Sports Bucket List

So it’s been a long time since my last post. Things are about to get crazy with College Football right around the corner.

I have been thinking of a Sports Fan Bucket list, and have been able to cross a few off mine already.

Here they are, these are in no order, only the order that I thought of them.

• Kentucky Derby
• Masters
• Daytona 500
• Indy 500
• College World Series
• Final Four weekend
• BCS Championship Game
• Championship in all professional sports (bonus if it is Game 7)
• Game at each MLB Park
• Game at Wrigley in the Bleachers and rooftops
• Visit all of the Hall of Fame’s (bonus if it is induction weekend)
• A round at each of the PGA Majors
• Little League World Series
• Catch a foul ball or home run ball (BP doesn’t count)
• Notre Dame Game
• Army – Navy game
• North Carolina at Duke Basketball game
• Night race at Bristol
• A tournament at Pebble Beach
• Olympic Event
• Visit the “Field of Dreams” site in Iowa
• A Kansas game at the Phog
• A game in MSG
• Wimbledon
• British Open
• World Cup game

I’m sure I will think of other things to add.

So you want to work in production?

Since football season comes to an end I figured I would give you a little look into a weekend for me by taking you through a time-line of last weekend at Boston College.

Friday November 19

5:20am Wake Up

5:40am Depart for Airport

6:40am Fly to Charlotte

8:11am Arrive in Charlotte

9:45am Fly to Boston

11:59am Arrive in Boston

12:45pm Check into hotel

12:50pm Depart to Stadium

1:00pm Set up equipment, check rosters.

6:00pm Leave Stadium

6:30pm Dinner

9:00pm Arrive back to hotel

11:00pm Sleep
Saturday November 20

5:30am Wake Up (hate waking up and not being able to go back to sleep)

6:40am Check out of hotel

7:00am Arrive at stadium, final check of everything and make sure stats are accurate for players.

8:45am Breakfast

11:52am ON AIR

3:25pm Off Air

3:35pm Strike

5:00pm Depart for Airport

7:05pm Fly to Charlotte

10:20pm Fly to Louisville

Midnight arrive home.

Two very long days but with the places that I get to go it is pretty awesome.

As for working the game, how does hearing 10 people while you are trying to work sound?

During a game I listen to 5 people just on my headset, then a stats guy next to me, the producer, the announcers and the ref when he is talking.

Worth the price of HD?

I have been wanting to post a blog about this for awhile, just trying to get all of my thoughts gathered. The topic at hand, is it worth having your recruiting video shot in HD? With the rising cost of just about everything is it really worth that extra cost?

Everyone will have their own opinion, and it all depends on how it is going to be viewed.

Many coaches don’t have a Blu-Ray player so they are watching your video in SD (Standard Definition), so if you are going to send coaches a DVD, why take the added expense for video in HD that a coach will never see. If the video is going to be online it’s a toss up, HD videos are larger files so it takes longer to upload and download (depending upon internet connection speeds).

I also like to remind people just because it’s in HD doesn’t mean that it is better. If you are playing in a gym that is dark or a field that has bad lighting HD and SD are both going to look bad.

Now if you want the highlight video for yourself more than for coaches and you have a Blu-Ray player, go ahead and spend the money on HD. But if you are more concerned with getting the video to the coaches go SD, with the cost you save you may be able to get an extra game or two added to your highlight video.

Some other things that I don’t recommend include purchasing plans based on effects in editing. This is one thing that I feel sets me apart from others, if you purchase my lowest package you are going to get the same editing and DVD’s as the person that purchased the high package. I am not into special effects on video, all you need is a spot shadow or an arrow to identify the student athlete and nothing else.

Also remember that your highlight video should include not only a short highlight portion but game action as well.

I’m interested to hear what others have to say on this issue, leave your comments below, and remember RedBird Media can produce your video as well as any other needs you may have.

Long Overdue

What have I missed?

Last time I posted I was in Maryland so let’s see since then I have been to IU, Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Cincinnati and about to head to Miami (FL) before I get a Louisville game.

Cincinnati

Blacksburg was a really neat town and a great drive from the airport with all the fall colors. The campus was amazing, just about all of the buildings were made of the same stone (even the new ones) so everything looked like it has been there since day one. You must stop by the Memorial that is on campus from the shooting.

 

Virginia Tech

 

Bloomington is also a nice drive, especially since I didn’t have to get on a plane to get there. I don’t have a lot of restaurant recommendations but I will say if you are around the Minnesota campus, go to Big Ten Subs, great food, at an even better price.

Miami

What have I missed?

Sorry for the delay in a post for anyone that actually reads this.

Two weeks ago I worked at Maryland for their game against FIU (that’s Florida International for those that don’t know). I’m sure some people thought Maryland = Crab-cakes, well not for me. After a long day of travel we ended up at a TGIFriday’s near the hotel, it’s against all of our rules of finding a local place to go to but we make concessions at times.

