1988 DCI World Championship Finals Awards Ceremony

1 Madison Scouts 97.100
2 Santa Clara Vanguard 96.900
3 Blue Devils 96.300
4 Garfield Cadets 96.100
5 Cavaliers 95.100
6 Phantom Regiment 93.500
7 Star of Indiana 92.800
8 Velvet Knights 90.600
9 Spirit of Atlanta 89.300
10 Suncoast Sound 89.100
11 Bluecoats 86.700
12 Sky Ryders 85.100

[@whymethough2701]

To anyone who thinks that Madison didn't deserve the win, go watch the semifinals performance. It's incredible. They deserved it 100%.

[@scvanguard1]

Totally agree. In fact, if you look at the scores from Semis to Finals, the Scouts were one of two corps who actually DROPPED between the two shows and STILL won.

[@justamaninTN]

It’s a legendary DCI show. If I’m listing my favorite corps and performances, the Blue Devils, Cadets and Cavaliers are going to be at the top and the Madison Scouts are going to be pretty far down the list, but you can’t deny the raw power and emotion of this show.

[@leroyjenkins472]

I want these scouts back. What a year!

[@braddavis4276]

I saw This show 1week before at Birmingham , Alb. They came in 2 place against Santa Clara Vanguard ! I hoped they would pull It off a week later , and They DID ! What a SHOW !!!!!!

[@totesgene]

I remember that show. 94.3 to 93.9. I idolized Vanguard ‘84-‘87 so I was over the moon that we were only 0.4 down from them. To be in the same league as them was just unreal.

[@yesorlando05]

Class act on Madison's part. No flipping out when they were announced champs. Madison's one of my favorite corps, but I though SCV should've won, IMO.

[@jasonstraight1320]

While I disagree, I also wouldn’t have been upset had that happened. 88 was the better Phantom of the Opera show.

[@totesgene]

As someone who marched Madison, I would have been fine with Vanguard winning. We were both amazing. The numbers just fell in our favor. A year before on finals night, as a Jr. Scout, I was crying like a baby in the stands when Vanguard lost. Go figure, I would beat them the following year. I love that organization so much, and my eyes still well up (like they are now) every time I think of ‘87. I’ll never get over it. ‘87 Vanguard and ‘87 Garfield are still my two favorite shows (although Vanguard ‘18 gives them a run for the money).

[@tomshea8382]

2:36 Madison fans start slowly losing their minds

[@totesgene]

I marched Madison. I too lost my mind at that moment. When I was in Jr. Scouts ('84-'87) I idolized Vanguard, Devils and Garfield. At 2:36, I remember thinking, "HOLY F*&K! We beat Garfield." Who knew what the next few moments were going to bring.

[@cireravilob]

Still hurts

[@Wahl95]

This was a very interesting championship... someone correct me if I have my information wrong here. The top 5 corps from semifinals drew a performance slot for the finals, right? That made the competition aspect of the championships a WHOLE lot more interesting. Why does DCI not do that now? I think BD placed 1st all the way through the season up until the last show, the finals.

[@totesgene]

I marched Madison. 6th through 12th drew for their performance slots, then 1st through 5th drew for theirs. It was split that way for the telecast. The top 5 were shown on PBS. It definitely made things more interesting and certainly protected the integrity of the judges. The finals judges had to judge having no idea what the judges the night before did. Today, sometimes I feel judges judge on trends or previous nights marks. BD was undefeated, but they hadn’t seen neither us or Vanguard after DCI Midwest (Whitewater, July). A week before finals we lost to Vanguard 94.3 to 93.9 so I knew that night we had a shot to beat Vanguard, which was amazing to me, because I idolized them the 4 previous years when I was in Jr. Scouts. Had BD been there that night, it is possible they could have come 3rd. We toured the whole summer with Vanguard. They are the epitome of class - gracious in victory and defeat. Had they won finals I would have been happy (I actually cried finals night ‘87 when they lost). The top 4 were really tight on finals night, but we were the only corps that finished in the top 3 in all captions, which gave us the win. BD got hammered in visual, and the writing was on the wall about their visual shortcomings (for anyone paying attention) at Whitewater that year. Of course, they had the most sensational hornline and that show was packed with GE, but visual ultimately killed them finals week.

