Middle School Heroes

Now he's kind of a big deal

I'm not famous.

Unlike Ron Burgundy, I'm not a big deal.

So when Jeff Alterman asked me to merge Robcasting with TEN for the middle school championship between Tomlinson of Fairfield and Hillcrest of Trumbull, I jumped.

He thought I might take a pass, given my career of higher level broadcasts.

But, really, why not?

A game is a game. Just bring the same professionalism.

I realized that the first time I was told WGCH was going to broadcast the GYFL Championships.  The game is the game. So long as there are rosters and some kind of facility, there's a story to be told.

We did those games standing on a flatbed truck at Western Middle School in Greenwich. Our power was off a generator. Despite my doubts, we made it work.

Lesson learned.

So I've done many more GYFL Championships (at Cardinal Stadium). I've called two world championship youth hockey tournaments.

I've done little league baseball and I've loved it. All of it.

That's where I make the memories and the friends.

Have headset. Will travel. Always.

So I went to Trumbull and called the game. Sure we only got the Tomlinson roster today and it was hard to see the foul calls and there was no PA and it was in a middle school gym.

But it worked fantastically. There were still athletes in uniforms with numbers, and those numbers matched to a roster.

There was still a scoreboard with a clock.

It worked.

Jeff and I were joined by Bryan Rickert, principal of Hillcrest, who warmly welcomed me to his school and brought solid analysis with the gentle touch of an educator. It struck the right tone for the broadcast.

He also brought a sense of humor, and I always like that.

He also seemed to appreciate my approach, especially when an athlete was injured in the second half. I saw her face and decided to not say who it was or which team she played for. I explained my rationale on the air.

Not every case is the same. That's how I chose to handle it in this situation.

The game didn't go the way of the home team as they suffered their first loss of the year but I was impressed by the passion and behavior of all in attendance.

Too often we hear the bad stories of over-aggressive parents who attack coaches, officials, other fans and, most reprehensibly, the athletes sometimes.

This had none of that. Everyone was well-behaved. I heard no rancor directed at the officials. I saw the winning team hug and the losing team hug and had the sense that literally everyone might go grab some pizza or ice cream before doing homework.

Maybe somewhere they'll hear the broadcast and say, "That guy called the FCIAC Championship" (and I'll be doing the girls basketball title again, with hopefully more to follow). Maybe that will make them smile.

I hope so. Only then do I feel like I'm anything -- because they give me that nudge as if I've done anything meaningful.

But they're the stars. The athletes. The coaches. They're the big deal.

My apartment doesn't smell of rich mahogany.

But I'll come back and call a middle school championship again anytime.