Are You Ready For Some Football?

Yes, less than 24-hours until--THE KICKOFF!

At least for those of us here in Central Texas--the kickoff of the 2009 high school football season, and this one will be THE MOST unique in my 21-year broadcasting career. Yes, I will have traded in my video camera, computer video system, my Mac Studio Fix make-up (yes, we guys on TV do wear make-up)--traded all of that for a polo and shorts, along with a headset and mike to do radio play-by-play! **Shameless plug here: those of you in Central Texas can listen to the China Spring Cougars at Fairfield broadcast on "Star 92.9 FM--pre-game kicks off at 7:15pm Friday night!***

But back to the uniqueness of 2009. This will be the first time I will have spent Friday night at ONE GAME to start a season. In the small to medium-sized TV markets, a lot of us will go out and shoot parts of up to 4-games on game night. We do it so that we can have as many games on our sportscasts--as well as those of us who have/had 30-minute high school football special programs later the same night. It's exhausting work. But I won't have to worry about that kind of exhaustion this year, and I don't feel like I'm trading it for another kind--not at all. I will say that I have been doing preparations for my play-by-play debut for about a month now. No, I take that back: I've really been preparing for this since I was 8-years old. Back then, I would turn the TV down (back when you only had 3-channels and maybe a PBS) on a Saturday, pick up a pencil, turn it upside down, and pretend the eraser was the head of a microphone. And, I'd do my own play-by-play. My mom & dad will confirm this--because they got a huge kick out of it. So, fast forward 37-years, and what do I do? While driving, I turn the radio off and practice. When I'm home, I put in a cassette of a colleague's play-by-play and listen, and then go into the other room and practice. And then practice some more. Call it a 37-year old love affair with sports broadcasting.

I remember the first football game I ever watched beginning to end was the 1971 Nebraska at Oklahoma "Game of the Century" in Norman, where the top-ranked Huskers, led by Jerry Tagge and Jeff Kinney on offense and Rich Glover on defense, edged the #2 Sooners--where QB Jack Mildren and RB Greg Pruitt led the nation's most prolific offense--by a score of 35-31. I was mesmerized the entire game. But that was TV. I really can't remember the first time I ever heard a game on the radio--probably because I'd surf the old dial much like one would surf the internet nowadays. I would get bits and pieces of games: both football games and baseball games during the fall. Both mediums certainly have their charm.

But I think the reason I'm most looking forward to the radio gig is that I get to draw the picture for the listener--and that's like having a one-on-one conversation with a few thousand folks at once. There's no video and/or pictures to fall back on. It's up to me to be paying enough attention to a number of details and explain them--all while providing the essence of what's going on out there in front of me on the field. And, I have to admit--that's kind of scary. But at the same time, it's exciting. You know the feeling, don't you?

Anyhow, the season kicks off in these parts (Waco, TX) on August 27th, when Waco High and Belton collide in game-1 of the HEB Heart of Texas Kickoff Classic at Waco ISD Stadium. I can't wait to see it. But as I will be sitting there watching that game from the press box, I might just have to pull out that pencil and turn it upside down for a little more practice for my Friday night debut!