I'll call anything

JV Hockey -- Darien at Greenwich -- 12/28/2019

 

It was Nov 2002 and WGCH was evolving.

We were in the waning days of the Becker ownership (RIP, John T. Becker) and we were trying different things. One thing was "Mommy Drive," meant to get moms listening as they were in the car with the kids.

I was asked to do sports reports that included youth sports. Those would run during the afternoon hours -- drive time that was now "Mommy Drive."

It seemed silly but I was and am still a team player. So I did reports and conducted interviews as requested.

Then?

"You're going to go call the youth football championships," I was told.

"I'm sorry. What now?"

The GYFL, the youth football organization in Greenwich, wanted us to broadcast their championship. There were three games: Bantam, Junior, and Senior divisions.

For reference purposes, the bantam players are as young as eight, while the seniors can be up to 14.

I admit I was skeptical of the whole thing. How would we pull this off?

We arrived at Western Middle School in Greenwich to see that, as promised, we'd be calling the games from the back of a flatbed truck. Our power would come from a generator. There was a scoreboard and it may or may not work. My recollection is that, mostly, it didn't.

But we got rosters and powered through it.

My skepticism was gone. The championship games were at Cardinal Stadium the next year. No more need for the generator. We'd still get rosters and, yes, they're sometimes hit or miss, but it was all as organized as anything else I've covered.

I've called those championships several times since then. Some years, we had the whole game. Other years, I did the whole thing solo.

I bring this up because there was a thread on the play-by-play page on Facebook in which a member professed they'd never call junior varsity games again due to shoddy rosters.

Most of the members responding to the thread agreed. Literally, as of press time, only three have disputed it: Shawn Sailer, Mike Hirn...and me.

What the GYFL taught me was that I was willing to call anything. If you've asked me to be there, I request power, a decent view, and rosters. 

I'll sit with you as you write them up, if necessary, or whatever we need to do to piece it together.

I've done middle school girls basketball. I've gone on the air before a varsity game and picked up the call of the JV game. I've called it. All of it.

If I don't get a roster, as I didn't with 7-on-7 football a few times, then it's up to me to handle it how I wish. I made the best of it and actually wasn't bothered by it. I did my best. The broadcast was still professional. What more was needed?

I called JV hockey last December, in the Greenwich Winter Classic. The Greenwich Athletic Foundation asked me to do so, and I was going to be there for the varsity girls and boys games on Robcasting and WGCH anyway. 

So, why not? They asked. I said yes and had fun calling Darien and Greenwich. Again, I worked solo and was pleased with how it all sounded and looked.

It took a little work to dig up those JV rosters, but I harassed enough people to get them. 

Check out the game broadcast for yourself (the game begins after the 13-minute mark). I don't think I struggled.

I realize rosters at lower levels can be hit or miss but, with a little work, you can secure them more often than not. So if the game involved eight-year-olds, little leaguers, Babe Ruth Leagues, American Legion, Freshman, JV, Varsity, college, or pros, I'm there. I've encountered roster headaches at literally every level.

At the end of the day, it's not about me (shocking, right?). It's about the athletes and coaches. I'm the conduit. I'm the reporter, the storyteller. 

So I was a more than a little surprised at the reaction of my fellow play-by-players. Stunned, actually.

But, when you get right down to it, they can have that approach.

I'll call their broadcasts.