Yes, the American Royal was this past weekend.  Yes, I went to Kansas City.  No, I did not attend the American Royal.  

      As RJ Curry said in his retirement video, “As an ag teacher, you never know what you will be doing from day to day.  There is always something that needs doing.”  He isn’t wrong.  

        I had planned on going with Clayton Washmon to show sheep at the Royal.  But, his sheep broke with fungus, so he didn’t go.  

       A couple of months ago, I had noticed that Andrea Bocelli was in concert on the Saturday evening after the Royal.  I asked Tammy if it fit her schedule.  We would go watch Clayton, stay an extra night and go see a show.  In my previous tours of duty teaching Ag at Fairview and Waynoka, I would not have done this.  Too much stuff to do.  I would have been home on Friday night and then doing whatever needed done–pig shopping, CDE practices, speech deals, worming show wethers, trimming hooves, whatever.   Now, things changed and I said, “The hell with it, we are still going.”   Dang glad that I did.  

        Congrats to whoever did well at the Royal.  I’m really glad that I did not even bother going out to the show.  Tammy is even happier.  

        As for Andrea Bocelli…….OH WOW!!!  Unreal talent.  I’ve been to a lot of great concerts from several genres of artists but never anything like this.  There were lots of great talents that performed with him.  From the soprano that sang with him, the baritone dude was unreal, the chick from The Greatest Showman that sang Amazing Grace alongside him, his daughter that sang Hallelujah with him, the cellist that played & sang a solo, the ballerina that danced to several of the songs and the symphony orchestra that backed him.  All world class talent.  

        I did not care what songs or how many songs he performed as long as I got to hear Amazing Grace, Hallelujah and Con Te Partiro.   Or in English–Time to Say Goodbye.  Yes, the song from the Catalina Wine Mixer from Step Brothers fame.  (Damn you Will Ferrell).  Yes, all three were better than I had hoped for.  

       I do not know the name of his final song of the night, some Italian name and words.  Doesn’t matter.  As much all-world talent as had performed all night, that final song was a reminder that we paid to see Andrea Bocelli.   UNREAL!!

      Is he the best singer on the planet?  In my opinion, yes.  If you want to argue Adele, cool.  I need to go see her as well.  

      Tammy and I were not sure what to wear, so we overshot it a bit.  As a whole, the crowd was dressed nicely, we were a tick over-dressed but it doesn’t hurt to play dress up every now and then.  And at 50 years of age, we definitely hurt the average age of the crowd.  There weren’t very many younger than us.  

       I’ve witnessed the greatest in action in numerous arenas.  I’ve watched Barry Sanders run with a football.  I’ve seen Kirk Stierwalt clip cattle.  I’ve looked on as Ritson Urban sorted sheep.  I saw AC/DC on the Razor’s Edge tour.  This Bocelli dude sorts to the top of that elite group.  He might need somebody to lead him to the microphone, but once there, WOW!!

       I didn’t get much done this weekend as far as being an ag teacher.  However, I may be a better teacher this week.

Have a good one and a better tomorrow.