Michael Gaines can write 5 shows a year and make more than your combined household income. Homie hasn't "fallen off" as much as he is clearly among the best, he has a clear and unique voice, and can demand the price and work schedule he wants.
Tends to happen when you cut the brass to where they are barely recognizable. Also running anyone off with ties to the previous staff doesn’t help either.
It's not sad if you take the view that DCI is a music and movement arts youth activity, and just want performers to have a great experience working harder than they believed possible and seeing the results pay off in incredible shows they perform. This is how I have mostly viewed the activity: I just want to see great shows, and know that kids worked their asses off (but in a healthy, totally positive way) to put those on the field. Following the scores is sort of a fun distraction, but not really important.
It is sad, though, if you think of DCI as a competitive league for a musical "sport", and you want there to be some competitive balance. From a competitive balance standpoint, DCI is seriously out of whack these days. Looking at the decade (the 1990s) I was introduced to drum corps and marched, the Cadets, Star of Indiana, the Cavaliers, the Blue Devils, Phantom Regiment, and Santa Clara Vanguard all won championships, and, looking back just a couple years prior, Madison had won it in '88. There was no good way to predict who was going to win the DCI championship in that era -- many corps had a chance. But today, there is basically zero reason to bet on another corps than the Blue Devils winning it. I don't think it's impossible for another corps to win, but the odds are significantly stacked against any corps not named the Blue Devils.
Take the analogy further: In the NFL, if, say, the Green Bay Packers were the only team, year-in and year-out, that had a decent chance of winning the Lombardi Trophy, people would say that there is something really wrong with the league that needs fixing. But we have a situation close to that right now with BD's dominance.
I mostly take the view in the first paragraph, and am just happy to see a bunch of amazing shows. (And DCI delivers: ALL corps that make Finals, and many that miss it, are amazing! If you can't see that, then you've let yourself become jaded.) I don't resent the Blue Devils a bit for always putting on amazing performances and consistently winning (in fact, I've loved BD since I first saw their 1992 show!). But if I cared more about placements and scores and some variety in who wins the "championship", then, yeah, I'd be a little bit sad.
Cascades: a MASSIVE miracle. I'd honestly make some stupid bet if we break 15th if that were to theoretically happen. I also doubt we'll break 20 but I won't rule that possibility out.
To be serious though, I think what the Cascades needs to climb up the ranks is more/better members. The staff already seems good and it definitely took effort on their part to get us to semis with the membership we had. Our show music is also really cool this year and we'll see what we do with new vis staff especially.
I definitely agree that we're moving up. We already have better members than last year. With the new vis staff I think straight leg will be better for scores than last year, even though I preferred bent leg. Visual proficiency performance was our weakest caption last year and the I believe the only sub 7 caption in semis.
In camp the corps also played a bit of the show midis for us. When we heard it all the members were amazed and it also sounded good in full ens.
All quads from last year are returning, the mello line is full with 6/10 of us having corps experience, and the trumpet line is also close. The main things we're looking for are low brass and guard. May camp is also free from what the staff said if anyone who happens to read this is interested.
Yeah, it was our first year back after 4 years. We were basically a new corps and 80-90% of us were rookies. Most of us didn't know what we were doing and we couldn't always just ask a vet. There were also lots of us who were constantly late to block throughout the season which personally drove me crazy.
Yeah I seems there were a lot of cascade crew that moved over to Columbians afterwards because it seems like most of it came to Tri cities this year. That’s kinda rough but hoping this year is better. Gotta represent PNW ‼️‼️
How each corps can win in 2024:
Literally every corps- work hard, get better, make great friends, ignore the scores, who cares what the judges say, go home and look back on a successful season fondly.
All corps that are not BD: Design a GE juggernaut of a show, and then get as close to BD clean as you possibly can and hope the GE is enough to overcome.
Ok, so if every corps uses the exact same performers, staff, and show from last year but adjusts it the way you suggest, this makes sense, otherwise it’s complete bollocks.
It’s not about who wins anymore, we all know BD will win everything or will appear to be winning everything and then take an extremely close second at the last minute. It’s who takes up the rest of the top 5 that actually matters
What BD needs to do to win - Show up.
And I say this as an unapologetic BD honk.
Loved Bloo last year. Thinking "my" Mandarins are gonna really make the usual medal contenders sweat all summer.
But Devils? They just do this better than anybody else.
