A Good Call

 

Greenwich beat Trumbull in football.

The game was good and the night was fun.

This was one of those nights where I knew people from both towns and when it came right down to it, I'm broadcasting for both places. Oh, I know Jeff Alterman and TEN (Trumbull Eagles Network) were there but they did their call and we did ours.

I feel a responsibility to do my best to cover both teams fairly. 

Some like -- even love. -- what Chris Erway and I do.

Some don't. Opinions are just that. They're opinions. 

It felt like we were on our game tonight.

If you don't know any better, you probably don't know that even with the best of broadcasts there are still flubs of some kind.

You probably don't know that I was struggling to get connected to WGCH via the internet before the broadcast but finally connected right around 6:51. In fact, I wasn't sure if we'd do any pregame at all or would we just go live right before kickoff at 7:00.

Seamlessly, we pulled it off.

Chris and I had a nice, easy flow to our banter tonight, mixed with a hint of comedy. From day one -- now over 20 years ago -- I said the goal of the local broadcasts was "community." We want you to feel like you're hanging out with us. 

That means you can also be a part of the evening, just as we did with the family of Cardinals long snapper Sean Cowie. By the end of the night, Sean's grandparents were emailing us to thank us for including them.

My friend Mike Buswell -- Trumbull guy -- also stopped by to visit us in the booth. He brought others with him and we called the game. His son was among our visitors and he stayed with us for most of the second half, eating a burger and French fries.

As the second half was getting ready to kick off, I noticed our connection to WGCH had dropped so, with no panic, we got that fixed. Again, listeners and viewers didn't know. 

This is all growth for me because there was a time when I might have panicked. Oh, who am I kidding? My stomach would have been in knots. But a sense of calm comes over me and that inner voice says that it will be OK.

And it is.

It's hard otherwise to explain why a broadcast is just good. Chris and I were clicking as a duo and there's an obvious chemistry. We have fun together and we want it to come across. Tonight, it seemed it. I try to call the nuts and bolts with excitement and detail and he breaks it all down in detail.

It works.

And we make you a part of it.

Sometimes you don't want to hear about the non-football elements that we drop in but that's how we're going to call the game.

As I said, it works.

So, as I came home tonight, I found myself thinking about that.

About the texts, emails, and messages that I received thanking us for the shout-outs and the humor.

Most of all, just thanks for broadcasting the game. 

We get it. We're the conduits.

The athletes are the stars.

We're the voices that deliver the information.

And we had a pretty good night.