Quarterfinals random thoughts and observations

[Orpheus]

As I wrote elsewhere, my main impressions of this year are going to be 1) how amazing the mid-level D1 corps (say, 9th thru 17th place) are compared to a decade ago and 2) how much the overall entertainment value of the D1 corps as a whole has improved since the "dark ages" of the late 90s. Just an amazing year for drum corps.

[LuvsPAisTe]

No Jeff. not bad at all.

I just wanna say that Phantom Regiment was AMAZING. a real dark horse. They're on the move. Best hornline and drumline of the night. Judges actually got it right!

Hey Joe-

I looked really hard for you in the crowd but didn't find you :(

Why don't you teach their Madison's guard next year? I have the feeling the job will be open soon.

Spence

[jjlet]

Some random thoughts from high up on the 35 yard line.

- As much as I don't want to believe it, I believe SLOTTING is here to stay. Except for an overscored Mandarins (or underscored Southwind) and a slight bobble by the Crusaders), nothing changed. Corps, especially in the bottom half, were not getting credit for what they were performing IMHO.

23) Pioneer - much improved from last year, however, still a last place show

22) Esperanza - underscored - should have been about 75-76 nice progression through the last few weeks

21) Pacific Crest - underscored - should have been about 76-77 - nice show, loud hornline

20) Magic - Overscored - thought they should have been about 74 - dirty drill, wierd sound at times from their hornline (maybe some intonation and playing together issues)

19) Cascades - Scored about where I thought they should be. Boring show in my opinion though. Glad to see they rebounded from their extremely slow start.

18) Southwind - well underscored - should have EASILY had the 17th spot - nice GE and visual stuff

17) Mandarins - Where did that scroe come from? I think they were overscored by a few points - should have been only slightly higher than Cascades.

16) Capital Regiment - about where they should have been, BUT

15) Blue Stars - Overscored by at least 2 points. Boring show, boring drill, DivII music. Don't know where their 82 came from.

14) Crossmen - nice show - better than last years show

13) Colts - With a little cleaning, they could really challenge Spirit tonight for #12.

12) Spirit - good 12th position show

11) Glassmen - very nice improvement from last year - Europe did NOT hurt them!

10) Madison - Very dirty for this late in the season. Surprised they were in the 88 range.

9, 8, 7) Crusaders, Blue Knghts, Crown - it's going to be a dog fight until Sat night for these three. All very closely matched!

6) Vanguard - very, very nice. Could challenge for 4th or 5th yet.

5) Bluecoats - Nice show - don't knwo they have much gas left to improve their score (and they are one of my all-time favorites)

4) Cadets - got rid of a lot of "Mickey-Mouse" stuff - and it showed, much improved show without he gimics, which are injuries waiting to happen - but I don't think they can climb any higher no matter what they do now.

3) Phantom - WOW!! - Incredible late season surge. Do they have anyother point or two in them? Could be the sleeper!

2) Blue Devils - nice changes and improvements from early in the season - and they are so darn clean, they are getting properly rewarded!

1) Cavaliers - Very cool show - looks difficult - don't know if it is - sure has a ton of visual stuff and great GE.

It's going to be a scrambe from top to bottom Friday and Saturday.

[Orpheus]

How is it "slotting" when most people seem to agree 100% with most of the placements?

[tubacurt]

At the start the sound was a little fritzy at our theartre, but then got fixed before southwind; but in the glassmen's 'deaf' section, a lady behind me went "oh no", i guess she thought the sound went out. I thought it was funny.

Anyway, thoughts:

Southwind-liked it alot, definitly thought it should be in Semi's

Cap Reg.-decent, liked the ballad, didn't really like the closer, cept for the frisbee of course.

Blue Stars-Good show, i wish they talked/sung less though; i don't know why they think they need to, they show design is pretty solid to me.

Crossmen-like the show. the radio section is hilarious.

Colts-good, but kinda plain

Spirit-good loud hornline, the baritone solos are nice.

Glassmen-realy cool show. gotta love the tuba solo :)

Madison Scouts-I don't know why so many people on here complain about it, it thought it was a sweet show

BAC-Nice show, but kinda boring. And I feel they can make better use of thier props

Blue knights-pretty clean, performed well, but it was boring. Just like, heres some random dissonant chords.

Crown-loved the show, brassline is so great, it seems like everytime they cut off a chord it rings for a good long time, it seems like drums is the only thing holding them back.

SCV-awesome show, i love the on-field warmup with people marching into and out of the line, i think they should be in 5th

Bluecoats-kinda boring, a disappointment compared to last years, if you ask me. Like dennis said on the broadcast, they just don't close.

Cadets-I love thier show. So much stuff goin on, agree with the placement, but I can't understand how they are so far from the top three.

PR- LOVE the show, the hornline-jesus christ. How bout that spinduring the end, that #### is crazy.

BD- Very nice, love the sets with the gun and the crosses. How bout those gunshots at the start.

Cavies-Really good, and they should be in first, but it seems to me that the show is just a bunch of cool #### thrown together? But i guess with a theme as ambiguous as Machine you can do that.

Alot of really cool shows.

[Wanderer]

Southwind got the big screw in Quarter's... who will it be tonight?

[PR_ducky]

That's what they get for having the hardest drill - by far - of any other corps this year - it's beyond them.

You really think so?

Their drill did not strike me as particularly difficult.

Not a ton of oversized steps, nothing overly demanding.

I would say it is very exposed and EXTREMELY well (the best) designed drill this year.

But that is hardly the same as being the Hardest.

[myopinion]

Southwind got the big screw in Quarter's... who will it be tonight?

Glassmen....1.85 drop vs. Madison .3 drop....come on...I don't think so!

[Leland]

I was in houston texas.. basically home of the cavaliers. and it was funny.... during cadets no applause except for stick toss.. and at the end.. silence... the ENTIRE theatre sat on their hands. I couldnt believe it.. I must have been the only cadet there but I didnt care.. I knew that at other theatres they were going nuts.

Not at my theater, they weren't. When the Cadets' name was announced as "coming after the intermission", people cheered, and they cheered again prior to the actual performance. By the end, though, there wasn't a peep. I expected somebody to at least clap or something, but there was nothing. People had been applauding most of the night, sometimes more than others... but not for Cadets. Sure, I didn't feel like clapping myself, but I was genuinely surprised that the other 120-odd people didn't clap either.

I don't know what I'd do at a live performance, honestly. Maybe I wouldn't applaud very strongly at the conclusion of the show, and I'd then stand & clap for the kids as they troop the stands, recognizing their effort (after all, they work as hard as the kids in the crowd's favorite corps).

[jjlet]

How is it "slotting" when most people seem to agree 100% with most of the placements?

When corps are nt getting the credit for what they're performing, IMO. Judges are too afraid to give an earlier-on corps a good score if the fear that they'll run out of points later. I think that's wrong. If someone does something well, give them credit.