DCA -- It's a Wrap

We made finals … and after our performance on Saturday night in the middle of “tropical depression” Ernesto I wasn’t confident we would. I was apparently the only one breathing a sigh of relief though when we did, no one else was apparently worried about making finals. At finals we finished 8th, getting knocked out of 7th by a 2.0 penalty for a sideline violation. I think Renegades should consider investing one of those electric fence and collar get ups used for dogs and placing it along the front side line. Sigh! I reconciled myself months ago to the fact that we weren’t going to place as well as we did last year. This is by no means a reflection on anyone’s commitment, work ethic, or ability – in my opinion, from a design standpoint, it just wasn’t as strong as our previous programs. A 7th place would have POSSIBLY taken some of the sting out of falling below last year’s placement for me but I don’t really think so. To me hyping on 7th place is equivalent to spraying a hot, steaming pile of shit with room freshener and declaring that it smells good. I believe we all did the very best we could with what we were given and the resources we had. I also believe that with all of the obstacles put in our path this season we did a remarkable job of overcoming them and getting to Rochester at all and in that sense, making finals is an enormous triumph. For many reasons, that’s how I’ll remember 2006 … as a triumph.

My friend Alton and I arrived in Buffalo on Wednesday afternoon about 4:00 after 13 hours of “real time” flight. The last leg of it in a tiny toy airplane that did not make me a happy camper. Since we slept most of the way we were pretty ready for action and met up with some fellow Reneguard members at Niagara Falls. We got there too late for the “Maid of the Mist” boat ride but we did do the “Cave of the Winds” tour … and had a blast … literally getting blasted by the falls … wow! The funniest part happened as we were ascending to the highest point of the walkway and I heard Alton behind me ask in the tiniest little voice “Jojo what are you doing?” because I‘d stopped just short of the top for traffic leaving him stuck on the stairs unable to look up into a deluge to see what was going on. The best part was we got to keep the tour sandals and plastic ponchos. For most of the remaining week Stu ran around Rochester looking like a giant toddler in plaid shorts and blue and green tour sandals … heh. Wednesday night we journeyed out to Aurora (which, arriving at night, I would swear is in the middle of the Blair Witch woods) to stay at our friend Andrea’s grandfather’s house. We all sat up and watched the Renegades trilogy and finally hit the sack around 1:30.

The next day after a nice stick-to-your-ribs breakfast at Andrea’s we headed out to Rochester and our respective hotels. Alton, Stu and I opted to stay with Chops Inc. this year – much cheaper and much less chaotic. Almost immediately after checking in we headed out to the mall in search of an I&E outfit for Alton but, being incredibly short on time, had to bag that in favor of getting to rehearsal on time. Arriving at rehearsal we were saddened by the news that Kathy wasn’t going to be able to join us after all because Derek had dislocated an elbow and broken his arm. Ouch! Poor little guy! And stunned to hear that our equipment truck hadn’t yet arrived – turns out you can’t talk snotty to Nebraska patrolmen or you go to jail – so we “air flagged” a couple of run-thrus and met at the Renegades hotel for a stretch-down before they let us go for the evening. After my brief, but torrid, melt-down at the last rehearsal I found this whole “the truck didn’t arrive” thing super humorous and, yeah-so-what-if-I’m-immature, satisfying! Later that evening the three of us headed to the local WalMart where not only does it feel like you’ve never left home but you know where everything is and Alton found something to wear for I&E. We bought some food and supplies as well and ate dinner in the hotel room that night where I happily consumed an entire container of Shedd’s microwaveable macaroni and cheese (for a family of four) before falling asleep.

Friday morning came way too quick and we were up and out and headed for rehearsal where the planets aligned, the truck showed up and I began to get the feeling that we were going to be okay. I can’t say exactly what it is that makes rehearsal at DCA so productive … it just is … maybe it’s because we leave the rest of the world behind? We had a pretty full day, covered a great deal, did a lot of cleaning and broke at 4:00 so we could all go to I&E and support those competing. With only 1.5 hours we were seriously pushed for time and in fact, Alton barely made it in time to compete. So Alton, Stu, Amy and the Reneguard all had good performances. I’ll go on record as stating there’s no way SoCal Dream should have beaten the Reneguard in either repertoire or excellence. I do think DCA is more traditional though and maybe we should keep that in mind when designing our programs. At any rate, they all did well and made us proud. Afterwards the three of us followed the Chops Inc. bus into the middle of nowhere to a party we’d been invited to … and had a great time. Good food, friendly people a giant bonfire and some of the bawdiest and funniest campfire songs I’ve ever heard and will never forget. Thanks Chops for a really fun time! Panda! Panda! You make a person want to come back and do it again ……

