Becoming Part of the Story

(Martin V. Hersam photo)

Paul Silverfarb and I had the call of today's Class LL baseball quarterfinal game between Fairfield Warde and Trumbull at Trumbull High School.

To be honest, the game, and our coverage, seemed utterly forgettable. We bounced off the air due to bad wifi during the first inning, and didn't get back on until the bottom of the second. In the meantime, Warde had already jumped out to a 4-1 lead (and would coast to a 5-1 win).

Then something happened.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Eagles of Trumbull had a runner on first and nobody out with Connor Broderick at the plate. Paul and I were chatting about our first HAN Radio broadcast at Trumbull High School, from last November...


Now we had two jobs to do. Paul and I needed to strike a balance between concern for those in the collapse of the bleachers, and calling the game. Marty Hersam made his way to the field, and assisted us by coming on and talking about what he found out. Kate Czaplinski and John Kovach each handled the story for their newspapers, and would update it later on with our audio.

Paul and I monitored the situation as the rest of the game played out. We watched the ambulances come on, and eventually leave. We watched the yellow tape get put around the area in question. We saw the first selectman, fire marshal, and superintendent of schools arrive.

We also saw the TV cameras. Thanks to traffic and busy schedules, they had nobody to talk to initially. So they came to us. I spoke with a cameraman from News 12 at first, then Paul chatted with him, as well as another from NBC Connecticut.

As we all wrapped up to leave, I mentioned to the NBC cameraman that we had the audio if they wanted it. I said I would review it when I got home. Upon arrival in the Pac, I saw I had an email from NBC. Sure enough, they were interested. And sure enough, they liked it. Paul shot the video of their 11:00 news.

It's weird. We're reporters. We have jobs to do. We have to focus on news, but also on the sports that we're calling. But our fellow media members needed sound and a person to talk to, and we were duty-bound to oblige.

Part of me sits here excited and proud tonight. Paul, me, Marty, John, and Kate all showed what we can do across our platforms for Hersam Acorn. Sure, I'm excited that Paul got on TV, and that our play-by-play was featured.

On the other hand, it's hardly about us. I hope those injured mend quickly and are rooting their Mustangs on next week.

Yeah, the whole thing just feels...weird.