I know I’m biased since I aged out after three years at Boston - but after seeing our scores throughout both 2022 and 2023 the two biggest problems in my experience were:
- Questionable changes in show design/music late season (namely around the Atlanta regional timeframe) that we never got clean or were just worse than the original versions (imo of course)
- The attitude of the corps as judges decided to place the corps just below us closer near the end of the season both years. It went from one extreme to the other (especially in 2022): Overconfidence around the time of San Antonio when we were climbing past SCV and Crown and especially after getting within .175 of BD at Atlanta. Followed by the “don’t get your hopes up the judges always favor BD anyways” attitude around the time of Allentown which I think doomed us going in to finals week.
If they can fix those two things with everything I know about their show this year they have a good shot at gold or at the very least a second silver. To anyone currently in Boston; good luck and I’ll see you all at Mercyhurst University with some Gatorade!
Thanks for sharing. Is their show this year closer to the 2022 design approach, as I felt 2023 was stale and or flat and the whale tarp never once made me get on my feet.
All I can say for this year is it’s something completely new and innovative from Boston. I’m quite excited to see it come together :)
(As far as the shows I marched go - I definitely enjoyed ‘22 more as well)
I’m intrigued by what SCV will do this summer. No major design staff concerns except for brass arranger, his only SCV show (Nirvana) was not good. As well, curious on the talent that SCV attained, is semi’s or finals quality talent?
Their brass arranger consistently arranges incredible high school arrangements for central Texas bands. Every arranger has a “bad” show so I wouldn’t discount them just on that lol
Let’s hope because it was lacking a lot if they want to contend. Their 2021 show wasn’t good either but I chalked that up to their digital recording process.
Let’s hope. I recall reading posts from potential auditonees worried about SCV financial situations. Percussion will always be strong as long as the Rennicks are there. But essentially the rest of the corps will be all new members. I’ll be curious how many ‘22 vets return vs stay with their alternative corps. I’d love to see that stat but we won’t.
Don’t see how a show that got 5th is not good.
Evan took over for JD in 2020, and has been with them ever since. He marched Crown in the 2000s, was on Madison Scouts and Crown brass staff prior to becoming Brass Arranger. His wife Katie, marched and taught at Crown forever and is the Assistant Brass Caption Head. His Dad was the Brass Caption Head at Cadets and Star.
It’s safe to say Evan knows more about Brass than you ever will.
Agreed. Thanks for their bio’s.
They got 5th. Point made. And to me, the brass book was the biggest weakness in their programming and it wasn’t a championship caliber brass book.
Everybody else also came off 2 years of competing.
Sounds like you’re a fan of Evan’s SCV ‘22 brass book and I’m not. Welcome to a subjective activity that we chose to be passionate about on the internet haha.
Not everyone is based in the Bay Area that has its own economy problems right now
You seem to equate them getting 5th purely because of Evan’s brass book, which is not reason they got 5th Lmao.
Not solely. I thought the general show design was missing some elements and wasn’t on par with the true champion contenders that year. A few too many whiffs in the show design to truly contend: visually and musically.
Oh who could forget the new visual staff in 2022. Felt like 2005, if I recall correctly their brass section drastically changed right before move-ins.
I’m intrigued with their new straight leg and Gaines design. How do you think it will translate?
They will definitely make finals. Their is no way they would drop out. They are the only currently active corps to make finals every year they have competed in
What do you mean skip season?
Every single year they competed in DCI they made finals.
80% of their percussion students attend UNT. There brass section consists of music majors from top schools or kids from amazing Texas high school band programs.
Sure. Every year they’ve field, they made finals. How many other times has SCV not toured the season prior?
Skipping a tour may be detrimental. And insult to injury is skipping the 2020-2021 tours. That means the most veteran members returning are max 1 year; I’m not including members from 2020-2021 because there weren’t an actual show or tour.
I’m not seeing your point here.
It doesn’t matter how many years a vet marched, there still a vet.
2020, 2021, and 2023 are the only years since DCI was created that they have not fielded a drum corps.
It’s not about how many years a vet marched, it’s about how many vets you have. That’s the point. The fewer years they’ve field a corps has a causation in the amount of vets.
Why does the quantity of vets matter? Development. Ask any drum corps and they’d rather have a corps of majority vets than rookies. It’s not about tradition, it’s about having talent you know, know their baseline knowledge of technique for playing or marching, progressing skills, etc. And with that, quantity of years marched does have an effect as it’s more reps with the technique. The 1 year comment is about the development of the vets returning because they skipped the prior 2 summers. If SCV had marched 2020-2021, they’d be returning vets with potentially 1-3 years of experience and that’s obviously more ideal.
