So UW-Eau Claire's own Blugold Marching Band is playing the halftime show at the Vikings home opener this Sunday (versus the Dolphins). Yeah, they're a bigger deal than you probably thought.

Halftime shows for major sporting events are typically reserved for Division I schools, but this will be our third (Packer games in 04 and 08 – see photo above). For our area take your pick in the Big Ten, which includes arguably the best marching band every year, UW-Madison's. But our very own marching band is a bigger deal than our Division III moniker, as they have enough members to be ranked fifth in the 12-school conference (we have the most of all Division III schools, as well).

Since Randal Dickerson took over band director duties in 2000 – a time he refers to as particularly hard to get students to join band – the number of marching band members has quadrupled to 270. And even more impressively, 70 percent of those kids aren't music majors. So they're doing it because they want to.

So as you watch the game on Sunday, you'll be lucky to see even a few seconds of their halftime performance (unless you're at the Metrodome), but you might catch a glimpse of 100 kids sitting on the playing field and another 170 in the stands. You can't miss them in that sea of purple; they'll be proudly wearing blue and gold.