I don’t really care for college or NFL football. I do pay attention and know whats happening and I will watch it on television, but that is all!!! I do like to watch San Antonio high school football players development from high school to college to the NFL!!! This year, I am really interested in UT’s Malcolm Brown and Mykkele Thompson. They were super studs in high school.
I don’t mind being busy Thursday’s, Friday’s, and some Saturday’s even after I work my full-time job!!! I absolutely love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything. My bosses at all my jobs have allowed me to tweak my schedule to accommodate football games. I think the only time I missed some football games was when I was working for the San Antonio Spurs. But that was only a three year span during the football season which only lasts 4 months!
Seeing the tv and radio broadcasters after 8 months is like the first day of school for me. Lots of questions are asked, smiles are all over, and we all have a blast being and working together!!! If anyone ever knew what happens during commercial breaks?
I have a new laptop with a sleek looking sleeve, new dry erase markers, new wire ties, and new stat boards. I retired my old stat boards last year at the last game, which was at Cowboy’s stadium in Arlington. I just leave them with the stats on em and walk away!!!!
I just need to make sure I have lots of pens!! My radio boss, Bobby, always forgets his writing utensils. I also need to make sure I have a legal pad with paper.
I also carry extra old dry erase markers; I use them a lot and don’t want to run out like I did last year during a playoff game!!! It caught me off guard and I wasn’t prepared!!! Luckily, I was able to put some stats on my netbook but it was a really funny moment! I had everyone in the press box scrambling to look for dry erase markers.
I use a small Coby am/fm radio with the old fashioned dial to locate the stations in which our radio broadcasts are on. Bobby wants to make sure everyone gets on the air.
I have 2 rolls of duct tape. We use it to support the banners, hide the mic cable or phone cord or both when we reel it across the entire press box (we don’t want anybody tripping on it), and tape the rosters to the window or side wall in our press box.
Bobby always has extra long cables for the phone and crowd mic. I remember one game where we had to use a 100 foot phone cord; we reeled it from the baseball stadium press box to the football stadium press box!!!! It is called engineering 101!!!!! And, on top of all that, the press box was not air conditioned and it was super hot outside even though we had the door open. I have never sweated as much during a game. I was so happy to get in my car after we finished and cranked the ac high and took off my socks and shoes to cool em of. When I got home, I took a cold shower!!!!
Last year, ESPN broadcasted a local game (the Malcolm Brown link above is from this game). We were at the stadium the night before for a game and we had to use a phone line that was a few booths down from ours. I started duct taping and eventually plugged it in and finished my marvelous duct taping job at Herman Edward’s feet!!!!! He was doing a live radio show and also was working that ESPN game. True story!!!!!
Oh, I also have lots of snacks at work so I won’t have to buy food at the stadiums. But, knowing me, I will eat my snacks at work and eat junk at the games!!!
This season, I am keeping track of business expenses, mileage, and games worked. My wife suggested this since I have to take self-employment tax out of what I make. It will really help us next April!!! She knows alot about this stuff since she has her own business.
I will be working the Gucci Bowl next Thursday at Farris stadium and Friday I will be at D W Rutledge stadium for the Judson Rockets. Stay tuned to my Week 0 blog. I will write about the games I worked, players that impressed me, and anything funny that happens in the press box!!!!