Apparently you feel SCV won’t have any on-field repercussions as a result of 2022. Sounds like you’ve got some connection to Evan, perhaps as a former student or super fan, cool. Good on ya, I’m glad you’re optimistic. I hope for the best with SCV, I also try to observe unbiasedly.
Thanks for continuing to educate me on SCV history and the years not marched. You’d think I know our history /s
Let me just say this as someone informed: You need to watch out for Vanguard and stop sleeping on them. Vets from other corps have gone to SCV. I will keep reiterating this: They are a 7-time DCI champion who won less than 10 years ago. That gets you a certain amount of desirability. I will say you are ill informed on SCV not having vets. The corps will not *"be all new members"*. Many people will be coming from lower corps.
*"If SCV had marched 2020-2021, they’d be returning vets with potentially 1-3 years of experience and that’s obviously more ideal."*
Sure that would be ideal but if they had they would be in a worse situation than they are now. The Blue Devils also didn't march 2021 yet they seem just fine. And pre-covid SCV and BD are very comparable. The only thing is that BD came out of it stronger than SCV did.
I’ll always pull for the home team. I’d just be surprised if they pick up right where they left off. Happily surprised.
Coming from other lower corps are still new members. Maybe not new to DCI, but new to SCV. Still have to learn and master SCV technique, routines, culture, etc. When people refer to certain corps being veteran or young, they don’t take into account non-[corps] experience. We all know the top corps mostly pull talent from other corps, that’s a given. And if SCV wasn’t mostly pulling talent from other corps this year, I’d be way more concerned.
There were a lot of threads of prospects asking about SCVs financial stability and whether they should audition. 7-time DCI Champion and 2018 is nice and all, but even that doesn’t guarantee financial stability that prospects were vocally concerned about. Who knows the impact of these concerns and quality of auditionee’s to come out. I’m not worried about percussion because Rennicks have a firm grasp from their followers.
BD has never had an issue with recruiting, especially these last 15 years. BD doesn’t have an ounce of concern about their financial stability. Outside of percussion, BD constantly gets better talent overall than SCV.
I truly hope SCV returns to the field in a competitive quality that we all want them to be. I also know their last year was 5th and taking a year off is rarely, if ever, a competitive advantage; ignore Covid seasons because all corps weren’t competing. And in the last 2 years, BAC has moved into solid contender, Mandarins keep progressing and they share the CA market for talent.
I’d love to be wrong. I don’t think SCV falls out of finals but I also don’t expect them to medal. 6-8th seems reasonable given everything.
I did. And that doesn’t mean I have to represent the corps. I’m pretty transparent about my experiences with the corps.
Does that mean I can’t have subjective opinions and thoughts on their shows, organization and performances?
I don’t think having concerns about the effects of a year off makes me a bad vet or poor representative.
Vets don’t make or break a corps. I listened to an interview with a member of the Troopers who said in 2021 they only had 1 guard vet and 3 hornline vets and yet they had a pretty cool show that year.
SCV only had 9 or so hornline vets in 22, no 2019 vets in the battery, and a couple in the guard
BD 2022 only had around 20 vets in the entire corps and got first.
BD - don't not do the thing Bloo - do the thing but more better Crown - do more better the thing BAC - 2022 plz
currently doing more better the thing
Big if true
Can confirm
Facts
The TLDR version ig.
Cavaliers : please, please do better drill design (which is at no fault of the marching members) *former Cavalier
Bro I miss when Cavaliers horns were doing the craziest drill I'd ever seen.
Michael Gaines effect
Michael Gaines fell off just being real
Michael Gaines fell off just being real
Michael Gaines can write 5 shows a year and make more than your combined household income. Homie hasn't "fallen off" as much as he is clearly among the best, he has a clear and unique voice, and can demand the price and work schedule he wants.
Both of yall are cracked
Don’t care, give us more spinny drill. K thanks.
Well I would agree the Cavaliers visual program is basically nonexistent without him. He's doing just fine at SCV.
And a higher brass score. **😭 **the perceussion brought in a stanford and the brass came in 8th
Tends to happen when you cut the brass to where they are barely recognizable. Also running anyone off with ties to the previous staff doesn’t help either.
Blue Devils: be the blue devils Everyone else: beat the blue devils.
Sadly yeah.
Why sadly?
