September 11, 2023

 

A day that was caked in melancholy has just gone to the bizarre (that's about sports).

September 11. Do we need to recap it? It's still shocking and sad 22 years later.

So, with that in mind, I was looking forward to a good Monday Night Football game between the Jets and Bills.

Josh Allen against Aaron Rodgers, who was making his debut with the Jets.

And Rodgers left the game injured not even four minutes in.

Just awful for Jets fans.

But let's circle back to this morning.

My focus on this morning's September 11 Greenwich Remembrance Ceremony was to narrate, honor those lost, and stay out of the way.

I still find September 11 incredibly sad and poignant. I was determined to anchor our coverage on WGCH honorably.

I was told to get there around 8 a.m. but I decided against that. I wanted to be there earlier to get a feel for the situation.

I pulled into Cos Cob Park just after 7:30. My thinking was that I wanted to try for a parking spot as opposed to lugging equipment from further away or -- worse -- riding a shuttle bus.

Of course, just as I walked in, I saw News 12 was allowed to drive all the way to the parking lot where the ceremony would take place. WGCH should have the same opportunity and perhaps we'll look into that next year.

As a side note, we need to up our visibility and that's a conversation I had later in the morning.

In any event, I was able to setup to the left of the podium with a thank you to those who were in charge of the morning.

I had my usual reservations about setting up, connectivity, being in the right place, how it would sound, and giving listeners an appropriate broadcast. In this case, I'm working for News Director Tony Savino and I don't want to let him down.

So there I was, standing near some of the dignitaries in attendance as well as others from town. Prior to 8:46, there was a jovial atmosphere of community among everyone.

As everyone was told to take their seat, the mood changed to that of reverence and silence.

I opened the broadcast by setting the scene and using my -- you guessed it -- play-by-play skills before turning it over to the ceremony and commenting only to narrate.

The ceremony was sad and inspiring and fierce. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont delivered particularly strong words.

I'm proud to say the broadcast seemed to go the way we wanted it to on the air.

I will not deny that it's an emotional job in which personal emotions need to be squelched as best as possible. That doesn't mean I didn't feel something as the 32 names with a Greenwich connection were read.

As the bagpipe led attendees to the nearby memorial, I wrapped up, packed up, and walked away.

It was a meaningful experience.

#NeverForget

*****

The phone buzzed a bit after that.

I'm only going to say don't be surprised if I'm calling hockey (yes!) sometime this week to go along with two football games.

Plus soccer tomorrow thanks to today's thunderstorms.

Oh, and conversations about podcasts, show guests, sponsors, and more.

This, basically, all happened before 11 this morning.

Looks like it's going to be quite a week.