First football Friday ...

... didn't go as badly as I feared.

Typical stuff ... everything waaaay delayed for "heat timeouts," lots of usually reliable teams that didn't call, a few miscommunications inside as a new inside team tries to adjust. We didn't make THE deadline, but we made MY deadline.

But, hey, it's one down and 10 to go.

 

We had 10 injury timeouts due to cramping, so the game didn't end till 10:30. Then we had the postgame meetings and prayer. Then the fucking radio guys stole the two players and the coach I needed to talk to. Then the opposing coach laced into his kids for 10 minutes then wouldn't talk, so I had to talk to a player. Then it took me 15 minutes to get out of the winding, clusterfuck of a parking lot, so I didn't get back to the office till 11:15. So I had 15 minutes to write my story. Good times. :

 

I got my ass kicked. Horribly.

 

Second Friday of the season for me, finding a new role -- I've turned in my pen for a microphone and have become a pbp announcer.

Nice part: When the game ends and I pull my headseat off, my day is done .
Bad part: You have to spend all week preparing and be there 2 hours early to get ready, instead of rolling in 20 minutes before kickoff.

Nice part: I just have to spend the game describing what I see, instead of trying to come up with a lede.
Bad part: My voice is completely shot.

I've had a couple of pretty good games to call, too, in my first two. Tonight -- three go-ahead scores in the last 2 minutes, including the last one with 9 seconds left in a big rivalry game. Last week, a 51-yard TD run in the final three minutes of what was a tie game.

So, things have gone pretty well for me, especially after shaking the rust off not having called a game for years and years and years ... I think I nailed it tonight .

 

I start tomorrow... wish me luck...

 

Buena suerte, Cadet.

 

What is a heat timeout? We don't have those here in TX and it's hotter than hell. Football Friday starts next Thursday for me

 

Ours went bad. We have a rookie editor who didn't catch shit (the other writer and I had to re-edit all the copy) and didn't save his pages. So when Quark crashed he had to start the section front and page 2 from scratch. This was at 11:30.

My game went into 2OT, but I still made my story deadline (not like it would have mattered).

Of note, an eight-man game had a final score of 95-60. Box score (7pt agate) was almost three inches.

 

Sucked! I'm already sick of it. Can't wait for November.

 

I got harassed by my ME for not putting a scrimmage on the front page over two REAL regular season openers. What a fucking homer he is. Did I mention he also covered said scrimmage/jamboree?

My photos were shit and I got them an hour and a half late. At least my staff writers did solid job on opening night. I got stories and boxes pretty quick. They were the lone highlight of the night.

And I've got 10+ more weeks of this shit? :

 

And one more week until the first Saturday of the season, as well ... high praise to those who regularly pull the Friday-Saturday double.

 

Still have a week to go. Finally finished with the preview crap.

Now I have to deal with the fanatics who want to know how "such and such" is doing.

Got my crash helmet on. My ride's going to last until mid-December.