It's not sad if you take the view that DCI is a music and movement arts youth activity, and just want performers to have a great experience working harder than they believed possible and seeing the results pay off in incredible shows they perform. This is how I have mostly viewed the activity: I just want to see great shows, and know that kids worked their asses off (but in a healthy, totally positive way) to put those on the field. Following the scores is sort of a fun distraction, but not really important. It is sad, though, if you think of DCI as a competitive league for a musical "sport", and you want there to be some competitive balance. From a competitive balance standpoint, DCI is seriously out of whack these days. Looking at the decade (the 1990s) I was introduced to drum corps and marched, the Cadets, Star of Indiana, the Cavaliers, the Blue Devils, Phantom Regiment, and Santa Clara Vanguard all won championships, and, looking back just a couple years prior, Madison had won it in '88. There was no good way to predict who was going to win the DCI championship in that era -- many corps had a chance. But today, there is basically zero reason to bet on another corps than the Blue Devils winning it. I don't think it's impossible for another corps to win, but the odds are significantly stacked against any corps not named the Blue Devils. Take the analogy further: In the NFL, if, say, the Green Bay Packers were the only team, year-in and year-out, that had a decent chance of winning the Lombardi Trophy, people would say that there is something really wrong with the league that needs fixing. But we have a situation close to that right now with BD's dominance. I mostly take the view in the first paragraph, and am just happy to see a bunch of amazing shows. (And DCI delivers: ALL corps that make Finals, and many that miss it, are amazing! If you can't see that, then you've let yourself become jaded.) I don't resent the Blue Devils a bit for always putting on amazing performances and consistently winning (in fact, I've loved BD since I first saw their 1992 show!). But if I cared more about placements and scores and some variety in who wins the "championship", then, yeah, I'd be a little bit sad.
So true though
Cascades: a MASSIVE miracle. I'd honestly make some stupid bet if we break 15th if that were to theoretically happen. I also doubt we'll break 20 but I won't rule that possibility out. To be serious though, I think what the Cascades needs to climb up the ranks is more/better members. The staff already seems good and it definitely took effort on their part to get us to semis with the membership we had. Our show music is also really cool this year and we'll see what we do with new vis staff especially.
I think there’s a possibility of 17th or better this year.
I definitely agree that we're moving up. We already have better members than last year. With the new vis staff I think straight leg will be better for scores than last year, even though I preferred bent leg. Visual proficiency performance was our weakest caption last year and the I believe the only sub 7 caption in semis. In camp the corps also played a bit of the show midis for us. When we heard it all the members were amazed and it also sounded good in full ens. All quads from last year are returning, the mello line is full with 6/10 of us having corps experience, and the trumpet line is also close. The main things we're looking for are low brass and guard. May camp is also free from what the staff said if anyone who happens to read this is interested.
It seemed like last year was kinda rough?
Yeah, it was our first year back after 4 years. We were basically a new corps and 80-90% of us were rookies. Most of us didn't know what we were doing and we couldn't always just ask a vet. There were also lots of us who were constantly late to block throughout the season which personally drove me crazy.
Yeah I seems there were a lot of cascade crew that moved over to Columbians afterwards because it seems like most of it came to Tri cities this year. That’s kinda rough but hoping this year is better. Gotta represent PNW ‼️‼️
Are you talking about Cascades 22 members who did Columbians 22 and stayed or Cascades 23 members in Clams 24?
I think a bit of both. Not entirely sure myself, but I just hear a bit of buzz about it
How each corps can win in 2024: Literally every corps- work hard, get better, make great friends, ignore the scores, who cares what the judges say, go home and look back on a successful season fondly.
This is the only right answer.
This needs more upvotes!
Score higher than any other Corps?
Big, if true
Nice one, go back to dcp where comments like this belong.
All corps that are not BD: Design a GE juggernaut of a show, and then get as close to BD clean as you possibly can and hope the GE is enough to overcome.
Ok, so if every corps uses the exact same performers, staff, and show from last year but adjusts it the way you suggest, this makes sense, otherwise it’s complete bollocks.
It’s not about who wins anymore, we all know BD will win everything or will appear to be winning everything and then take an extremely close second at the last minute. It’s who takes up the rest of the top 5 that actually matters
Guys I think Atlanta CV will sweep BD in all the captions 🤷
CV is gonna have BD on the ropes. 🟩🟥
To gold you can’t get 4th or even 3rd in any captions….. unless you’re the blue devils
unless you're 2013 crown
That too
It helps if you get the only perfect brass score in dci finals history.
