It's Rigged

We lost the district competition for 2A marching band. At this point that's all you can really say. It was held at Pennington Field in Bedford with 14 bands participating. Because of the number of schools, they had to have a second round of competition with 7 of the bands good enough to make it that far. We were there. I personally thought that in the prelims there were a few mistakes. Lines not straight, flags spaced too far apart in sections, flag throws dropped. The performance was not in any way bad, but improvements could have been made.

Our kids marched 3rd in the second round. I have got to say that in all the years I've watched them at football games and at competitions, this was the march that showed what they were all about. Discipline, pride, an awareness, and a reflection of hard work. They were awesome to a point that it was chilling. They looked so regimented. I've never been more proud of our hometown and school system (that I have many issues with) than I was at those few moments. I don't know how they could have been any better.

After all the bands had finished their performances, it took about 35 to 45 minutes for the votes to be tallied. I felt that there was struggle in the judges booth just because of the amount of time they were taking to make their decisions. At this point every school had moved into the stands with the parents and spectators. Some groups of kids were chanting back and forth in good camaraderie, while others spent their time talking and acting like high schoolers, joking and talking.

When the announcements were finally made, they set it up by letting us know that the three winning schools would be announced alphabetically in reverse order. The winning schools were Holiday, Celina and Argyle. Those of us listening closely knew as soon as Holiday was announced that we did not make it. As the announcer had finished, I turned to my left and looked to the top of the stands to find our band as still has still can be, not talking, not looking anywhere but down or ahead, and not moving. Some of the kids in the other bands were talking, crying, shaking their heads and so forth, but our kids continued to stare in disbelief. After literally five minutes, they began to move and disassemble down the stairs. I met my daughter in the "tunnel" of the stadium. She had an expression of a disappointed smile and let me know that "there is more to life than band." What a jewel she is. As we exited the stadium is was the Argyle band that stood at the gate to let our kids know how well they had done. What a class act.

We later learned that our kids had lost the opportunity to go to San Antonio by only 4 points. That on a 0 to 100 scale. We also heard rumor that one of the judges, an older man, had not liked our previous band director and was not a fan of our black and white due to the domination that they had held during the 90's. I don't know if it's true, but they sure took a long to time to decide that we were not going to state. I guess it was sad for me to see my daughter and her other senior friends who were closing a chapter in high school and marching band. I know my girls not interested in marching at her university next year, as that's what she keeps saying. But then she's going to be a doctor.