I still hear "Mirage!" echoing through the halls.

(I must ask you not to read if you are not somehow affiliated with Mirage Indoor Drumline. It won't make sense to you anyway.)

I can say pretty safely that I don't think we saw that coming.

I'm going to be brutally honest here: hearing "In 10th place, with a score of 86.blahblah, Souderton" sucks. It just sucks. You can hear all the speeches about how you won't remember the scores and how it's all opinion and it will still suck. As I've said before, I'm a VERY competitive person. I was furious when I heard that. I wondered what could have possibly gone wrong. I was waiting for the judges to say there was a tabulator error that had shortchanged us about seven points. Obviously they didn't, but they made the equally moronic mistake of not understanding what just hit them.

I know the scores suck. I know saying 'scores don't matter' is the oldest cliche' in the book. But honestly, Mirage, we know we dominated on that floor. We know (and apparently, a whole lot of other people know) we deserved better than we got.

We had a monster of a show. That's the best show I've ever been a part of, indoor or outdoor. I lost track of all the high fives and screams once we got off the floor. We know we rocked that place. The audience knew it. Every line that saw us knew it.

The only people that didn't just happened to have green shirts and tape recorders.

My response to that?

"Dear TIA,

Suck it.

Sincerely, Mike Denison, a proud bass 5 for the Souderton Mirage Indoor Drumline, a drumline that came to Wildwood and dominated, a drumline that got a sucky score but knows it deserved better, a drumline that's pissed about it but won't forget everything else that went down this season, a drumline that will not let your inability to appreciate our domination get us down."

(I really want to send this to TIA, minus the part that reveals that I'm from Souderton, just so the rest of you don't get in trouble.)

Honestly, guys, remember that feeling when you came off the floor. Yes, it's so cliche', and yes, a higher score would have been nice.

But I am honored to call myself a member of this organization. For all my complaints, I'm proud to be your bass 5. I'll be shouting "Bell!" whenever I hear one ring four times for years to come. I'm incredibly sorry to see it all go, but I'm so excited to see what you non-seniors will throw down next year. And for my fellow seniors...good work, ladies and gentlemen.

Alyssa, Laura, Dan, Booda...I can't imagine a better line to work with and be a part of. You're all awesome.

Hats off to you, Keith and Brian, in particular, for dominating for four straight years as leaders of this great organization.

The scores will not keep us down. Don't give the judges that victory.

We did the only thing we know how to do.

We dominated.