the scariest moment of my life

On the day of our annual Giants Stadium home show, we were rehearsing at Waldwick High School in northern New Jersey. The field that day was not in prime condition- it was dusty, hard, and generally not a fun place to be. We were working on the new ending of the show- it had only been added into the show the week before, so it was relatively new. It was also extremely dangerous. One wrong step by one person, and the entire hornline would end up on their backs.

 

The first time we ran through it, something unthinkable happened- I found myself lying on the ground with people marching on top of me. Absolute terror ensued. I got up as quickly as possible, and by that point my spot was already past, so the instinct was to sprint out of that block as quickly as possible. After like nine counts of trying, I found my way out- only to see three others lying on the ground, and a contra player, Steve, screaming “Stop! Stop! Stop!” So The Cadets stopped in the midst of a segment.

 

I’m not sure exactly what happened, or who’s fault it was- this matters not. After I dusted myself off, I realized that my right knee felt like it was on fire. I limped up to the sideline, where our trainer and nurse were waiting. After a quick exam, they told me that I had partially torn my right quad muscle, and it would take about two weeks of not marching to heal. There was only a week and a half to go in the season. Needless to say, I stayed in for the rest of the season, but it hurt- a lot. You can see me limping a little bit during the closer on the finals video if you know where to look. After I got home, I did three months of physical therapy, and to this day I’m supposed to wear a knee brace when doing anything physical. Fun, eh?