Drum Corps International. It’s essentially the NFL equivalent of the marching band. Most people don’t know about it unless they know someone who’s done it. It’s a well kept secret, but to those who know it, to those who have done it, they love it.

I have to admit, I have never been in marching band. The extent of my musical education ended in the sixth grade after I realized that my mediocre interest in playing the flute just wasn’t going to cut it in junior high band. I consequently skated my way through the next few years completely oblivious to the phenomenon that was drum corps.

I continued this way until the summer of 2007, when I got my first taste of DCI. I drove to Modesto with some friends to see a boy (yes, a boy was involved in my eventual falling-in with the band crowd) perform with the now-defunct Modesto Fever. For the few hours I sat in the stands at a junior college football stadium in Modesto, I got the sense that the people who surrounded me were there not just to see their kids or their friends march, but because they genuinely enjoyed the music these kids played. The enthusiasm the crowd displayed whenever their favorite corps took the field rivaled that of an overexcited student section at a high school football game. The spirit was infectious.

And that’s how I caught the drum corps bug.

Those of my friends who spend their summers marching spend their days in 105-degree heat on various high school football fields all over the country. They suffer sunburns that could probably qualify as first-degree burns and get the funkiest tans you could ever imagine. They live on crowded buses for three months and spend their nights in high school gyms. No soda, no junk food, no candy, because those make you gain weight. They slow you down. They lower your team’s score. These kids are in better shape than most of us will ever be in.

And yet they get attacked for their dedication to something that requires more talent than most of us will ever have. The music they play is complicated. The visual effects are technical. And to put it all together, to make it look and sound clean enough to be worthy of a trophy is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish. Unless you’re a stud, of course, a term which accurately reflects those who are crazy enough to give it a try.

Every year, more than 8,000 students audition for a spot in their favorite corps. Only 3,500 of them make it. Last August, DCI championships were held at the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. 60,000 people attended. This drum corps stuff isn’t for the faint-hearted, and for those who have marched with the Concord Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard or Rockford’s Phantom Regiment, the reality is that being on the level of corps like these requires an effort of Olympian proportions.

Over the past few months, I’ve seen the drama of the upcoming drum corps season unfold: The weekends of rehearsal, the realization that your corps might not be coming back and the race to raise money to march has all combined to increase the excitement that those who love DCI as I do call the frenzy of drum corps. So to the naysayers, do a little research. To my fellow band nerds at heart, time to stock up on flip-flops and sunscreen, cause the madness we know as DCI is coming. I don’t know about you, but I need my fix.