Back from Lewisburg, the Ship Showdown!

HUGE Drum corps weekend as we took our mid-season excursion to the East Coast to go head to head with the 6 time defending, and 6 year undefeated Reading Buccaneers.

For the past three years we have finished runner up at World Championships. That, in itself, is a HUGE accomplishment for an organization that, when I first joined back in 1978, couldn't even make Top 10, the threshold for Finals. In the late 80's we finally took 9th, only to fall back to 11th the next year. We did that for a couple cycles until 1991 where our finalist streak began. It wasn't until the late 90's that we cracked into the top 5. 2009, our Nocturne show and the last time I was on the field, was our highest scoring finish to date. Last year was the first year we won both Horns AND Drums, but just missed the title. This year we're holding nothing back.

In 2009, we were 3 points back of Bucs at the midseason show, and finished 1.5 from them at Championships. last year. Last year we didn't go head to head with them early, but finished just a point way in the end.

This weekend, we nailed it. OK, we still took 2nd, 88.3 - 86.45 but won the music caption and was only 1.85 off the pace. We were very pleased with this first read from the East Coast judges. And the crowd was simply in love with our program.
This is the closest we have been to the defending champs this early. The chatter out East is this could be the year the giant falls, and the power house from the Midwest are the ones in the best position to do it. The Viking Ship against the Pirate Ship, a true show down.

I did follow the Debt Ceiling evolution, but, for obvious reasons, was pretty preoccupied and focused on our mission. I'll review the deal later today. My wife leaves for Michigan, in the morning. Blogging can wait another day I think.