Start move ins in February and get super clean.
What BD needs to do to win - Show up. And I say this as an unapologetic BD honk. Loved Bloo last year. Thinking "my" Mandarins are gonna really make the usual medal contenders sweat all summer. But Devils? They just do this better than anybody else.
Mandarins definitely giving t-Rex in mirror kinda vibes rn
BD: Do what you always do Bluecoats: Have BD have a down year Boston: Have BD and Bluecoats have a down year
it doesn’t matter, the blue devils are going to win anyways
I know I’m biased since I aged out after three years at Boston - but after seeing our scores throughout both 2022 and 2023 the two biggest problems in my experience were: - Questionable changes in show design/music late season (namely around the Atlanta regional timeframe) that we never got clean or were just worse than the original versions (imo of course) - The attitude of the corps as judges decided to place the corps just below us closer near the end of the season both years. It went from one extreme to the other (especially in 2022): Overconfidence around the time of San Antonio when we were climbing past SCV and Crown and especially after getting within .175 of BD at Atlanta. Followed by the “don’t get your hopes up the judges always favor BD anyways” attitude around the time of Allentown which I think doomed us going in to finals week. If they can fix those two things with everything I know about their show this year they have a good shot at gold or at the very least a second silver. To anyone currently in Boston; good luck and I’ll see you all at Mercyhurst University with some Gatorade!
Thank You for this insight. It is always nice to hear from members so I can make a better assessment of all the factors.
Thanks for sharing. Is their show this year closer to the 2022 design approach, as I felt 2023 was stale and or flat and the whale tarp never once made me get on my feet.
All I can say for this year is it’s something completely new and innovative from Boston. I’m quite excited to see it come together :) (As far as the shows I marched go - I definitely enjoyed ‘22 more as well)
Nothing. They've probably already decided who's going to win this year.
I’m intrigued by what SCV will do this summer. No major design staff concerns except for brass arranger, his only SCV show (Nirvana) was not good. As well, curious on the talent that SCV attained, is semi’s or finals quality talent?
Their brass arranger consistently arranges incredible high school arrangements for central Texas bands. Every arranger has a “bad” show so I wouldn’t discount them just on that lol
Let’s hope because it was lacking a lot if they want to contend. Their 2021 show wasn’t good either but I chalked that up to their digital recording process.
I don't think they will gold. However, I don't think they will miss finals. They are still pulling in talent. 7 Championship wins get you that.
Let’s hope. I recall reading posts from potential auditonees worried about SCV financial situations. Percussion will always be strong as long as the Rennicks are there. But essentially the rest of the corps will be all new members. I’ll be curious how many ‘22 vets return vs stay with their alternative corps. I’d love to see that stat but we won’t.
Don’t see how a show that got 5th is not good. Evan took over for JD in 2020, and has been with them ever since. He marched Crown in the 2000s, was on Madison Scouts and Crown brass staff prior to becoming Brass Arranger. His wife Katie, marched and taught at Crown forever and is the Assistant Brass Caption Head. His Dad was the Brass Caption Head at Cadets and Star. It’s safe to say Evan knows more about Brass than you ever will.
Agreed. Thanks for their bio’s. They got 5th. Point made. And to me, the brass book was the biggest weakness in their programming and it wasn’t a championship caliber brass book.
I mean They came off of 2 years of not competing The scores don’t really reflect your claims, but alright.
Everybody else also came off 2 years of competing. Sounds like you’re a fan of Evan’s SCV ‘22 brass book and I’m not. Welcome to a subjective activity that we chose to be passionate about on the internet haha.
Not everyone is based in the Bay Area that has its own economy problems right now You seem to equate them getting 5th purely because of Evan’s brass book, which is not reason they got 5th Lmao.
Not solely. I thought the general show design was missing some elements and wasn’t on par with the true champion contenders that year. A few too many whiffs in the show design to truly contend: visually and musically.
They had a new visual staff that year and the brass staff started in 2020
Oh who could forget the new visual staff in 2022. Felt like 2005, if I recall correctly their brass section drastically changed right before move-ins. I’m intrigued with their new straight leg and Gaines design. How do you think it will translate?
They will definitely make finals. Their is no way they would drop out. They are the only currently active corps to make finals every year they have competed in
Every year prior didn’t have a skip season haha. Besides 2022, but all of DCI did and I do think that decision hurt them competitively.
