BD and SCV

[AZ_fan]

What's most exciting about the current state of west coast Div I right now is the high level of competition. In the past 6-8 past years or so, I always dig Vanguard's show in the early season. Often, they are very clean and clear. IMO, they are also often less sophisticated, which turns out to "bite them" in the end. BD usually starts out fairly complex, usually to the point that I don't GET IT (which is another problem altogether), but they often pull magic out of their hat (as someone alluded to re: 2002) by the time they get to Nats.

For 2007, it really seems like Vanguard has stepped it up early on, so now the race is on for tweaking....

Interesting things to me regarding the first 5 shows:

1. Vanguard comes out with an entire movement missing. This means:
   A) they are beating BD but have spent the same amount of time cleaning less drill & music, so one would expect the product to be cleaner/higher quality of performance
   B) they are now a bit behind, since BD has had their whole show on the field for at least a week longer (who knows how long they've had it finished before that?)
   
2. Now the FULL SHOW to FULL SHOW numbers are in, and (for now) BD has widened the gap.
   
3. Now they are both on track for six weeks of cleaning/tweaking to make the DESIGN superior, but based on the above factors, it seems LOGICAL that Vanguard has the uphill battle, because they're a little behind.
   
4. Contrarily, by all reviews on this thread, Vanguard has a HUGE head start on a show that has coherency and solid design.
   

WHEW! My brain hurts. So much going on behind the 11 minutes we each get to see every night. Just thought I'd offer another perspective....mostly, I'm FRICKIN EXCITED to see it all in person tonight in Glendale because EVERYONE seems to have one or two advantages over the next team, so it's all a big toss up (not to mention the OTHER teams that are kickin a** so far). I'll be posting a review later on, should you care to hear more of my ravings....

GO DRUM CORPS!

Edited June 24, 2007 by AZ_fan

[Ambrjak413]

nice

[crfrey71]

Remember, BD's show is evolving too. They are now just starting to get the guard to where it should be at this time of year. This was a major factor in BD scoring behind SCV in the early going (still is early).

Both shows have some very nice visual designs to them.

I think folks who like the dark shows of BD will enjoy this show a lot. I love the pit lead-in to their show. I can sacrifice a year of F tuning for this kind of lead-in. very nice.

I am thinking it is a little like 1995. the feel of this show, mixed with a little of the 2000 show.

Edited June 24, 2007 by crfrey71

[ttrevan]

Come on now G...his post was bad, yours is worse. Saying noone cares about a corps going inactive...I've never seen an Esperanza show in my life and i wish them the best.

Nicely stated. The original post was just stupid. G's was downright mean and b*&tchy.

[SCV84]

So, how is your corps doing this year. I wonder how many people are glad to see your corps inactive this year....as if anyone would even have cared ???

~G~

Okay, his comment was in poor taste... but yours was even more so. I happen to care when any corps goes inactive.

Just because one poster makes a disparaging remark against Blue Devils, why would you pull the corps from his sig and attack that corps? Congrats you've achieved the level of the original poster...

/* Disclaimmer */

I just woke up, so if I've misunderstood the situation that just went down here, feel free to set me straight, but what I saw was: "I want devils to lose" "Oh yeah? Well no one cares that your corps went inactive!" ...unpleasant all around.

[ttrevan]

I'm evidently in the minority, but I really liked BD's show...really the first time in years and years since I've liked a BD show. I wasn't totally surprised by the scoring gap. I was thinking it was be more like 1 1/2 points, but whatever. More often than not, judging puts the corps in decent placement order, but the scoring gaps are ridiculous and meaningless. Sometimes, I think we should just go to an ordinal system and be done with it. If it's not abused by cheating judges, and ordinal system's going to get you the best outcomes possible. But as international figure skating found out, the ordinal system really invites some really bad behavior from judges.

But I digress... Bottom line, BD's got a beautiful show that will become even better by the end of the season.

I was probably most pleased with how bright Vanguard's brass sounds. I'm not a big fan of the very controlled, subdued sound that some of the top corps have cultivated over the last few years. Vanguard sounded very full, rich, unleashed and beautiful. Nice job.

[SCV84]

My apologies for my previous post, I wasn't adding anything... I guess that exchange just irked me.

On topic, I'm looking forward to seeing BD and SCV live. I learned many, many long years ago to never count BD out, ever. I love SCV and always love their shows, but it would be nice to see them once again have the kind of success they enjoyed in their GR years.

I never want to see an opponent do poorly, I want them to be awesome. Of couse then I want to see my guys beat them anyway. I've never understood the mentality of wanting an opponent blow it, as that can only detract from a win... i.e.) If you beat something amazing, you're more amazing as opposed to beating someone who was blah... oh great, congratulations, you're better than blah.

B)

[Ognib]

Wow, you have such class and contribute so much to these discussions, bravo to you !!

~G~

Dont be trying to rat on Esperazna when practically a third of our members go to BD, SCV, and PR after a year of marching with E.

If you want to rat on them your practically rat'n on the corps your trying to stand up for.....

And there was nothing wrong with Esperanza.... just its director. And you can ask any of the members.....they will tell you... so shut your mouth.... then again I dont really care at this point if you want to make fun of E...that just shows your low class too.

I DIDNT SAY I HATE BD...I SAID I THINK THEY ARE OVER RATED AND NEED TO LOSE.....

THEY WIN TOO MUCH EVEN AFTER PUTTING OUT A CRAPPY SHOW HERE AND THERE

I JUST WANT TO SEE SOME OTHER CORPS WIN FOR ONCE.

F*$%*(& OPEN YOUR EYES AND READ BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

[nhsalan]

I never want to see an opponent do poorly, I want them to be awesome. Of couse then I want to see my guys beat them anyway. I've never understood the mentality of wanting an opponent blow it, as that can only detract from a win... i.e.) If you beat something amazing, you're more amazing as opposed to beating someone who was blah... oh great, congratulations, you're better than blah.

B)

Agreed.... It's always irks me to hear kids that I teach say "XYZ Sucks" and then get excited because they beat them.... "WOOHOO, we screamed all the way up to better than "Sucks" "

I want to be better than my rival when they are ON their game. THEN I've done something.

AA

[PageantryVisGuy]

I DIDNT SAY I HATE BD...I SAID I THINK THEY ARE OVER RATED AND NEED TO LOSE.....

THEY WIN TOO MUCH EVEN AFTER PUTTING OUT A CRAPPY SHOW HERE AND THERE

I JUST WANT TO SEE SOME OTHER CORPS WIN FOR ONCE.

F*$%*(& OPEN YOUR EYES AND READ BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.

Dang...surprised you aren't saying that about Cavies. I mean, since they've won...what...5 times in the past 7 years. So yeah, someone else has won besides BD.

quit freakin' out. EVERYBODY, quit freakin' out, or I'll turn this car around RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I LOVE DRUM CORPS!!!!! I'm glad it's a highly exciting season. Scores just seem to be everywhere for a lot of corps!! Seasons like this are always the best.

Edited June 24, 2007 by PageantryVisGuy