Wrestling With the Calendar

 

Franklin High School, NJ, 2022

The life and schedule I lead are, as they say, what it is.

As I've said countless times, I wish it had a bit more regularity to it. I often pine for a home base (and benefits) and then I'd like to be able to work around that. But I'd love the tradition and expectation of knowing that I'm calling something annually.

Yesterday -- Super Bowl Sunday -- was the finals in New Jersey state wrestling. Chris Erway and I drove to Franklin High School last year and called the same event.

Saturday, for what it's worth, was the FCIAC wrestling championship. Chris and I also called that the last few times but I was at Brunswick doing Wick and Berkshire in hockey.

Now, I'll tell you in full disclosure that wrestling terrified me at first.

All boys were forced into wrestling in middle school when I was a kid and, as an awkward eighth grader, I would have been happier with a root canal. So my relationship with wrestling had been distant at best. Chris, on the other hand, was an outstanding wrestler and knows the sport. We had worked those FCIAC finals together and I served as lead broadcaster and anchor. He handled the nuts and bolts. We weren't bad.

In fact, I thought we were good.

It pleased me to get the call to do the 2022 finals at Franklin High School and, later on, go to Atlantic City for the individual championships. I can't stress enough what a great time we had.

It was at Franklin High School that I was handed a unique opportunity. Chris and I were asked to work separately for one session during the day so that we could each call a match on a different mat. Dan Long took one mat and Chris and I split the other two. Chris was fine with it. I said I'd try.

So there I was to call wrestling on my own.

I was pretty nervous.

And, as I look back, I'm pretty proud of it. Oh, I can tell you with full clarity how I was warned that one of the school's fans would hate me no matter what. It was a match between Phillipsburg and Howell and the one school had its own broadcasters who begged to be on the call.

You know, sort of like forcing Gary Cohen on a national broadcast of the World Series with the Mets involved. That kind of thing.

I told myself, in the process, to go back to the basics of TV broadcasting. Kevin Devaney, Jr would control the camera, which was aimed squarely at the mat. The picture would do the heavy lifting. I just had to fill in. I didn't have to have the proficient description of Chris but I still needed to honor the things I knew: report, inform, elaborate, educate, and entertain.

Was it the best wrestling broadcast ever? Of course not. Could I do it again and keep improving? I hoped so.

I honestly didn't worry about the reviews and I saw nothing that troubled me. I got excited at the right moments and I kept the action right in front of me. I stayed in control.

Yes. I was quite proud, thank you very much. In a career in which I've had to step out of my comfort zone (looking at you, field hockey, soccer, cheerleading, and did I mention soccer?) I could now add wrestling to my list of truly doing play-by-play. I wasn't leaning on Chris in this moment. I was adrift and I needed to swim.

I held my head high and drove home.

Alas, it was not to be for 2023. The finals, as I said, were yesterday at Rutgers and I had been keeping my calendar open for that and, later, for Atlantic City. You learn to watch out for potential playoff dates and there's a reason we're going to Florida on the dates I've chosen as those were Brunswick hockey playoffs. I probably won't be needed for those either. The Bruins will likely be on the road.

So I checked to see what happened with the NJ.com calls of the wrestling finals and found Dan Long was there, along with two other people. Good for them.

I was home.

The FCIAC finals were handled by New Canaan High School students. Again, I was at Brunswick.

Doors open and doors close. The 2022 finals were unexpected and we had a blast. I know Chris loves broadcasting wrestling and, to be honest, I came to like it a lot too. Plus I enjoy working with him.

Often, there are no explanations for why some opportunities either never happen or simply fizzle out. Sometimes it's personal and sometimes it's really not. Sometimes those in charge just want someone else more. Sometimes it's a matter of them not liking the sound of your voice, your attitude, your appearance, your age, or any other thing. Like it or not this is simply reality.

It would have been fun to go to New Jersey again yesterday but it didn't happen. So we move on.

I'll be back at Brunswick later today for their Senior Day game against St. Luke's at 4:30.

The only thing I'll wrestle with there is technology.