Countdown to Kickoff 2024

 

Ken Strong Stadium, West Haven
Site of the first football broadcast of 2024

Ten days to go.

Greenwich and Brunswick are both getting ready to kick off the 2024 season.

And, for me, it means getting back to work in the booth.

If I have any gripe, it's that there were plenty of football games last weekend and I sat at home. So it goes.

It's amazing, Greenwich High is so close that I could almost walk to Cardinal Stadium from home. There is, of course, Putnam Hill here in Greenwich to consider as well as equipment that needs to be carried.

Then again, it's not a short walk from where I park at GHS to the Cardinal Stadium booth.

Back in the stone age -- 2000, to be exact -- there were two parking spots for WGCH to use. One was for the engineer and equipment and the other was for the rest of the crew.

Soon, an engineer didn't go with us so it was usually just me. I became my own engineer on-site.

But, as you know, things have changed quite a bit at Cardinal Stadium. The new bleachers, the new booth level, and so on.

And a row of food trucks is generally where I would have parked.

So I don't complain and park where I can. 

I have a hand cart I can utilize for the walk that I'll load the equipment in and I'll use the elevator to get up top.

I opened up all of my equipment cases yesterday, sorted everything out, and created multiple setups if necessary.

I think I counted a potential five setups.

Of course, I'll probably just use WGCH's equipment but I'll likely bring some of mine anyway. I'll use my Zoom Podtrak P4 when I need to save space. Otherwise, I have a Podtrak P8 from WGCH at my disposal and it works very well.

In fact, I don't know that I can see any space concerns this season but I can't predict booth space.

Everything is packed into the car so I'm ready right now.

My first scorecard is set as Dan Murphy and I prepare to take a stab at keeping stats. Traditionally, we had a GHS student join our team for stats, while other years had a live scoring system. Both of those options have dried up, so we'll try doing it ourselves.

At the very least, I want to keep track of drives, so I modified something I found online and will work with that. Last year, I actually downloaded a program to keep stats, and, well, the game moves fast. I never used what I downloaded.

Of course, then again, allow me to present the thoughts of one Mr. Vincent E. Scully.

"Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination."

True dat.

The point is statistics are lovely but they have never been at the forefront of any broadcast of mine. Oh, sure, I utilize them as available but it can be dangerous in my opinion to go overboard. Simply having stats doesn't mean they have to be used and, as alluded to by Vin, they can be a crutch.

I'm a storyteller.

However, I think stats will come in handy for us if we have them.

Ten days out, I'm excited and confident.

I've always believed in our ability to put on the best broadcast that we can. That's not to say it's a competition with anyone else. As I've said, I have a standard that I expect us to achieve and I'm ready to do that again.

As for the noise at the end of last year, I consider that long in the past.

This is a new year. 

New captains. New playmakers.

Same standard from the teams I cover and from the teams I work for.

Ten days.