On Saturday, September 21, the band performs at their first competition- McAllen BOA (Bands of America) at Veterans Memorial Stadium. They will be performing the show Tempted, which is about the temptations of life and that there’s always something tempting us to make wrong choices even though we are trying to do the right thing. The show begins at 9 A.M. Tickets are on sale at flomarching.com or at the door.

In preparation for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the U.S. Men’s Basketball team is looking to qualify and lock their spot into place for next summer. After 78 straight wins in the past 13 years, Australia took down the U.S. in a four-point victory on August 24 in an exhibition game. It it is evident that the gold medal won’t be the cakewalk as experienced for over a decade.

After the loss, U.S. Head Coach Gregg Popovich said that nobody wins forever and the Aussies gave them a great lesson of how they have to play against this kind of competition.

After only having two and a half weeks to play together, the US was going up against guys who have had years to develop extremely strong chemistry and know each other’s games inside and out.

Popovich went on to say they looked discombobulated at times, but that some of it is expected with this new group that’s still learning the system.

Despite the loss, the U.S. can now focus on these points of improvement and avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

According to Popovich, their main job is to get better every day and to learn some things from the loss. He believes that they’re actually a better team after the loss than before because of the knowledge that they’ve gained.

US will regroup and use this loss as a learning experience to improve and give themselves a better chance at success against Canada in the last exhibition game before the start of the World Cup.

Shooting guard Donovan Mitchell said they’re going to watch the film on the plane to get ready for Canada.

Although the US Men’s Basketball team has experienced nothing but success for over the past decade, they are going into the tournament with a chip on their shoulders.

Guard Marcus Smart said they’re always the underdog in a sense, so they have to come out and prove everybody wrong.

On Tuesday, September 10, the band performed in the Nissan half-time show at the International Friendly Mexico v. Argentina soccer game at the Alamodome in downtown San Antonio. The game started at 9 A.M. Argentina won 4-0, breaking Mexico’s 11-game winning streak.  

“Being in the tunnel and just the feeling of being in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of eyes on us was crazy.” Junior Caleb Koval said. “It was exhilarating.”

The band showed their appreciation for Mexico, by running onto the field and dancing to popular Mexican songs, such as Mariachi Loco and La Bikina. They also started the Nissan halftime earthquake, which hyped up the audience. Some students wore bright wigs along with their green, white, and red shirts, displaying the Mexican flag.

     On August 24 a tropical depression began to form in the Atlantic Ocean northwest of northern South America that soon became hurricane Dorian, which tread a deadly path through the Caribbean. 

     Dorian moved northeast from its origin and wreaked havoc on the Caribbean Islands, including the Bahamas, which took the brunt end of the cyclone.

     Having to deal with the worst of the storm, the Bahamas met with complete wreckage and demolition. Dorian made landfall on Friday, August 30, leaving its residents wading in flood water and victim to terrors of the category 5 hurricane. At least 50 people have died as a result of Dorian and more are expected to as rescue efforts continue which have been halted due to damaged infrastructure. The Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama were hit hardest and have over 70,000 left homeless on them.

     After tracing the southeast coast of the U.S., Dorian hit South and North Carolina. As the category 1 storm, Dorian, made landfall on Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on Friday, September 6; it left the Carolinas with life threatening floods and powerful gusts of wind of up to 90 miles per hour. According to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, more than 200,000 households and businesses were left without power as a result of Dorian. 

     On Saturday, September 7, 1,500 victims of the Bahamas relocated to Florida.

     On early Sunday, September 8, the cyclone continued to make its way along the east coast and across to New England as a category 1 hurricane as it made landfall near Sambo Creek in Nova Scotia, Canada. Dorian classified as a post-tropical cyclone brought heavy rains and powerful winds across the Canadian province. The surf threatens to affect Canada’s coast for the next few days, 378,735 customers were without electricity Sunday morning. Canada avoided the deadlier parts of the storm, but Dorian is predicted move along northeastern Canada.

     Many families and individuals have been affected by Dorian and many faced tragedies and despair as well. Many are still recovering from past hurricanes, which makes it unsure how long it will take places such as the Bahamas to fully recover. Its lasting effects on people and their homes are nearly irreversible and its geographic effects have been tremendous. Rescue and evacuation efforts continue.