Master of Ceremonies For Hire

Yours truly, hosting the 1997 PM-Kraft Softball Dinner

I received an email out of the blue yesterday.

A nice burst in the middle of an upside-down summer.

It was from Rebecca Comizio, mother of Tysen, who is a bruising back and receiver for the Greenwich High School football team.

In short, Rebecca (who started by calling me "Mr. Adams." Not sure who that guy is) asked me to be the master of ceremonies for the annual football banquet in December.

I have to admit, I was stunned and deeply honored. I'm beginning my 17th year as lead broadcaster for Cardinals football on WGCH (as well as via the Greenwich Athletic Foundation and Local Live). Overall, including games that I called for HAN Network, as well as serving as a sideline reporter for a game in 1999, this will be my 20th year of GHS football in one form or another.

I've attended a bunch of GHS banquets over the years, and often thought how cool it would be to host the football one. So when the offer showed up today, I was truly thrilled.

Public speaking -- not just reading book reports in class -- sort of began for me in 1981, when our sixth grade teacher at Austin Road Elementary School made us stand at the lectern. I spoke a few times when I ran for class president (we changed it every month). Yes, I did actually win. I think I actually won a couple of times.

Anyway, that February, my parents took me to Florida to visit my grandparents. Having been pulled out of school for a few days, Mr. Levy (now Dr. Max Levy) gave me one assignment: take copious notes on the trip, and deliver a speech about it upon returning to Mahopac.

So I did. I spoke of Disney World and Kennedy Space Center and swimming at the hotel and so on. Was it the Gettysburg Address? No.

It was a start.

It led to public speaking in junior high, where I dazzled my fellow students with - what else -- the history of the New York Yankees; into college, and through a decade as the host of the annual softball dinners (starting out as Philip Morris-Kraft and ending as Altria, after I had long left the company).

There were other times that I was called on to be "the voice" or "the host," and I always enjoyed the experience.

In recent times, I've done this thing where I've called 1100 sporting events and hosted countless talk shows and news casts and everything else. You might have heard about it -- most of it on some radio station called WGCH.

Oh and there's Local Live. You'll be hearing a lot more about them.

Let's not forget our friends at Brunswick School.

Lastly, I've recently become the emcee of Hunt Scanlon's amazing conferences in New York City. I'll be the host of their next event in October. I just keep the day moving, and I (mostly) stick to the script. I'm glad Chris Hunt, Scott Scanlon, and their great crew allow me to be the "voice" of their events.

So yeah. I guess talk a lot. Yikes.

Which leads me back to this December, when I'll step to the mic to help wrap up the 2018 football season.

I'm grateful to head coach John Marinelli, his assistants, and the players for this honor, as well as to the captains and their parents:

2018 Varsity Captains Parents
​Metije Bici (Mozi #42)
Rich & Rebecca Comizio (Tysen #40)
Marc & Maureen Ducret (Charlie #7)
Tom & Lauren Feda (Jack #8)
JP & Sarah Muir (Gavin #12)

I'm confident football fans are going to love this team.

Hopefully I'll be on the call of Greenwich/Brunswick scrimmage, leading us to September 8 for game number one, as Marce Petroccio and the Trumbull Eagles come to Cardinal Stadium.

As tradition dictates, I'm always nervous before that first broadcast. I'll be wound up that day for sure. Then the theme music will rise in my headset, I'll take a deep breath, and start talking.

Just as I have on WGCH since 1997.

I'm confident Chris Erway will stand beside me for the broadcasts again (we're still finalizing that).

The pregame show is at 3:50 on September 8. All games will be heard on WGCH (1490 am) and wgch.com (anywhere).

See you then.