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There are days when this business -- and certainly any business -- will eat you alive.
I've dealt with myriad politics in media.
I've been pushed aside thanks to people with money, power-hungry people, old boys clubs, and more.
Don't think I've just hung on at WGCH for 21 years. There are times I've had to fight to be seen and heard.
Sometimes, I still do.
The politics of this business stinks -- even now, as a veteran of nearly three decades.
Everyone wants your job.
Many hate you or blacklist you.
There are stories. Oh yes.
Then there's the low pay, when being nearly 50 means finding work can be brutal (heck, I'll take an office job and broadcast on the side), but the child support bill must be paid.
How do I pay the bills?
How do I survive?
How do get my (insert term here) off my back?
How?
You don't know the full story, and you probably never will.
Power struggles stink.
I've been through and seen it all.
So when I get this, it means a whole lot.
That came out of nowhere. It wasn't a ringer, and she wasn't a friend.
Honestly, that's all I have to add. The kind words are a good reminder.
On Saturday, I hit another one of those "now I've seen everything" moments.
I've called baseball solo many times. Same with basketball. Hockey. Lacrosse.
I've called football alone. However, prior to Saturday, I had never broadcast Greenwich football alone.
By my count, my previous 188 broadcasts had a partner, or even the makings of a clown car as a big crew would ride along.
Things fell through on Saturday. Paul Silverfarb didn't feel well. Chris Kaelin had to tend to a family matter. Chris Erway was scheduled to be away.
By the time I could reach out to anyone else, it was too late.
For my 189th broadcast of Greenwich football (five of which were on the HAN Network in 2014 and 2015), I was on my own.
It was weird.
Don't get me wrong, I'm OK with "Scullying" games (named after the master, of course). There are drawbacks to working solo, but there are a lot of positives as well.
I did the Brunswick/Loomis Chaffee game on Friday night alone, and it was fairly blissful.
In the case of Greenwich and Trinity Catholic on Saturday, I think it was just something I wasn't used to. No Erway to laugh with and do lists of top five songs (or whatever) in the second half with the score 49-0. No Paul to joke with about the Buccaneers and Steelers. No Kato to complain about the Mets.
The booth at Greenwich was as usual, even if the faces change. We're still getting used to the new things this year. But that didn't deter the broadcast.
Anyway, I'm not trying to make a big deal of this. It was just something I noted. Jake Zimmer has already volunteered to ride shotgun for the next game, at Norwalk on September 28.
Incidentally, if it all lines up, my 200th Greenwich football game might be a state championship contest.
Just saying.
Oh, one other thing. the post I ran in honor of September 11 was called "At Seventeen," in honor of the seventeenth anniversary. I used that title because it matched up with a 1976 song by Janis Ian. This post -- titled "Alone Again (Naturally)" -- also takes its lead from a 1970's hit song. In this case, it's the monster 1971 depressing hit by Gilbert O'Sullivan. Just trying to inform those who don't know.
Highlights from Saturday, as Greenwich beat Trinity Catholic 56-0.
Highlights from Friday, as Brunswick beat Loomis Chaffee 35-13.
(The original World Trade Center, collection of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, gift of Jonathan Lockwood Smith, JLS Photo)
I don't have profound words today.
The memories are there still. They'll always be there.
How did we spend September 10? The Yankees were rained out.
That's what I remember.
September 11, 2001? I remember it all. I remember how I felt. I remember the looks on others faces. How I was supposed to go to a meeting in White Plains and spent a large chunk of the day in the WGCH newsroom and offices.
How I was beginning to prep for Greenwich at Norwalk. They were to play that Saturday. Were.
I remember how I watched and listened.
How I wondered if this was World War III.
That look at the sky when I heard on WCBS (880 am) that the second plane had hit, and I knew.
We all knew.
There were no tears that day.
Just shock.
What the ****? No, really. What the **** was going on?
Driving home on a basically empty Interstate 684. I'll always remember that.
The TV constantly on. Or the radio. Or -- because I'm me -- both.
That Greenwich/Norwalk game never happened. They played Trinity Catholic 10 days later.
It was cathartic (and it's embedded at the bottom of this post).
It all still hurts.
It was an event that happened in New York, Washington, and Shanksville, PA.
But it wasn't just a New York event. This was our country.
And our world.
So much to say. I've written plenty.
Year after year I write on the blog and hurt for friends and loved ones and strangers who lost. I understand we all lost something, even if it was the end of our innocence.
Week one for the Greenwich Cardinals football team went in a similar way to how last year started.
Initially, Trumbull was able to hang with "Big Red" before Greenwich ran away. It was 70-16 last year.
This year ended in a 42-7 win for the Cardinals as old foe Marce Petroccio began his run as head coach of the Trumbull Eagles.
AJ Barber and Gavin Muir connected for three scores, while Tysen Comizio and Jack Warren added touchdowns on the ground.
Ryan Raybuck's second quarter pick six was my choice for both "turning point" and "play of the day." The Cardinals followed that with a on-side kick, and they were off.
Highlights here:
A few other thoughts:
- The scoreboard is beautiful. The lone casualty? Us! After many years, WGCH lost our corner space in the press box (at least for now).
- The crowd was really good. I didn't expect that, considering the rain. Well done, Greenwich (and Trumbull).
