All week the weather reports were Monday thru Friday rain, but the weekend was going to be sunny & in the mid 70’s! Then comes Friday & the weather for Saturday, June 13th, the date for the Tournament of Stars calls for RAIN! OH NO! Not AGAIN! Saturday comes & it is cloudy & dreary! The Bridgemen take the field at Historic Veterans Stadium for TOS Show Day Rehearsal like it is a sunny day! Blinded by HYPE, the Bridgemen take the field & begin to fine tune their 2009 Tournament Of Stars show that kicks off the 2009 Drum Corps Season! All though dark skies are above, the bright sounds of the 2009 Bridgemen, complete with kazoos, mega-phones, along with bugles & drums & charts of Drum Corps Hall of Famers begin to take life! No lunch, no breaks, just an occasional Gush & Go! Right up to the first of the final two run-throughs the rain stays on the side-lines! Before the second & final run-through mother nature chimes in with a more than simple drizzle, sending the Bridgemen under the stands to see just how much mother nature wants to show her un-welcomed face! So much for a second final run-thru! Rehearsal is declared over, details of the return for the show are given & it’s off to the many options of getting a courtesy massage, getting something to eat from the much appreciated JerseySurf food truck, checking out all the new items at the souvie stand, or just catching up with fellow Bridgemen or slowly entering drum corps friends/fans/show performers! Mother Nature was kinder that she was last year, she stayed around just enough to let everyone know she was going to leave, but at her own pace! A drizzle here & there & off she went realizing that all drum corps were performing as if there was nothing but a show to do! Hats off to the ground crew in their effort to keep the field as dry & safe as humanly possible! As the last Corps marched off the field, in the background the familiar sounds of Billy T cut through the night air to let the crowd know that the Bridgemen were coming! The police sirens & flashing lights were followed by the sea of yellow coming down the most famous hill in Bridgemen Land! Paul Revere would have been upstaged by the call heard in the stands, “The Bridgemen Are Coming, The Bridgemen Are Coming!” The 2009 Bridgemen once again were coming in a tightly compacted formation down the 50 yard line ready to once again perform the SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS! Some for the first time, others for once again doing it with memories of THEIR first time from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s or 2K’s! The show was in honor of their fallen drum major, Jerry Morecraft! The Bridgemen were rewarded with standing ovations, shout outs & general fan infected HYPE from their fans after each song. After their show & keeping in tune with their noted line, THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS, performing corps of the Tournament of Stars once again entered the field to stand side by side with the Bridgemen to play Larry Kerchners version of TAPS, acknowledging & honoring in drum corps family unison the passing of a fellow drum corps brother & former Bridgemen Drum Major, Jerry Morecraft. A dry eye was not found anywhere! The show was not ended but over for now! The drum corps season has just begun! HYPE to all……………HYPE! It’s a Bridgemen thing!