Best 2nd Place Show?

[shaners]

CAVIES 05!!!!

[dccorpsfan]

Man...no love for the '74 Scouts.

[Matt_S]

For all the great posts that I am reading on this, and for all the incredible, amazing shows there are to choose from, here is what stands out to me:

1. In all the years of DCI competition, only 5 shows really, really stand out as best 2nd place ever, mainly because they were winning most of the season, because of the narrow gap between them and 1st place, because if they did win very few people would complain, and perhaps because of the controversy that surrounded them and the winner (because it was so close and hard to call).

2. These 2nd place shows must really look like championship shows, the execution levels must be incredible, and they must have an element of entertainment and show design that is fitting of being called the best 2nd place show.

3. How strong was the 1st place show? Was it a banner year for DCI? Was the competition really strong, and what other years might have the 2nd place corps in question won the title outright?

So having said that, here are the front runners:

1. 1979 Phantom Regiment

2. 1984 Blue Devils

3. 1987 Santa Clara Vanguard

4. 1989 Phantom Regiment

5. 1993 - Star of Indiana

Five shows in 15 years met your criteria, but no shows in the thirteen years since? I'd say Santa Clara Vanguard 1998, Cadets 2001, Cavaliers 2003, and Blue Devils 2004, perhaps even Phantom 2006 all meet your criteria.

[MJN]

1987 SCV

[BbTrpt1]

87 SCV

HM: 84 BD, 88 SCV (the better Phantom show)

[Slow Adam]

Five shows in 15 years met your criteria, but no shows in the thirteen years since? I'd say Santa Clara Vanguard 1998, Cadets 2001, Cavaliers 2003, and Blue Devils 2004, perhaps even Phantom 2006 all meet your criteria.

I would add Cadets 1997 to that list.

[jbl]

For all the great posts that I am reading on this, and for all the incredible, amazing shows there are to choose from, here is what stands out to me:

2. 1984 Blue Devils - It doesn't get much better than this show, and their performance on finals night might have won them a title in another year, and the show did give us perhaps the best concert number EVER!

5th - As good as the 1984 Blue Devil group was, it really came down to GE vs execution. BD was probably cleaner than Garfield on finals night, but demand in Garfield's visual program and the GE that was through the roof simply did BD in. And it wasn't like Garfield didn't have an exceptional brass line that year. There is a great quote by Wayne Downey somewhere on the DCI site that conveys this. When he finally got to see Garfield from up high, he turned to one of his colleagues and said "we're screwed!"

JW

You need to look at the drop in BD's GE drum scores from prelims to finals.

Edited June 6, 2007 by jbl

[George82]

89 regiment

No doubt.....gets my vote as well.

HM.....1975 Muchachos

Edited June 6, 2007 by George82

[Huntington Mallets]

89 Phantom...nothing else need be said.

Isn't it still the highest score to not win?

BD 2004

[jwillis35]

Five shows in 15 years met your criteria, but no shows in the thirteen years since? I'd say Santa Clara Vanguard 1998, Cadets 2001, Cavaliers 2003, and Blue Devils 2004, perhaps even Phantom 2006 all meet your criteria.

Well, you know I totally respect your posts and I do enjoy reading them as well, and your point about the last 13 years is a valid one that I consciously choose, and maybe not so wisely, but it is my choice.

But, to clarify: I like the corps you mentioned, but...

SCV 1998 is a strong contender, but they at no point were dominating the season like SCV 1987 or Star 1993. On most other years I still feel like they would be 2nd or 3rd...but not 1st, not unless you displace them from their era by a significant margin. A really good show, but one that finished 2nd on a year that wasn't exactly all that strong in the first place. IMO this was not the Cadets strongest championship, but they did clearly defeat SCV that night, and I was there and felt on finals that SCV and BD were simply not close. But the top 3 were simply not as strong as in other years.

2001 Cadets is an amazing show, and you know if you have read some of my posts that I love this show, but mainly for the great drumming and brass playing. What a horn line!!!! Should have won HB. However, the Cadets had issues with GE, they also slowly caught up to contenders BD and Cavaliers, but at no point were they dominating the season like an SCV 87 or Star 93, or Phantom 89. Again, I love this show and still say that this willl rank as on of the best 2nd place shows of the 2000s, no doubt, but not top 5 all time. And they had to share the honor.

Cavaliers 2003 should have been defeated by the Cadets on Finals night, so really that ends it for me. A good show, mostly eye candy, but I was not impressed with the horns and when you take out the layers of sequencing the show is really not as hard as people make it out to be, which is why they failed to close on BD at Finals. BD was really no cleaner, but had a more demanding show and better guard.

BD 2004 is really solid, perhaps the 2nd best 2nd-place show of the 2000s next to Cadets 2001, but despite the judges keeping it close, there was no way they were going to knock off the fabulous design and performance of the Cavaliers James Bond show, and I never felt they truly threatened. Maybe a top 6 or 7 all time 2nd place show.

Phantom 2006 is another fabulous show, but it also never dominated most of the season, it peaked a bit too late, only closed to 2nd on finals night, and the comparison with them and BD is much closer than that with Cavaliers.

I will say this, and I know many will disagree, but had we not had the 3 ties in those last 13 years (96, 99, 2000), then we might have something to talk about along with SCV 1987, Star of Indiana 1993, Phantom Regiment 1989, and Phantom 1979. And, as I have stated, the only tie that really should have happened but didn't was with Garfield and SCV in 1987. Since then, as much as I liked Phantom 1996, I thought they got lucky to tie BD and still just don't see it. I understand the passion for the show, which is truly a great and fun show, but it was not a 1st place show. Same with SCV in 1999: a great and amazing show, and I loved it, but BD won and IMO judges got it wrong. And, of course, despite the Cadets few marching issues in 2000, they should have won outright. Cavaliers were very good in 2000, and they were a s tudy in visual and GE, but Cadets had them in many other areas and I still feel the Maroon team won that one, as did many in the audience. But yes, it was an east coast crowd and so my opinion here is probably not worth much. It will not be the first time that's been the case. :)

But like I said, if those ties had not happened, then I think we have some good competition for the 80s matchups. But in the 80s judges simply did not award ties for the title and that is why there is so much heated debate over who won in 80 (Lancers or BD), 84 (Cadets or BD), 87 (SCV or Cadets), 89 (Phantom or SCV), and that trickled into the early 90s with 92 (Cadets and Cavaliers) and Star 1993. But I still say the winner is 1987 SCV.

JW