This past Saturday, I was asked to cover the Brooks and Dunn concert at the Convocation Center on campus.

At first, I didn’t want to, mainly because I’m not a fan of country music and didn’t want to be in the same room as a bunch of “rednecks,” if you will. I opted to cover the event so I could say I’ve attended a country show and to add one more cover story to my portfolio.

Yeah, I’m selfish. Deal with it.

I figured the parking lot would be full of pickup trucks and fat drunks sitting in lawn chairs watching NASCAR before going inside for the show.

I was wrong. The people in the audience turned out to be some of the nicest people I‘ve ever interviewed, so my outlook on the show was slowly changing even before it began.

Brooks and Dunn are true showmen. Showmen in the ways of playing to the crowd, being professional musicians and taking time between songs to actually talk to the crowd and regal them with stories.

The show actually surprised me.

I enjoyed the music and was tapping my feet along to the faster-paced songs. Then the closing number came. The duo performed a song entitled “Only In America” and the patriotic elements began. Brooks strapped on a guitar with the American flag painted on it and the video screen in the background had a flag waving in the air. I thought nothing much of it and kept taking notes on the show.

Then the show began to suck.

It went from good to horrible in about half a second.

Out of nowhere, the camera cut to three Marines in full get-up walking from behind the stage and followed them walking with military ease to the center of the stage. Everyone in the Convocation Center got out of their seats and began wildly applauding these three men.

Everyone, that is, except for me.

I sat there with a look of utter disgust on my face.

People around me were giving me dirty looks because I remained sitting. All of a sudden, four cannons shot off red, white and blue streamers and about a minute later, the colors again came shooting out in confetti form and filled the floor section of the arena.

I sat there thinking “what the hell is going on here?” These two country singers are taking advantage of the armed services for their own benefit and people are actually buying it. I felt sick.

I wanted to throw up. Instead, I left.

Now, as a reporter, I had to put a positive spin on the events of that night and play it up in the article for the newspaper. As much as I wanted to rip the concert apart, I couldn’t. Covering an event and reviewing an event are two totally different aspects of the paper.

I had to say nice things about the show, even though I wanted to punch just about everyone in the audience in the face for standing up and applauding this stunt.

Just because 9/11 happened is no reason to play off the emotions of 8,000 people and get them to applaud for one of your songs.

I’m not a fan of the military or the present war that we are involved in, if you couldn’t tell by now.

But, to end a show like that just makes me sick. It makes me want to move to Canada. When I got home, it hit me that this happens every night in a new city and it always gets the same reaction.

Personally, I thought the headline for the article should have been “Douche Bags Exploit Armed Services.”