[@Wahl95]

@@totesgene Wow! Thanks so much for sharing all of that. Congratulations on being part of that legendary corps and legendary performance.

[@totesgene]

@@Wahl95 Thanks for the nice words. It was a fun year. We toured with SCV the whole summer. They were the epitome of class - gracious in victory and defeat. I truly loved them, and still do to this day. I had tears streaming down my face at 2018 finals because it had been so long and I was so happy they finally won again. Anyway ,we had a free day in NOLA together. I was walking with some other Madison guys and we passed by a psychic shop when a few SCV guys came out. One of the guys I was with knew one of them so we stopped to talked. They said they asked the psychic who was going to win finals and she said Madison. No joke. We all laughed. At that time, we were hot on SCV’s heels, but not one of us thought the psychic was right. Did you march any where?

[@Wahl95]

@@totesgene Holy cow! You can’t make that stuff up - how cool. Yes, I marched! I was a mellophone player with Carolina Crown in 2015 and 2016... great memories!

[@totesgene]

@@Wahl95 Argh 2015? I was so devastated finals night. I’m sure you were too. I became a huge Crown homer in 2008. They reminded me of a cross between Garfield and Star. You marched my favorite shows both of those years. Crown is the best. Along with Vanguard they are my favorite corps. You guys got pretty much pigeonholed in 3rd in 2016. It’s what I hate about today’s judging. 2015 was fun though. I was so disappointed with your show when the season started but what it transformed into over the course of the season was remarkable. First show I thought no way they are going to be higher than 4th come finals. Finals night, I thought how the hell did that not win. You should be so proud. Were you guard by chance? There’s a great video on here of the end of your show from the back sideline. You had the best guard that year. And I should add Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s 9th are two of my favorite works. After my cat and my mom, I love Beethoven more than anything.

[@tigerbandalumni]

1988 was a really odd year. New scoring system that they ditched after one year. Semifinals results not released and a draw for performance order. Madison won. BD with black and grey uniforms.

[@ImVee10]

2-year system: 1988 & 1989. 6-man panel. Stupid shit.

[@timber72]

One point. Four corps. One point.

[@ethr95awd]

240p? Come on DCI!

[@ethr95awd]

smoshman6000 the one from 1975 is 480p :P

[@definitelynotcainan3353]

Blue Devils should have won... What is more striking to me is that 5 of this Top 12 are no longer with us.

[@RandomPerson-zv8uu]

I only see 4 that don't march?

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

Cainan Cornelius. Here's my observation on that coming from a TV viewer who hadn't seen anything like this. My wife and came across it on PBS when flipping through channels. Based on the wow factor, Madison easily won. When I sang in choir it was called resonance. When everything is just right the music resonates not only with the performers but with the audience as well and that's what came across in Madison's performance. You can be the best technically speaking but if you can't connect with the audience it doesn't matter.

[@tigerbandalumni]

I believe BD had the best corps this year, and they are still my all-time favorite brass performance of any corps. But given the scoring system they were under that year, I understand how Madison and SCV beat them. In '88 they went to a 6-person judges panel to save money and put 55% of the score in GE (up from 50%). BD got 3rd in GE so there you go. Maybe they should have won brass by a bigger spread though. I think they were on a different planet that year.

[@timber72]

BD? Are you high?

[@brianarzola]

SCV should have had it.

[@ImVee10]

If SCV had the hornline of 1986, they would have buried Madison. As it was, they were out of tune, lousy in tone quality and couldn't manage to keep an ensemble going half the time. Bluck.

[@tommytimp]

Naaah. Madison won the evening.

[@ImVee10]

Naaah. Madison won with 5 minutes of Malaguena. The Concerto sucked. They dropped almost a point from semis.

[@tommytimp]

Opinion. Opinion. Fact. And yet, I'm still right!

[@yesorlando05]

For the overall show, I agree. I actually think this show of SCV's was better than their '89 show that won the championship. But the end of Madison's show pushed them over the edge. The power and emotion was unreal. But, in all, SCV was better IMO.