.... factors enabled it to happen:

1) Most importantly, we got to practice the show for THREE weeks in a row instead of the usual one. There was a bye week involved allowing extra work.

2) Knowing this sequencing in advance, the staff actually dared to write us a moderately difficult show rather than the usual pablum.

3) The 1984 Olympics occurred the summer before, so every horn player had heard this music played properly a MILLION times already -- more boost to the confidence.

4) The crowd at Death Valley was going to be the largest crowd any of us had ever seen. That made the drunks amongst the MV complement take things deadly serious for once, and everyone showed up for all practices sober (for once).

5) The spectacular part of the Olympic music composition itself was, of course, the trumpet fanfares. Well, with the HUGE number of trumpets the MVs had, if there was one thing we could do well it was trumpet fanfares with power. Little finesse required for that opening.

6) Weather was perfect that day for brass playing. This is a bigger factor than most think.

7) The football team played GREAT the first half and actually dominated the Tigers. Therefore after all that work -- and knowing what was up our sleeve -- every single person was hyped to show what we could do too.

8) Having gotten kicked around all half, the Clemson crowd sort of booed us onto the field, not knowing what was coming. This was just more psychological fuel for the fire.

***

So naturally the MVs totally crushed it that day. Maybe 5 percent of our players had ever been in actual competitive marching units during high school. We had three (3) horn players out of like 250 who had ever been in a DCI drum corps. So almost nobody knew what it was really like to play to max potential. After that the MV "enlisted" personnel began to believe those of us who had been telling them what it was like. For a little while, that is.