Worth The Wait

The new booth at Cardinal Stadium

I had never been to Cardinal Stadium before Sep 2000.

I had called baseball a field over and hockey at Hamill Rink (as, you know, THE VOICE OF GREENWICH HOCKEY that I never called myself), and basketball in the main gym.

Cardinal Stadium was different. That's where the football team played. I called a lot of football in the small press box -- including the one that burned after the 2000 season and then in the one built in time for the 2001 season.

Our booth. I keep waiting to awaken from the dream.

Today was a whole new stadium.

After years of wrangling, the new bleachers opened up and, atop it, was the largest and best high school press box I've ever worked in.

The only thing I can think of that ever came close was the booth we used in Naples, FL back in 2007. But this actually surpasses that.

The new stadium will eventually include a ticket booth and team rooms and bathrooms and concessions.

But this was the big piece of the puzzle and it was glorious.

Gone was the jockeying for position to let people pass by.

Gone was the bad view of the scoreboard or the old days when I would sit in a window to watch the end zone to our right.

Gone were tight quarters where the rest of the booth was part of the broadcast. The wrong mix of characters could spoil that but, fortunately, we worked with great people in the booth.

Gone was the crawling under the counter to thread cables.

Gone was the panic over interference with the PA system and our equipment.

Gone was the overload of the power that made us go dark five times in one game.

Gone were the bleachers that I always expected to slip and fall on.

This was nothing like any of that.

We were told we could show up around 1 pm. That gave us 90 minutes to set up. Not perfectly ideal but no worries.

We walked in and it was an overwhelming sight. It was a sensory overload.

The elevator doesn't work yet and there's no internet yet so that's still something to resolve but everything else did. With the help of Brian Kennedy (our trusty key man at GHS) we were soon in a booth overlooking the 50-yard line.

A booth.

A big booth.

Our booth.

(I posted a video tour on Facebook after the game)

I climbed on the roof a few times to help set up the audio for the Local Live feed and was soon back down in our booth with four padded chairs and plenty of toom.

Oh there was talk that we'd be more help in the PA booth but we'll work that out in the future. We'll set up some kind of a speaker so that PA announcer Nick Fesko and scoreboard operator Butch Bozzuto can hear Chris and I call the game. 

I'll also figure out a better system to hear the PA as it wasn't loud enough for me today.

There are still things to get better at but not many. 

Chris and I sat (!) for most of the game, leaving the windows open in front of us and the door open behind us to create a great cross breeze. Of course, we could have just turned on the air conditioner (which will be a heater also).

I was always grateful for the little booth at Cardinal Stadium. Yes, people tried to stand in there with us when it rained but it also had heat and AC. And it was home.

But this? This is luxurious. This is better than what some colleges have.

I felt spoiled.

On top of that we saw a fine football game between the Cardinals and Fairfield Prep. Greenwich won, 14-7.

And, you know what, shame on WGCH for not stepping back up and broadcasting it. There is a way we could go from week to week with these games and we're doing a huge disservice to people who want to listen.

I digress.

It's a palace. That's what Cardinal Stadium is. It would make for a great championship site moving forward.

We're spoiled, Greenwich. You, as a town, have earned it.

Thanks, Greenwich Athletic Foundation and the Town of Greenwich.

Watching as things get even better will be fun.

I can't wait for the next game on Oct 30.

Apparently, my polo shirt sucked.