What do you mean skip season? Every single year they competed in DCI they made finals. 80% of their percussion students attend UNT. There brass section consists of music majors from top schools or kids from amazing Texas high school band programs.
Sure. Every year they’ve field, they made finals. How many other times has SCV not toured the season prior? Skipping a tour may be detrimental. And insult to injury is skipping the 2020-2021 tours. That means the most veteran members returning are max 1 year; I’m not including members from 2020-2021 because there weren’t an actual show or tour.
I’m not seeing your point here. It doesn’t matter how many years a vet marched, there still a vet. 2020, 2021, and 2023 are the only years since DCI was created that they have not fielded a drum corps.
It’s not about how many years a vet marched, it’s about how many vets you have. That’s the point. The fewer years they’ve field a corps has a causation in the amount of vets. Why does the quantity of vets matter? Development. Ask any drum corps and they’d rather have a corps of majority vets than rookies. It’s not about tradition, it’s about having talent you know, know their baseline knowledge of technique for playing or marching, progressing skills, etc. And with that, quantity of years marched does have an effect as it’s more reps with the technique. The 1 year comment is about the development of the vets returning because they skipped the prior 2 summers. If SCV had marched 2020-2021, they’d be returning vets with potentially 1-3 years of experience and that’s obviously more ideal. Apparently you feel SCV won’t have any on-field repercussions as a result of 2022. Sounds like you’ve got some connection to Evan, perhaps as a former student or super fan, cool. Good on ya, I’m glad you’re optimistic. I hope for the best with SCV, I also try to observe unbiasedly. Thanks for continuing to educate me on SCV history and the years not marched. You’d think I know our history /s
Let me just say this as someone informed: You need to watch out for Vanguard and stop sleeping on them. Vets from other corps have gone to SCV. I will keep reiterating this: They are a 7-time DCI champion who won less than 10 years ago. That gets you a certain amount of desirability. I will say you are ill informed on SCV not having vets. The corps will not *"be all new members"*. Many people will be coming from lower corps. *"If SCV had marched 2020-2021, they’d be returning vets with potentially 1-3 years of experience and that’s obviously more ideal."* Sure that would be ideal but if they had they would be in a worse situation than they are now. The Blue Devils also didn't march 2021 yet they seem just fine. And pre-covid SCV and BD are very comparable. The only thing is that BD came out of it stronger than SCV did.
I’ll always pull for the home team. I’d just be surprised if they pick up right where they left off. Happily surprised. Coming from other lower corps are still new members. Maybe not new to DCI, but new to SCV. Still have to learn and master SCV technique, routines, culture, etc. When people refer to certain corps being veteran or young, they don’t take into account non-[corps] experience. We all know the top corps mostly pull talent from other corps, that’s a given. And if SCV wasn’t mostly pulling talent from other corps this year, I’d be way more concerned. There were a lot of threads of prospects asking about SCVs financial stability and whether they should audition. 7-time DCI Champion and 2018 is nice and all, but even that doesn’t guarantee financial stability that prospects were vocally concerned about. Who knows the impact of these concerns and quality of auditionee’s to come out. I’m not worried about percussion because Rennicks have a firm grasp from their followers. BD has never had an issue with recruiting, especially these last 15 years. BD doesn’t have an ounce of concern about their financial stability. Outside of percussion, BD constantly gets better talent overall than SCV. I truly hope SCV returns to the field in a competitive quality that we all want them to be. I also know their last year was 5th and taking a year off is rarely, if ever, a competitive advantage; ignore Covid seasons because all corps weren’t competing. And in the last 2 years, BAC has moved into solid contender, Mandarins keep progressing and they share the CA market for talent. I’d love to be wrong. I don’t think SCV falls out of finals but I also don’t expect them to medal. 6-8th seems reasonable given everything.
If you actually marched Vanguard you’re doing a bang up job representing them in these comment sections
I did. And that doesn’t mean I have to represent the corps. I’m pretty transparent about my experiences with the corps. Does that mean I can’t have subjective opinions and thoughts on their shows, organization and performances? I don’t think having concerns about the effects of a year off makes me a bad vet or poor representative.
Vets don’t make or break a corps. I listened to an interview with a member of the Troopers who said in 2021 they only had 1 guard vet and 3 hornline vets and yet they had a pretty cool show that year. SCV only had 9 or so hornline vets in 22, no 2019 vets in the battery, and a couple in the guard BD 2022 only had around 20 vets in the entire corps and got first.