Super show

Omigod. Our kids are sooooooooooooooooo good.......

Jody and I made the trip to Coon Rapids, MN, on Saturday to see the Colts, and let me tell you, they are LOADED this year. Sure, I'm prejudiced. Those are 135 of my favorite 138 kids in the whole world (I've got 2 older boys and a daughter-in-law in addition to the two in this year's Colts). But the drum corps world better wake up. The Colts are for real this year.

The first thing we heard when we got there was how fantastic the first show was Friday night. Everybody said the whole corps was "on" for the first real performance of the year. The performance level was way up and superb. They blew everybody away, including the stadium announcer, who -- from reports from Colts themselves -- when he was wrapping up their show said, "The Colts?" with a rising, implied question at the end.

Yeah, baby. These are the Colts. The Colts who, from what I saw Saturday night, are going to surprise a lot of people this year.

The kids themselves were not as impressed with their show Saturday night. Some liked what they did; some weren't as high on their performance. I think they know where they are in the year and see already what they need to do to get where they ultimately want to be. And that's what's important to them. Not a single show early in the season. I think it's a fantastic show right now, and it's just going to get better and better. And the postcards are not even in yet.

Speaking of postcards, I saw little versions of them over the weekend and they are going to blow everybody away when they get put into the show. (Maybe as early as next week....) There were suggestions that I take pictures of them and put them up here or that they be put up on the Colts website. I think the kids should get the priviledge of unveiling them on the field for a screaming, clapping crowd. It's not my place to upstage that. (Stepping down from my soapbox)

A four-hour trip on Saturday to work in the cooktruck and see and photograph the Colts in performance. A great night's sleep in Coon Rapids (thanks Bill and Luba) while the Colts and cooks and staff went on to Menomonie. And a four-hour drive home. Can't think of any better way to spend the Father's Day weekend. (And I got a whiz-bang single-cup coffee maker for a present too!)

david

p.s. Thanks to Rod Russeau for filing the Virtual Cooktruck while Jody and I got to go play drum corps groupies for the weekend. I love my vast, hard-working, all-volunteer staff!