starting up some off season thoughts. Phantom for a long time was the best corps never to win--then won. Crown for years have held the title but now have THE title. So who is todays best corps never to win. I am torn between Crusaders (who technically I think have a title pre-DCI) and Bluecoats

Bluecoats, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

they are sure pushing that the staff changes are to get them to the next level---but as they say, proof is in the pudding. May be awhile before we have another brand new champion!

I think Bluecoats are the best without a Gold as of today. They'll be the next first time Champion (as far as I'm concerned at least) but I'm not convinced that will happen any time soon. Especially with the emergence of Crown. With modern day Crown as well as Blue Devils, Cadets, Vanguard making a comeback, Phantom doing their thing and competing for a win every now and again, etc, I just think it will be difficult for anyone to truly break through.

i think currently its more likely Cavies climb back up then Blooo but man would i love to see it. it seems like it takes about 10 years after the first sign that they are going the next level.

Cavies won't get back up anytime soon without major staff changes or redefining themselves. What made them good was their visual innovation. The only person in DCI that can do that kind of innovation that the corps became known for left the corps..

BC had some good shows.. but they haven't been able to make great shows. Crown finally won and has been doing very competitive shows the last few years.. but only time will tell if they can maintain that level. I'm not on the CC bandwagon so I'm not that convinced. Just look at Phantom and Cavies. Cavies pretty much ruled the 2000's and they were paving the way to be a top contender for a long time to come but they are nowhere to be seen now. Phantom.. well, it's Phantom. they have about 8 more years until they are up for another title..

BD, Cadets, Crown

That's your top 3 you pretty much need to beat. I put BD in first because of their history. BD doesn't like to lose, they are going to come out even stronger this year and will be going for gold. Cadets.. well they will be bouncing back.. Crown will probably be around too.

It would be awesome though if BC knocked down CC to take 3rd :)

sadly I agree with you LOL i think it will be Cadets and BD fighting it out. CC will have a bit of a hangover where they will do something a little too crazy to prove they dont fully know they long term yet (even though I want them to). It is funny how I started to not like Cavies because they got so cocky and dominant for that period and now I've almost felt bad. I used to love them when they were in that top tier but not always winning group LOL

I guess I am hoping for something new or OLD from BD but why mess with the formula if its working.

Blue such a popular drum corps color!

I really really dislike most of BD's shows now. They are great at their show, but it's so frustrating.. even to most alumni. There is NO reason why BD can't be innovative AND entertaining. That's why people loved it so much when Phantom and Crown won - besides the fact that it wasn't BD... it's because their shows were so damn simple from an intellectual standpoint. It was very easy to understand, not much there... but very entertaining. BD's show you need to be a historian and very smart to understand it all.. plus watch it like 10 times to understand everything going on with and even then you can only guess. Case in point.. mid-late 90s.. the shows were very enjoyable and exciting and were still very deep - but for example you didn't have to know the story of have ever seen Casablanca to appreciate the show.. or whatever..

I miss BD being the BD I grew up with.. in your face.. loud, exciting and takes no prisoners. Now it's all bando yippee ki yay crap. For example.. this year one of the alumni heard a member saying how excited and honored they were that they got to play along side Crown. and all the alumni were like WTF. You are in BD.. you aren't supposed to be excited and honored to be able to play with a corps.. that corps should be excited and honored to play along with you.

I blame the internet.

sorry for the rant.. and yes, I do realize I sounded very stereotypical BD'ish where we are only about winning and arrogant/cocky or whatever.. but to be honest, when you are in a group like BD (consistently in the top 3 since the beginning of DCI except a handful of times) there are certain expectations from you from the judges, fans, staff and alumni and you aren't there to please the crowd or whatever, you are there to win because drum corps is a competition and losing sucks.

Lol just think statesmen in DCA. entertaining as f***. Just not clean really. They used to win and be entertaining but the winning part just kinda drifted away... untilmfinally THEY drifted away :/ I want to say that crown is there to stay. This win is the door to many to come. They wil be around for a while, I don't believe they will be dropping too far back anytime soon, especially not behind BC lol I just can't see BC beating crown anytime soon.

As far as the next corps to win? I really don't know. The corps I'd like to see make finals more is acadamy. Their brassline kicks some real ass musicly lol

You probably weren't around the activity when Academy first came on the scene.. holy crap. They were amazing. This was back in Div 2.. they came out, brand new corps and completely DEMOLISHED everyone.. went undefeated.. hornline was damn amazing. I wasn't surprised they went Div 1 soon after, but thought they would end up doing better there. Kind of like Mandarins..

On a side note, Academy and BK have the hottest colorguard girls around. lol

I remember that. Academy had the Blue Devils mentality when they first started and now they just don't seem to be pushing as hard as they did in Div 2

Yeah.. they had the talent, I'm guessing they didn't have the staff. Whatever they did was awesome in Div 2 though. BDB and SCVC had no idea what hit them.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Crown in another say.. 5, 10 years..

I agree with you on the fact that BD is really missing the crowd connection that used to be. I always loved them but I got sick of the I have to love them because they are BD. IT'S ALWAYS well done and I never dispute that but the shows at times are just ugh. I'm sorry But if I had to watch 2012 again I may stop watching all together

Haha I got to watch 2012 live at prelims, semis and finals! Lol their show was just annoying lol I just wanted crown to play again xD

Strad, that's because you have the intellectual brain of a sea monkey.. which why you can't relate to BD's show. Only sophisticated, college educated upper class history buffs would not find it annoying.

You could tell that there wasn't something clicking at The Academy this year, so much potential however the design was poor and had a huge impact on the whole of the season not in a positive way. Still had a great summer, and hope to see them produce something next year which goes back to those days of having some bollocks.

I fit pretty well in that category and I'm still not interested lol I was there too. Hell for me was that I forgot my friends shirt at my seat and had to watch the encore waiting to get back to my seat. Getting it and LIKING it are so different.

I have to agree with the BD sentiment last year. The first time I saw their show I was like, WTF was that? It made a lot more sense to me when I read up on Dadaism, and now I actually like it. Very creative. That being said I still prefer Crown's show that year.

Lol cire I am no sea monkey x) I looked it up on my friends smartphone but still didn't quite understand what they were trying to do lol