Three Things I Liked/Not Liked At San Antonio
Listicles, right????
“I’ll be delicate in my report.” - Agent Caldwell, Ocean’s Thirteen
Before we start, let me make this perfectly clear. The Not Liked parts are simply going to point out quirky things that happened during my Alamodome visit yesterday. I’m not going to “slam” any particular group. Sorry to disappoint you, but if you were salivating in anticipation of that stuff, please check yourself.
The Alamodome, AKA The World’s Largest Fake H-E-B
A Thing I Liked:
The Crowd
Yesterday’s show was the second largest crowd in DCI Southwestern history. You could definitely tell the people had been waiting three years for this event! I was nine rows up dead center on the 50 and we were all buzzing hard the entire day. Kuddos to the wonderful fans in South Texas who really gave it up for the units throughout the day!
A Thing I Not Liked:
The Crowd
I’ve been attending this particular event for over a decade. I have never seen so many people attempt to sit in other people’s seats. It was quite troubling. What was even more troubling was the unwillingness of people in the wrong to move seats.
”You know, it doesn’t matter so whatever.”
Please, please, please don’t be that person and make it weird. We are better than that. I hope.
A Thing I Liked:
Avoiding Random Field Objects
I saw several occasions where sticks and uniform parts were left in peculiar places on the field DURING the performance. My heart skipped each time I noticed those objects especially when blind moves took the performers directly over them. No one wants to see injuries on the field. Thankfully, the performers were able to avoid major catastrophes.
A Thing I Not Liked:
The Concessions
Shocking, a drum corps fan is going to complain about the food on the internet. I’ll ignore the fact that my fajita taco fell apart like a bad conspiracy theory. This venue absolutely cannot run out of bottled water. We weren’t even half way through the contest and people kept telling me that several locations in the Alamodome had run out of water. The next time we have an event here, lie to the contract holders. Yes, we ARE expecting 30,000 people here!!! Not sure how feasible this would be, but maybe we can sell tailgating passes in the future. Limited spaces, but bring your smoker and let’s get HUNGRY with it!!!
A Thing I Liked:
The Shows
No, I’m serious! There are some fun, entertaining programs going on here with plenty of talented individuals across the entire spectrum of competition! I cannot express to you how vital it is for the activity for people to attend these events IN PERSON to truly grasp how awesome Drum Corps is. The reports of the demise of drum corps have been greatly exaggerated. Get your butts to an event, enjoy yourself, and stop listening to the online bitterness!
A Thing I Not Liked:
The Dustiest Seats In The West
On behalf of the entire City of San Antonio, I would like to publicly apologize for all of the dust on the seats at The Alamodome yesterday. I…..have no explanation. There was more dust on those seats than SENTENCE REDACTED BY ORDER OF BEXAR COUNTY JUDGE, THE HONORABLE JUDGE NELSON W. WOLFF.
Hey, give it back!!!
I need that laptop to LIVE!!!!
Nice list. I call people who sit in seats that are not their own, Squatters. Not a huge fan of Squatters myself. There weren't really any issues that I could see in my section, but I had terrible seats due to waiting until the last moment to buy tickets. I imagine the area around the 50 yard line had lots of problems, though.
My big issue was seeing one father with his two daughters, one of whom had a severe hacking cough and was not wearing a mask. She also was making no effort to cover her mouth when she coughed. She was clearly very sick and should not have been there at all. She could very well have been a super spreader for all who sat around her.
The energy was great, though. I've been to every show in San Antonio for as long as DCI as held Regionals there, and it was fantastic to have competitive Drum Corps back in town!