The 2009 Season is finally underway! The first couple of weeks have come and gone and we’re already up to Week #3. Although arguably the first “real” week was this past weekend with the competitions at Crisp County, Dawson County, Jeff Davis, Model and Richmond Hill. This weekend there is a pretty sizable turnout going on in Gwinnett County with Coed and 5A going big at Mill Creek and 4A filling up at Grayson. It looks like the rest of the state will be down in Cartersville with 3A and 4A both seeing action from some heavy hitters. I’m expecting to see some of the big names to come out in the next couple weeks and put a rest to some of the speculation. Granted, we all know you usually don’t get a full picture from the first couple competitions, but I expect some of these teams to come out and make their impressions really early. Afterall, the Peachtree Ridge Competition is only a couple weeks away – 10/10/2009 – and from the list of teams it’s shaping up to be another great preview for State. So expect a lot of teams to come right out of the gates firing their big guns.

This weekend I’ll be at Grayson seeing how things go down over there. I’ve got a few folks who have graciously offered to get me some reports and, hopefully, video footage from Mill Creek. As usual I’ll be sitting down on Monday and putting together my weekly wrapup giving you the results and my opinions of how everything went down.

A quick programming note; I’m going to be switching to an audio format for the wrapups. The videos take a while to shoot, download, edit, etc… Audio has a much quicker turnaround time. All this to say, my goal is to sit down on Monday nights and record the wrapups and get them on the site and in our iTunes/podcast feed by midweek. Ideally you should have new content either on the site or for your iPod every Wednesday. Don’t worry, the videos aren’t going away. I’m still working with the great guys over at Digital Associations to bring you some great quality video (the site is named GotSpirit TV afterall!).  However we decided to really focus on giving the videos some special focus and treatment and getting the weekly wrapups out as quickly as possible.  So videos will be geared more towards things like the interviews and squadlights and will be a higher quality.

As for my opinions of the season so far, well, it’s still early.  I’ve seen some footage of Mill Creek and I must say that the defending 5A State Champs aren’t resting on last year’s success.  They look pretty good.  I think there’s still some room for improvement but at this point in the season they’re putting on a solid show.  I know they’ve already bested the ‘Hooch (who weren’t even in the Top 3) and some other big names.  However, we all know that being a defending State Champ puts a HUGE target on your back.  Chattahoochee is also known for known for sandbagging it early on and then unleashing at Region and State.  So I don’t think I’d read too much into their poor finish in Dawson County.

As for the other divisions, I’m at the mercy of you guys in the audience.  I haven’t seen much so I’m relying on your reports.  I’m hoping to get a better idea after this weekend and see how some of the other teams, particularly in the 2A and 3A divisions, are fairing this year.  You can bet that I’ll be there with the Vent’s preseason speculation article in hand making notes!

If you’re at Grayson be sure to come up and say “hey”.  My wife and I love meeting you guys in person!

Related posts:

1. North Gwinnett here I come! This weekend it looks like definitely be out at the...
2. Week 3 Wrapup This weekend Sean went out to Grayson checked out the...
3. I [Sean] need your help! Sean needs your help this competition season! The 2009 GHSA...
4. Videos from Week 3 We've got video footage from Grayson and Mill Creek courtesy...
5. Week 5 Wrapup Sean was at a conference this weekend but he got...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.