th in Atlanta to 9th in Allentown and have emerged as the front-runner in the 9-11 range. Colts have also moved ahead of Blue Stars in this group.

Crossmen moved from 14th in San Antonio to 13th in Atlanta and then to a solid 12th in Allentown as the leader in the last finalist spot race. Blue Knights is less than a point back with Spirit of Atlanta and Pacific Crest less than two points back.

The battle for #12 took a turn this week as well with Crossmen re-emerging with some head-to-head victories that put it in contention with Blue Knights and Pacific Crest for that final spot. Whether Spartans should also be on the list of corps with potential for a Saturday night World Class competitive slot remains to be seen.

Competitive Landscape - Open Class

 

All head-to-head competition points to Spartans as the clear favorite for an undefeated Open Class season. Spartans held a 1.800 point advantage over Gold the last time the corps met up on July 31st. Gold comes next followed by Southwind as the very likely medalists.

Columbians and The Batallion are next in the rankings and have yet to see each other in head-to-head competition. 

There has been a lot of score movement this week as corps that took off the middle of the season rejoined tour so there's some volatility in scores and potential rankings heading towards Marion on Monday.

On the Rise (2+ spots higher than 2022)

Southwind (22nd up from 27th) and Columbians (25th up from 30th) are now leading the pack among corps still in competition. Both corps are five spots higher than they finished last year. 

After leading this discussion for most of the season, Spartans are now four spots higher than last year (19th up from 23rd) and joined by Mandarins (6th up from 10th), Pacific Crest (15th up from 19th), and 7th Regiment (30th up from 34th) with a four place improvement.

Troopers (9th up from 12th), Raiders (32nd up from 35th), and Colt Cadets (33rd up from 36th) are three spots higher.

River City Rhythm is two spots higher (29th up from 31st).

Holding Steady (+1 to -1 spots away from 2022)

Carolina Crown, The Cadets, Phantom Regiment, The Cavaliers, Colts, Crossmen, Blue Knights, Gold, and Jersey Surf are all one spot higher than last year. 

Blue Devils, Boston Crusaders, The Academy, and Genesis are even.

Music City and The Batallion are down one spot.

Falling Back (2+ spots lower than 2022)

Although less than a point from first place, Bluecoats are currently two spots lower than last year (4th down from 2nd) as is Madison Scouts (17th down from 15th).

Blue Stars (11th down from 7th), Guardians (28th down from 24th), and Les Stentors (36th down from 32nd) are all four spots lower.