A Little Rain Never Hurt Anyone

 

Screenshot from the end of the game

We woke up to rain this morning in Greenwich and the forecast wasn't kind for the rest of the day.

There was, however, a soccer game to broadcast.

There's no booth at the Carroll Varsity soccer field at Brunswick but I know that so I'm always ready.

I was there in plenty of time and got what I needed out of the car.

OK, let's see.

- The hard-sided case with the mixer, headset, and cables.

- A reel of extension cord.

- A small table.

- The sports pod! I mean, it might rain, right?

So, yes, let's do this. I made all of the connections and realized it wasn't that bad out. In fact, I needed my sunglasses.

So, YEAH, let's do this!

Even with the sun warming things up, my gut told me to put the pod up.

Side note: the pod is brutal to fold back up.

Still, this was the right day for it.

The game proceeded and it went well for the Bruins of Brunswick against the GFA Dragons.

But I was watching the radar. 

And I was watching the sky.

The first half ended. The second half commenced. 

It kept getting darker.

And darker.

I mentioned that it was getting so dark that I couldn't see the uniform numbers.

And then we got a light mist.

Then we got a steady rain.

So far everything was manageable.

Then the sky unloaded.

It unloaded at such an angle that it began to go into the pod.

My computer was getting wet.

So, OK, I zippered the pod shut and I stayed outside.

The rain pelted me at an angle. My left leg was soaked.

Soon, I realized my headset was transmitting. Uh oh.

So I picked up the crowd mic and soldiered on. The rosters were zipped up inside the pod so I had to survive without.

But it was getting silly and, to be honest, dangerous. Remember, I'm running an extension cord from an outlet on the scoreboard behind me into the pod.

And it's pouring. Water, in fact, is puddling inside the pod.

So I knew it was time to start unplugging and, worse, shutting the broadcast down.

I went into the pod and called the final few minutes from there. I looked through the raindrops and did my best, opening a side window to get a view of the scoreboard.

Rain was beginning to come in through one of the zippered-shut windows.

The wind was almost lifting the pod -- even with me in it.

Soon, I saw the players shaking hands.

"We're done," I said.

Brunswick 5, GFA 2.

All I could do was patiently pack up while the rain and wind did their thing.

I worked carefully to unplug the extension cord. I got everything packed. I knew I wasn't going to get to the car in one trip.

The sports pod wouldn't fold up. Just as I expected.

It took three trips to get everything to the car.

As I was packing, Johnny Saunders of Brunswick offered me an umbrella. I laughed and declined because, at that point, it would be just one more thing to carry and, besides, I was soaked.

In the end, the field -- heck, the campus, was completely empty except for me.

I loaded the car, including putting the sports pod in the back seat, unfolded.

I drove home. I wrung my socks out. Everything was drenched. Literally, head to toe.

As I'm typing to you on my computer, it survived the deluge.

I'm going to let the rest of the equipment dry out as it sits in the living room right now. I'll test it tomorrow.

But I guess what this tale tells is what I've told my students forever: you have to be a little crazy to do this.

You can show up with all of the charts, graphs, colored pens, multiple notes, and notes that you want. But if you don't have the passion, drive, and insanity, it generally doesn't mean a lot.

I was determined to give the audience a complete broadcast and, in the end, I did.

Obviously, it can't be done at the risk of my own safety and that's something I wrestled with.

But, I'm safe and the equipment might be OK.

And the clothes are going around in the washing machine, so everything will get dried out.

And I'm back to call soccer on Wednesday.