Soccer Solo

 

The Yankees are playing as I begin writing. 

Which is exactly why I've started writing tonight. I'm less likely to have a nuclear meltdown with my mind occupied.

So, there was soccer today. Brunswick hosted Greenwich Country Day School.

I turned down other jobs since I had committed to the game and didn't want to risk the job running into the soccer game.

I struggled to get a roster from GCDS but that's a constant source of frustration in the life of a play-by-play announcer as I've said. I'd work that out at the field.

So after doing a little shopping, I moved onto Brunswick's varsity soccer field. As parking can be an issue at the middle school where the field is, I felt it was best to get there so that I didn't have to carry things too far.

The soccer field is a nice facility and is only a few years old. It doesn't have a press box but it does have a small area at the top of a very small hill just off the side of the access road. It's the closest to a "media area" so that works. Of course, that also means fans gather around it as well.

I went about setting up at a leisurely pace. I wasn't panicked over the roster issue. As always, I just assumed it would work itself out.

Things were set from my perspective and I left a cable aside to run audio to the LocalLive camera when that arrived.

I strolled down the hill to the field to take in warmups when I approached the Greenwich Country Day School coach. He was wonderful and had just realized he didn't have something he usually had extras of. 

The roster.

He realized he had one but it was digital on his phone. In the moment, as opposed to texting it to me, he had me take a picture of his phone.

It was better than nothing.

I considered this a victory in that there was still time. I went back to my perch and wrote the roster off my phone onto a notepad. I grabbed a copy of the Brunswick roster. I was set.

Make it work. As always.

Still, as I wrote, I realized that the media area was still missing a camera and a camera operator. In the meantime, fans had gathered around me as I suspected they might.

In the end, no camera showed and I realized that, if this game was to air at all then I'd have to call it audio only on Robcasting.

Except I've never called soccer audio-only. 

I won't try to fool you. I'm just not comfortable enough to call soccer without video but I now had basically no choice. LocalLive didn't have the soccer game on their schedule and there was no camera operator for me to work with so my choices were 1) audio and 2) go home.

If you've met me then you know 1) was the only option.

So I tried and while I'm fairly certain there were only a few people that tuned in, I figure I didn't embarrass myself. No, I wasn't very good but I figure there's much worse and I can get better. Brunswick won the game 2-1.

Again, make it work. As always.

Oh, I was happy that the game was covered but wasn't thrilled that it was my own limited soccer play-by-play skills were featured. The same people that gathered around me and were interested in the broadcast pre-game kind of sauntered away following the game and I disappeared without a word.

Of course, I drove away befuddled by the whole thing. 

I beat myself up.

"I know I wasn't good," I texted.

I was told I was fine but I know better. 

But the bottom line is coverage, and that happened.

The game was called and the goals were recorded. 

In that job, I did my job.

I'll be back there tomorrow. 

LocalLive has it on its schedule. It will be a definitively better product.

*****

My guy Anthony Rizzo just hit a two-run homer to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning in The Bronx. Funny thing about baseball, though. It's a nine-inning game.

Just ask the Seattle Mariners about that.

Oh, "The Clubhouse" is back tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Following, you know, soccer.