A Team Effort

 

I discovered that the third edition of Jake and Jomboy's Back Alley At Bats at Dutchess Stadium was on YouTube this morning.

I sat down, pulled it up on my TV, and checked out the editing of Tom Prizeman, who excels at it.

A lot of the camera work and direction was done by my colleagues on the broadcasts, including Sean.

Once again, I foolishly scanned the comments. But that's when I came across the one at the top.

Put Rob Adams in the Show.

Look, it means nothing (but it's awesome and extremely humbling) and it's not the first time I've seen that comment this season (or, for that matter, in my life). It's all wonderful and serves as a nice reminder to keep grinding and do what I do. The haters are out there also (because haters gonna hate hate hate...) but, overall, I've felt mostly love from viewers and listeners.

Really, I'm honored to receive that. I also noticed my voice is in this collection of highlights as well as in the attached story.

Still, as I always say, it's not just me. I'm the voice. I'm a conduit. I work my backside off. Definitely. I get a ton of credit and I also shoulder some blame one way or another.

But there's a great crew of people that work with me, except perhaps for tomorrow night at Shelton High School when I'm the one-man crew for Greenwich/Shelton football (on Robcasting).

The Renegades were blessed to be led by Zach Neubauer (who hates compliments). He and I dotted lined our relationship into a strong unit and it's something I hope we can keep building into 2022. We each have ideas and, overall, we're on the same page. The credit for everything goes to him in reality. I just talk.

But it's more than Zach or me. It's Sam Eisenbaum who, if I recall correctly, was our director for 59 of the 60 home MILB.tv broadcasts. It's also Steve Feldman, my old high school classmate (and friend) who I reconnected with after 34 years. Steve ran a camera for us a few times but was also the guy making things happen on the scoreboard.

It's Sean Adams (of course), who kept his "Iron Man" streak going. The always steady, dependable son of the play-by-play announcer made it to all 61 Renegades broadcasts (along with Zach and me). My pride in that guy is overflowing.

There are more, of course. How about Clint McLoed, who bowed out during the season but made the replay and graphics look so smooth every night while he was with us? He's now out in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan working as a TV reporter.

Then there were my "unofficial" interns, Spencer Pierce and Conor Santoianni, who each showed me the potential to do big things. It's my great thrill to continue mentoring them if they want that.

After that came the people who I might not have interacted with every night but they were still a part of the broadcasts. Lawrence Lang (and his vintage jersey), Phil Latella, Anthony Sorbellini, Nick Boyd, Chris Bianchi, Brian Camporese (who did a solid job on replay and graphics), Kenny McGovern, Joseph Wright, Matt deBara (who owes me tacos!), Jason Stapf (who somehow found a way to always make me laugh), Jared Haag, Brian Pompa (host of "Beside the Beard!"), and Richard Herzberg.

This doesn't even begin to say how honored I am to have worked with each of you. Nor can it truly reflect my gratitude. Sadly, in some cases, I didn't get a chance to know everyone. In other cases, I've made friends that I hope to talk to for years (Spencer and I were texting the other night, for instance).

There are so many other people who made this all work. Obviously, the support of Steve Gliner and Joe Ausanio to hire me in the first place was everything but I also had Rick Zolzer in my corner and I can't express what that means. 

There are others. Many others. Tyson Jeffers and Will Young and Zach Betkowski and other people in the front office and Zach Blum in the store and the one and only Tom Hubmaster, and Luis, who became the official translator of the "Rob's Roundup" pregame show.

Plus Jeff Semancik and "Uncle" Mike Hanson back at Z93 radio.

These people -- along with Allison Bierce (who brought ice cream to the booth) -- somehow each helped make the broadcasts better. Without the crew, I'm nothing but without the support of everyone, the whole thing doesn't happen.

Sometimes all it took was "hello" or a smile. Sometimes it took the hard work that each member put in.

I know I'm missing people and, to be honest, this was supposed to be just about the broadcast crew but I found myself wanting to thank everyone who helped us.

So, thanks, and if there is someone who should also be in this post, I'll add their name (it can be edited).

The kind words -- the credit that I get -- only happen because of the people who are with me.