- The tailgate was...well, yeah. It was great. Marc Ducret is a master.
- I showed up to picture day in a blue polo shirt (representing the Hudson Valley Renegades, whose game I was calling that night). I, rightfully, got teased (and my headshot in the team program has me in that shirt). Don't want me in blue (as in Darien Blue Wave, or someone else)? Easily resolved! But I'm going to show up in a Brunswick cap one of these days!
- The program was beyond anything I could have imagined. I've always wanted a media page in the program, like the ones I used to see in the old Yankees yearbooks. Those pages listed the broadcasters and writers who covered the Yankees. So to have Chris Erway and I both featured in the GHS football program? Cool. Very cool.
- We did a live video stream of the game, produced by DJ Furano. It looked great on YouTube, with our play-by-play included. It's very much a work in progress. I'm aware there was criticism of the static camera, for instance. Hang in there with us. (Note: as of this writing, the video seems to have been taken down. Again, a work in progress.)
Next Cardinals broadcast is next Saturday at 4pm against Trinity Catholic. As of now, I'm without a broadcast partner as Chris Erway will miss the next two games. My next game is Friday night, when Brunswick opens their 2018 season at home against Loomis Chaffee School at 7:30.
** I make no promises that I will do these posts and highlights for every game.
Full game broadcast (in this case, sans commercials) here:
Greenwich has a new scoreboard that might be turned on for Saturday's game (My photo)
I wanted to call a high school football game tonight.
I didn't call a game tonight.
So I stayed home, saw Sean (my 16-year-old son, for those who don't know*), and watched some guy named Paul McCartney perform from Grand Central Terminal.**
* I don't assume everyone knows Sean, especially since he doesn't join me on the road as much as he used to.
** Macca called it "Grand Central Station." He's Paul McCartney. I'll give him a pass.
As late as yesterday, I thought I'd be on the call of Fairfield Prep and Notre Dame of West Haven tonight, but for reasons out of my control, it didn't come to be. I might still get a Prep call later in the season. We'll see.
Tomorrow, at 3:50, barring any last-minute issues (again, I'm making no assumptions), we'll flip the switch on the 2018 season, as Greenwich hosts Trumbull at Cardinal Stadium.
Wanting to make an entrance (not really), we'll be the last game to start in the FCIAC, and the second-to-last game to start in Connecticut.
For me, it's another year in a wild ride that actually began in 1997, for that was when I first walked into the hallowed halls of WGCH Radio. After initially being used as a board-operator for Sunday church services and other fill-in things, I moved over to sports in late 1998.
By late '98, I was board-op'ing Greenwich basketball and hockey, and would soon venture out to a game site or two before getting my first game call in April '99 for a Greenwich/Port Chester baseball game. I'd stay busy with lots more, including calling Westchester County high school football on WVIP in 1999.
By late spring, 2000, former 'GCH sports director John Connelly was heading out the door. John was the lead for Greenwich football. Now that door was open.
I ran through it, pulled it shut, and have never really looked back.
So that means I'm starting year number 17 tomorrow as lead broadcaster ("Voice of" always makes me uncomfortable. Mel Allen was the "Voice of the Yankees." Who can compare to that?)
Add in games that I called during two years with the HAN Network, plus being a sideline reporter in late 1999, and I'm starting my 20th year around Cardinals football, and 21 overall covering Greenwich sports.
Local Live will get the FCIAC package going tomorrow, and my understanding is Tom Prizeman -- a one-time intern for me -- will handle St. Joe's and New Canaan. I would loved to have been on that call, but my commitment to Greenwich will keep me from it.
So Chris Erway and I will buckle into Cardinal Stadium again. I'll be on the call of every play (I've missed one Greenwich game, in 2005, not including the HAN years). Have I mentioned every down will air on WGCH (1490 am) and wgch.com?
Next Friday, I'll be back with Brunswick, calling their football (and more!). That will be on Local Live and Robcasting Radio.
Local Live will get me going with plenty of FCIAC stuff (and...again...more!).
My (hopeful) point is that I will be busy. So long as I have the voice, I'll make it happen.
There's equipment that needs to be reviewed, and even then, I won't know what works until I'm at Cardinal Stadium.
There are notes to finalize and, to be honest, how many notes do I need? I'm fairly familiar with GHS. I know Trumbull pretty well. It's football. Chris and I can call a game. There's actually a point where there can be too many notes (especially in a small booth like Cardinal Stadium).
The ability to adjust, not lean on stats, and ad-lib is immensely important to a play-by-play duo.
I'll talk to John Marinelli (Greenwich coach) and Marce Petroccio (Trumbull coach -- man that's weird) tomorrow at the field. I know them both well.
As always, I'll be nervous. Families actually rely on me to be a conduit through the radio/internet to their athletes.
But I'll take a deep breath around 3:49.
The music will build around 3:50.
By 3:51, I'll probably begin talking. Like I always have. Since 1998.
The National Anthem will play around 3:58. That's a sacred moment for me. Patriotism aside (I'm not dismissing it), it's my last moment to think. To pause and remember the father who never heard his son as a broadcaster. To hope I make my son, my friends, and the listeners (many of whom are also friends) proud.
Then...it's football. The nerves will subside.
Another year will begin.
Let's go.
*****
Greenwich has a hype video, created by DJ Furano. Have a look.
