Why The Blue Devils Will Absolutely 100% FOR SURE Win DCI This Year (or not...)

A Generally Ineffective Media Report

It’s a new drum corps season, which means a new year of fans of Team “Anyone But BD” talking themselves into how their favorite corps is gonna find the garden of Eden, remove the sword from the stone, and catch their white whale only to ultimately see BD raise the Founder’s Trophy for the 274897th time. “It’s totally rigged, DCI hates my corps and loves BD,” they’ll say. Is it? Let’s take a look at all the reasons BD will (or not) win.

Why They’ll Win:

1. They’re the Blue Devils. In the past 10 competitive seasons, they’ve won 70% of the championships, and one of the corps that beat them isn’t competing this summer.

2. Experience and Veteran Leadership matter (except when they don’t).  Last year saw the youngest and largest amount of rookies in a Blue Devils corps in decades due to missing two seasons during the pandemic. There were virtually no Blue Devil vets in the corps last summer, and it greatly affected them, and they placed the lowest they have in 20 years Still. Won. This year, the massive increase in veterans and an increase in the average corps age is only going to make them better than last year, which, again, they won!

3. Design and Instructional Team Stability. The core of the BD Design team and instructional staff has been together since the time when you could actually pay your way through college working at McDonald’s and then immediately buy a 5-bedroom home for less than you can get a beat-up Honda Civic for today.

If you had a dollar for every year that BD came out with a show that, on first read, you thought, “They’re in trouble this year, no way it wins,” and then they end up winning, you’d be a very rich person (that still couldn’t afford a house in San Francisco). They just know how to craft and tweak the show better than anyone else.

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Why They Won’t Win Will Let Someone Else Win:

1. They chose to paint their props NOT white. Since 2014, every time BD’s props were all or mostly white, they won. The only 2 times they didn’t win (2016, 2018), they had props with color on them. It’s science, folks. If they really want to threepeat this year, invest in some whiteout and get going on those props.

2. They have never three-peated. It’s kind of incredible, actually, that having won 40% of the DCI championship IN DCI’S ENTIRE HISTORY, three of those never came in a row. Is it a curse? Did they…sell their soul and the ability to threepeat to the actual Blue Devil in exchange for his likeness and constant success? (Don’t worry, College Basketball fans, Coach K can’t hurt you anymore.)

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Now even if they do win this year, the three-peat will have an asterisk because there were two years in the middle of the three-peat that were canceled/non-competitive. But not to fear, Blue Devil fans, you’ll be in good company, as the most recent three-peat ALSO has an asterisk because the Cavaliers tied the Cadets for first place in the first year of the Cavaliers’ threepeat*.

J. Missing is the founding editor of Generally Ineffective Media. He is also a prestigious judge for the Drum Crops International, Bands of Amurica, and Winter Guard Intercontinental circuits among others. Outside of the pageantry world, he cannot be found. However, he can be found on Twitter @RealJMissing (though he is waiting for someone to send him a Blue Sky invite).