Our First (and Last) Trip to Giants Stadium

This evening, Kairi and the marching band played at the Marine Corps Invitational Yamaha Cup at Giants Stadium. The band did not participate in the competition last year, so this was our first trip to the stadium. The stadium will be torn down after the 2009 football season, so this is likely our last trip as well.

I hadn't considered the fact that I should not have worn my Eagles leather jacket, and while I got one dirty look when we left, the only comment I heard when we came in was a stadium worker who said "at least it's not the Cowboys".

The stadium itself is amazing. It's a huge bowl of red and blue seats surrounding an impressive football field. It's like a football cathedral. I can see why Jets fans, however, may be annoyed with having to use the place.

Both Nick and Jenn were impressed by the stadium, as well as the view of the New York skyline that could be seen from I-95 and the parking lot. Both of them now definitely want to go to a football game. Maybe we will try to get tickets to the Giants/Eagles game, but it would probably be safer if we just saw a game in Philadelphia. And, of course, we will have have to find a way to Lambeau Field one of these days.

Jenn had auditions for drama club which were already scheduled for today (the competition was originally supposed to be on Saturday, but was rescheduled due to weather), so that lead to an hectic trip to the stadium. We got there just in time to see the previous band leave and our band take the field. That was too close.

The band did an amazing job with the performance. Both Jenn and I thought it was the best we had seen the band perform. Both of the solos were the best that we had ever heard them.

We got a kick out of seeing the band on the big screen. Kairi only showed up once or twice passing through the screen one way or the other. Mostly the cameras were focused on the soloists (Tommy and Jamie), the drumline, and the pit. We did get to see a few more familiar faces though, and of course, we ended up buying the DVD.

Unfortunately, the awards ceremony isn't until 11:30PM, so at this point we don't know if we won. But everyone has the feeling that they scored very well, even if the didn't take first place. And if not, we are very proud of Kairi and the whole band.