Final Day in NYC

YES I know this post is a few days late.  Things have been super crazy since I got back to Cincinnati on Friday.  Besides going through major withdrawal (I miss the people in Team Lachey so bad it hurts), I have been trying to get caught up with Christmas shopping, seeing Jack and Jorie, my friends, family, and coordinating new appearances for Team Lachey.  That’s right.  I am now the official spokesperson/de facto manager of Team Lachey.  I will be handling future bookings and appearances.  More on that later.Let’s see .. the final post I uploaded from NYC was from the green room at the studio.  We were on a break before the final dress rehearsal.  That’s when we found out the schedule for the final show.  We would open the final show with all 5 choirs singing the Christmas song melody.  Then the show would proceed with each of the choirs doing one song, then a break, then the choirs doing their last song of their individual 7-song repertoire.  I think we are doing What a Wonderful World first, and finishing up with Sing a Song.  At that point, Maria would announce the 3rd place team (which everyone knows right now was Oklahoma City).  I figured they would’ve been in the top two with us.  They really came on strong at the end of the competition.  So did Houston for that matter.  Had Houston opened the show with One Sweet Day, I don’t think they would’ve been voted off.  Same for New Haven opening with Bon Jovi.  Alas, they made the wrong choices, and Team Lachey made the right choices.Once the 3rd place team was announced, I remember feeling a huge sigh of relief.  Our choir was going to live it up on stage Thursday night, especially since all voting was finished Wednesday night.  And since we did Bumblebee Wednesday night, there was no way any choir would beat us.  So our music director told us to leave it all out on the stage Thursday.  Have fun, enjoy the moment, but don’t slack off.  And I think we did a great job.  When they announced that Blake Shelton’s choir was in 3rd place, I about fell off the risers.  We were minutes away from being named the winners of Clash of the Choirs.  Many of us peeked to the right to Patti LaBelle’s choir and wished them good luck.  They were definitely our biggest competition — not in terms of vocal talent, but in terms of amount of votes.  The show came back from commercial break, and it was just Team Lachey and Team LaBelle on the stage, with Maria on the risers in between us.  Tracy Morgan comes out to announce the winner.  I’ll tell you what, I have never watched 30 Rock, the show on NBC where he stars.  And after his appearance on COTC, I won’t be running to the DVR to record the show.  He was such a tool.  Had his posse backstage, and wore that terrible diamond bling on stage.  I heard a rumor that the producers were going to have him speak more of an interview with Maria, but once they talked with him for a few minutes, they vetoed that idea.  Hence why he was only on stage for a few seconds.  When Maria gave him the envelope, I know I closed my eyes and silently imagined him reading Team Lachey is the winner.  (SIDE NOTE — DID ANYONE ELSE CATCH THE MUSIC THE SHOW PLAYED WHEN A CHOIR WAS VOTED OFF?  It was Jingle Bells, but a neat electronic version played in a minor key.  Yes, I am a music geek). Those of us on the stage-right end of the risers (nearest to Maria) could see Tracy Morgan take the winning team out of the envelope, and we could read “Team La” but nothing else.  And good ol’ Tracy comes out and says “THIS TEAM” because he forgot how to say LACHEY.  Maybe you caught him saying “Team Lack-eee”.  Thankfully Maria corrected him.  Next post …