Pre-Season Football Follies

 

Our "booth" at Choate Rosemary Hall last November

The buildup to high school football season always includes certain benchmarks and hiccups.

There's the anticipation of the sponsors and waiting for the team rosters and gathering the notes. There's the creation of game promos on the radio side and any in-game elements as well as the opening and closing reads.

There are plenty of details to dive into. Will we need space in the booth? What are the financial terms? Who's doing what games?

There's also the equipment. Are we using the stuff from WGCH or will we go with mine? Or both?

By next Saturday at 2 p.m. (preferably much earlier) I'm hoping everything is wrapped up and we're ready to go.

But there are roadblocks. Always.

Unfortunately, we can't just show up and talk.

When those issues get big enough, it's human nature to pause and wonder why I continue to go through it.

Oh, sure, I love it. You bet. Twelve hours earlier I was completely fired up and ready for the collection of broadcasts that await between now and December. I wanted it to begin tonight.

But, yeah.

I tweeted yesterday in a half-hearted way that I would be open to anyone needing a broadcast tonight. Obviously, I would have very seriously considered any offer.

We don't often get preseason broadcasts so it would have been a good warmup as well, since there are some games in New York tonight.

But I'm home with some of the previously mentioned items still to produce and addressing lingering frustrations.

I suppose one thing worth noting is that there are plenty who simply don't understand what we do. They don't quite get our value (if we have any). So we're easy to discard or even ignore.

So decisions don't always sit right. Then there's cleaning everything up.

And, sure, it produces some difficult feelings but I'd like to believe that a good night's sleep will start to fire me back up again.

In the end, the joy is in working with friends and telling stories on the air while laughing and continuing the experience that I've been a part of since 1999.

This feeling tonight will pass but it's annoying.

*****

A quick note on the passing of V. Donald "Chief" Hersam. Chief was the patriarch of the Hersam Acorn Newspaper empire and the father of my boss, Marty. He was a wonderful man of grace, humor, and class. A true gentleman and New Canaan legend, he told the best stories. He was also very supportive when we created what became the HAN Network.

My condolences to Marty and the Hersam family along with Chief's many friends and loved ones.