Saturday morning with the pressure of I&E off everyone’s mind it was time to have a serious rehearsal in preparation for prelims that night. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas and made me incredibly grateful that I had my “Cave of the Winds” poncho with me. It rained off and on … and mostly on … throughout the day. Because of the rain the schedule kept changing and we were eventually let go around 1:30. We headed straight to Taco Bell and bed. We ate and napped and around 3:30 got a call from our caption head telling us we’d been delayed for another hour due to weather … so we napped some more finally leaving for prelims at 6:00. At this point the rain and wind were beyond ridiculous and as we drove through it to the stadium I couldn’t believe there wasn’t going to be another delay or even a cancellation. When we arrived we found the guard and we all huddled together like a litter of orphaned, mewing, kittens and watched a couple of corps on the overhead monitor. It was clear how rough it was on the field and I was dreading the moment when I would have to strip down to my thin polyester Burger King uniform and get out there myself. I made a mental note that the wind was blowing tosses forward, opposite of what we were used to at Treasure Island …shit. We hijacked a ladies restroom for a proper, but abbreviated, body warm up and some infusion of happy thoughts from Emily. Heading out to do an equipment warm up was a rude awakening and after some quick discussion among the staff it was decided the best approach was to just get out there and do it so we staged ourselves for a stand still run thru in the pelting rain and driving wind and just did it. It was exhilarating. Like a run thru in the shower. Every time someone dropped or fumbled it just made us push all the harder. Facing the rain full on and just going for it was a huge emotional release that replaced my fear and dread with the determination to just embrace the weather, do the best I could and have a good time in the process. The mood was light as we gathered our stuff and happy chatter ensued as we made the long trek around the stadium to the gate. When we arrived at the tented staging area, we briefly huddled together for warmth and greedily sucked down the peaches Emily passed around wishing each other luck with hugs and kisses. We watched the tail end of Minnesota Brass’ show and it was suddenly time to go. When we stepped out onto the turf I was elated to find it wasn’t as windy, wasn’t as cold and wasn’t as rainy as I thought it was – magic or perspective, I don’t know. It seemed like the equipment staging and warm up went by really fast and in no time at all Greg was counting us off and we were going. With the first notes of the show behind us I forgot about the rain, I forgot to worry about the wind and I just tried to knock one out of the ballpark. I remember how slick the rifle felt in my hand and how I struggled to keep a grip on it. I remember looking for yard lines just not there due to the storm, I remember watching the toss right after the air tours (aka the teacups) fly away from me and to my right. After I had the flag back in my hands I remember actually taking the mental time to marvel at the fact that I was back in the work in less than 8 counts and wondering how I did that – you never know where your mind will go in the middle of a performance – getting back on track I finished the highlighter flagwork somehow. Things were much easier after that with everything difficult behind me and I cruised through the remainder of the show with the exception of the small toss in the red flagwork which I opted to “stu” at the last second. No, it wasn’t a personal best but it was a victory none the less. As we were exiting the field they announced Minnesota’s score as 92-something and I remember gasping and thinking how high that was and how impossible it seemed to compete with that. It wasn’t until much later in the evening that I heard we got a 90 and 7th place. That night Alton and I went to Denny’s where if they would have had a whole horse on the menu I would have ordered it – I was starving! I settled for a T-bone steak and potatoes. When they first brought the plate I remember thinking I was going to need a box … uh no … I ate it all and then had desert … and slept straight through to the wake up call the next morning.

Sunday arrived and the first thing I did was open the curtains and look outside … and was hugely relieved to see that although the sky was dark and menacing, the ground was nearly dry. Having once again not brought enough warm clothes to DCA (you’d think I’d get it right the fifth time wouldn’t you) I donned my still damp rehearsal clothes from the previous day and off we went. Rehearsal Sunday was a bit better with much less rain and even some sporadic and welcome sunshine! Knowing it was now or never made for an interesting rehearsal. The level of cooperation, the consideration of one another, the politeness, the camaraderie, the commitment – things that had been lacking all season -- were suddenly well in evidence. I walked away from that rehearsal confident that we were the best we could be as a group. Alton, Stu and I went to Boston Market and carbed up before getting dressed to go to the show. The schedule was much the same as the previous day. We met in the same place and the entire corps went across the street to a park to warm up. Our final stand still run thru went well and suddenly I heard Emily tell us to gather up our stuff and we were headed for the gate. Same tent but this time we watched Hurricanes performance before taking the field. No excuses tonight. The weather was positively balmy compared to Saturday and opportunity was hanging in the air. Alton and I exchanged a warm hug just before setting that gave me a huge lump in my throat for most of the orange opener. Something bad happened musically towards the end of the orange flagwork and the tempo was lost to a few of us throwing us off for a few counts at the very end but pulling back together just in time for the transition to rifle. Everything went pretty smoothly except for my closing quad which I barely got my hands on and the mysterious loss of a yard line in the highlighter flagwork … sorry arc! For once, I didn’t get tangled in the damn double flagwork and the rest of the show was a pretty easy ride. I remembered to have a good time; in fact I had a hard time not smiling throughout. Then as Greg called the mark time I realized the 2006 season was over … and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I mentally check marked the exact moment I crossed the end zone and stopped being a 2006 Renegade. This is important because since joining in 2002 I’ve never thought of myself as not being a Renegade. This was a first for me. A kind of letting go??? Leaving the field we went directly to the risers to have our corps picture taken and then I was done. Skipping the guard picture, I gathered my personal belongings, gave Emily a hug and a huge thanks and said goodbye to friends. I chose to spend the remainder of the show in the stands with my friends Stu and Alton. Skipping retreat and foregoing the mud pit concert we left the stadium directly after Bucs performance and went to dinner knowing that scores and placements would be there when we were ready to know them …. at that moment it was more important to be a threesome for the last time for a long while.