Leave It As You Found It

 

It's an old concept, taught to us by our parents.

At least, mine taught me.

"Leave a place as you found it."

This has been my approach for every booth I have worked in.

I often hear about "preparation," as in, "I must have every story on every player neatly typed in 12-point font with the tale of how they learned to shoot a basketball in the ragged old gym in Worcester, Mass."

Preparation is more than that. I have a computer and a brain. I have friends and peers. 

But preparation is also showing up with the necessary equipment. Oh, sure, that means a mixer and a headset and cables. It also means a computer and the adapter for the computer to get from USB-C to USB-A. It further means pens and pencils and highlighters and markers.

When I'm really on my game it includes a bottle of water and some granola bars in case I'm hungry as well as throat drops to keep my voice going.

And tape.

At Wilton High School's Zeoli Fieldhouse, the media table is situated right against the sideline of the county. There is a wide walkway behind the media table before reaching the bleachers. 

Oh, and the only power access is behind the bleachers. 

So Gus, the trusted cameraman set up in the top of the bleachers. He ran a cable to power behind the bleachers and, for me, I had to run power to him to keep my computer charged all night.

Incidentally, my Zoom Podtrak P4 mixer runs off USB via my computer so, yeah, keeping it rolling is important.

But, beyond that, Gus also has to get audio from me via an XLR microphone cable.

So, if you're keeping score, an XLR cable and an extension cord had to traverse the walkway.

Walkway, as in, a place where people can trip on cables that aren't taped down.

In a perfect world, there are mats or cable ramps to route them through. This was not a perfect world, so tape it would be.

I had tape. So did Gus. Not everyone did. So you help out just as you do with facts, figures, nuggets, email addresses, and anything else. The world of sports media doesn't have to be this fractured community. It actually can (and should be) quite helpful.

Yes, it's territorial for sure, and you bet I'm defensive, but sometimes that's to an unnecessary fault.

Oh, and now I need more tape, specifically Gaffer's tape. It's not cheap, for what it's worth.

But we'll straighten that out for tomorrow night's FCIAC championship game (Staples/Danbury, still scheduled for 6 p.m.). If the game gets moved to Saturday due to the weather, they'll likely lose me but, believe me, they'll survive just fine. It should be a great game.

But, yes, back to leaving things as found. But, before I get to that, I also try to keep my area small. This wasn't a problem last night as there was plenty of room and really not that many writers and broadcasters at Wilton. Oh, there were three broadcasts for the second game (one official for what it's worth but I digress) but there were still plenty of chairs. Space wasn't an issue.

But, normally, I'm all about making us as invisible as possible.

Then, when it's over, all of the tape gets pulled up. I clean up the crumbs from my granola bars. I throw out my bottles of water. 

And I also discard any unused papers that won't be going in my trusty binder.

Those cleaning "The Z" don't work for me. I can do a small part to help them by making it look like I wasn't there at the end of the night.

For new broadcasters, this is how you earn a good reputation. You sit where told, do your job, and thank everyone on the way out. You clean up after yourself. You don't leave an unfinished bottle of water and game notes where you worked.

You leave as you found it.

Be proud of it.

Be a professional that people want to be around and even be a little intimidated by.

You'll be happier in the end.