Just watched the 81 Whitewater DVD

[Paul Milano]

Four ex-Cavies from the same era on this thread, and not a SINGLE one of us is willing to give up the name of the guy that dropped the rifle.

Doesn't that tell you something??

Remember, no such thing as an "ex-Cavie." We're all FMMs (former marching members). Once a Cavalier, always a Cavalier (including those half-dozen or so, out of 3,000 FMMs, who marched with another corps after us!).

[George82]

Oh, I understood all of THOSE responses....it's just the general nuttiness that made me wonder....not the crowd going collectively hoarse after the stepover move.

On other performances...I can't imagine what it must've been like for Garfield to have to follow Cavies....especially since those were the days when you saw the next corps come into the stadium during the last minute, so they heard ALL of that!

I can tell you exactly what it was like (since I was there). We were really focused for our performance that night. If you look at us coming into the stadium as the Cavaliers were still performing you might notice that we're pointing towards the stands. Don VanDoren used to have us point to the box because, believe it or not, we had some members of the brassline who couldn't angle their bells properly during the performance. As I can only speak for myself, I was pretty oblivious to what was happening on the field and the crowd reaction. I couln't wait for our turn....

[deftguy]

Four ex-Cavies from the same era on this thread, and not a SINGLE one of us is willing to give up the name of the guy that dropped the rifle.

Doesn't that tell you something??

I ain't tellin, But I am glad he didn't pick up his rifle.

:P

[byline]

I agree, you guys had an awesome guard book that year. Uncle z, it wasn't that other corps "couldn't" do the work....they (our staff) wouldn't let us keep it in. As you remember, those were the days of the tick system and every little mistake or drop was counted against the entire corps. Our staff would not let us do anything that could cost the corps points. We started out with a "meaty" guard book but ended up watering it down the whole season.

Yup, same thing happened to us . . . and countless other guards, I'm sure. But I think it's worth pointing out that Cavaliers were one of the few guards who could keep all that stuff in and nail it almost flawlessly. So there's something to be said for not just being able to do it, but being able to do it so well, and have such superb execution, that it doesn't detract from the corps' score. That was what the upper echelon guards like Cavies did!

Edited November 17, 2005 by byline

[byline]

I must say, and it's just my opinion, what's the big deal about walking over someone? Just telling what I thought then and now, but never said.

As I recall, it was the entire culmination of what they did, not just the stepover, that was such a big deal. The way I remember it, the guard did a big exchange-type trick right before that (or maybe it was the flag line . . . heck, I may even be confusing this with the '80 show, which I think is the first time they did it), and then the rifle line lay down and the corps stepped over them. So there was this big build up to it--high drama, and all that--and the stepover was just the climactic moment. Perfect emotional staging of visual with music, IMO.

Also, I had friends who marched in Cavies' guard that year, and they told me (I have no idea if it was true or not) that the members of the horn line, rather than avoiding stepping on a rifle line member at all costs, actually considered it a badge of honor if they stepped on one of the rifles. So, as marching moves go, it was a wee bit dangerous, and I think the audience actually felt a sense of relief that everybody made it through that OK!

Edited November 17, 2005 by byline