the HOTTEST takes on DCI 2026

[DCP NewsFeed]

What is YOUR hottest take on DCI 2026???

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[keystone3ply]

"Bluecoats should have beat Boston in '25?" 🤔🫢😁 Some interesting takes on the 2025 season. 🤷‍♂️  

[craiga]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, even if it is misguided in my opinion.  

[Jeff Ream]

my hottest take is people will have hot takes and people will argue that those hot takes are hot air

[NewArpege]

Not a lot of love for BAC in that video. Haters gonna hate. Boom was superb and deserved its win, as did percussion deserve their accolades.

[craiga]

5 minutes ago, NewArpege said:

Not a lot of love for BAC in that video. Haters gonna hate. Boom was superb and deserved its win, as did percussion deserve their accolades.

Well, you've got two former Bluecoats and one former Blue Devil so I guess it is to be expected.  I do wish however that we could retire this trope that a 20 (in percussion or any caption) is a "perfect score" or somehow indicates a perfect performance.  It does not.  It indicates that Box 5 criteria have been maxed out, as many people have noted. 

Very little discussion about BD, which is surprising....

[NewArpege]

13 minutes ago, craiga said:

 

Very little discussion about BD, which is surprising....

Noticed that too…except that they will fall to 5th…which is a kinda boring hot take.

If we want to really talk hot takes it’s that Bloo and BAC have basically replaced BD and Crown as the “it” corps. BD and Crown have to figure out a new strategy to get back in the championship mix. Crowns been aggressive with reworking its staffing model, while BD hasn’t. So the questions are “ does BDs staff still have championship potential or do they need to make changes?”  And “Will Crowns aggressive staffing rotation make them more competitive again across all captions?”

Personally, I think BD and Crown will have good productions this year, and their members will be proud.  But definitely some stuff to watch from those two, as they’ve taken two different approaches to competitiveness, to see if they regain footing this season.

Edited February 26 by NewArpege

[Lance]

Everybody will LOVE the BK flautist flutist or whatever they're called.  

[MikeN]

1 hour ago, craiga said:

Well, you've got two former Bluecoats and one former Blue Devil so I guess it is to be expected.  I do wish however that we could retire this trope that a 20 (in percussion or any caption) is a "perfect score" or somehow indicates a perfect performance.  It does not.  It indicates that Box 5 criteria have been maxed out, as many people have noted. 

Very little discussion about BD, which is surprising....

Nouveau BD is very media quiet in the offseason, and their members and staff don't talk on social media much, so people don't have much to work with.  I don't think they have to blow anything up - they're master educators and the pros' pros - but we'll see if they're up for some self-examination about what they've been programming.

I love modern Bluecoats, but to me there's no question by the end Boston had the superior vehicle and (also to me) the better performance.  I think we can let that one go now.

Finally, for judging, if you have to keep explaining to people that your "intuitive" scoring system is not in fact intuitive, then it's probably a badly designed user experience.  <shrug>

Mike

 

[LabMaster]

44 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Nouveau BD is very media quiet in the offseason, and their members and staff don't talk on social media much, so people don't have much to work with.  I don't think they have to blow anything up - they're master educators and the pros' pros - but we'll see if they're up for some self-examination about what they've been programming.

I love modern Bluecoats, but to me there's no question by the end Boston had the superior vehicle and (also to me) the better performance.  I think we can let that one go now.

Finally, for judging, if you have to keep explaining to people that your "intuitive" scoring system is not in fact intuitive, then it's probably a badly designed user experience.  <shrug>

Mike

 

I sense BD is a bit more visible with media, especially much of last year.  And it seems to be carrying over this year, with a bit less, but not much. They do have a great media team and their productions are first rate.  As far as changes and “blowing anything up”, they never do that.  Their staff changes are planned and measured.  There has been a rumor there will be minor design team changes, but nothing that will make discernible differences I’ll bet. Other than improving presentation and performance. There’s a hot take huh?