The drive from Baltimore to College Park was very scenic, yet again another drive where I wish the trees were in the fall colors. The campus, from the little that I saw was very nice and clean. Everyone knows FEAR THE TURTLE when at Maryland. I was ready to use my pass to go down to the field after our meal on Saturday to get a picture of the turtle that the players touch each day when I walked past another turtle statue. Pretty neat that they have one that the fans can touch as they walk into the stadium.

Fear the Turtle

Last week we were the Prime time game on ESPNU. Without getting you (and me) CBS chose their option to have an SEC Prime time game so our crew switched with the ESPNU Prime time crew so they could have their usual SEC on ESPN game at Noon. I know it sounds crazy. So I found myself in the state that I left in July, North Carolina as Georgia Tech traveled to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest.

We were able to go back to eating at a local establishment, and I’m sure people in North Carolina will be upset that we didn’t go to a BBQ place. We went to Foothills Brewing, I can’t recommend anything to drink there except Coke. The place was nice, it was in an old building in downtown, reminds me of what Louisville is trying to do with downtown around the new KFC Yum! Center. My burger was good, wasn’t made to my order which was not good but it was still good.

After we ate and our producer played around on his iPhone we found a custard place for our weekly ice cream. We ended up at Kernel Kustard to only walk in and find out that they had enough for 1 person. So we walk down the street to Wolfies Frozen Custard where I got a Turtle Sundae (3 scoops of custard -2 vanilla 1 chocolate for me, Chocolate Syrup, Swirled Caramel, Pecans, Whipped Cream and I optioned out of the Coconut Sprinkles). It was very good.

As for Wake Forest, the stadium is old, you are easily fooled when you arrive because the exterior has been renovated and looks really nice. They have renovated the press box and suites and have new turf but as for the concourse it’s self and seating it’s old. I would say about 98% of the seating in bleacher seats (they have backs on them which I don’t find comfortable). In one endzone they have a grass berm, which would be a great spot to catch a game.

View from the Wake Forest Scoreboard Room

For those that are worried that I didn’t get any BBQ don’t worry we had fried chicken and BBQ as our meal on game day. Next up for travel Blacksburg, VA for a Virginia Tech game then off to IU.

Take Me Home Country Roads

Here is the latest entry on my weekly road trip for ESPNU. This week Maryland @ West Virginia.

I made the drive to Morgantown from Louisville, beautiful ride, one that would be even better if it was Fall and the trees had some color on them.

I was a little  disappointed in both Kentucky and West Virginia that I didn’t see a single outhouse, but I didn’t venture far to try and find one.

As for Morgantown,  I didn’t get much of a feel for the town, but what I did see and experience was nice, no burning couches either. The campus was spread out, the stadium is up on the top of a hill so you get some great views of some of the mountains (hopefully I can get a photo on here that I took).

View from the WVU Press Box

I did learn that Coach Bob Huggins doesn’t own a house in WV, he has a condo at the hotel that we stayed at, which was a very nice hotel, Waterfront Place.

Next week I am off to College Park, Maryland.

From the Road

We are now into week 2 of the College Football season, and I am sitting in Detroit, which made me think (for those that know me I know that is a scary thought) why not blog about the cities I have been to.

Tallahassee : Week 1 of the season had me in Tallahassee for Samford @ FSU. I recommend MoMo’s Pizza (slices are very large, I recommend just getting one, 2 if you are starving) and Gordo’s Cuban restaurant, both are very good, and at a good price.

Bobby Bowden Field

Detroit : All the stereotypes you hear, they are true. Hate to trash a city from what I see on a quick visit but so many abandoned buildings that it is sad. In Greektown there is a nice Greek restaurant, and if you plan on walking anywhere better go in a group on do it during daylight hours.

Tigers at Comerica Park

I am going to try and update this each week for each town I go to, hopefully I can add some pictures as well. Next week Morgantown, WV for Maryland @ WVU.

Start of the Season

As everyone starts the fall sports season I would like to wish everyone good luck, and want to give you a reminder if you have any video needs feel free to contact me. Be sure to visit my website to see what all I offer.
If you have any questions about shooting different sports please add them to the comments below or e-mail me.

“Going Pro in Something Other than Sports”

If you have watched a NCAA Championship Event on TV you have seen the Commercial that ends “…and just about all of us will go pro in something other than sports.”

Most athletes have the goal of making it to the professional level, but what percentage of NCAA Athletes actually make it to the professional level?

Well thanks to the NCAA’s 2010 Baseball Program, which list some numbers of those that go pro, we have some answers.

• Men’s Basketball had 546,335 High School Student Athletes, the NCAA 16,571. Only 3% of the High School athletes made it to the NCAA and .03% went from High School to the Professional Level
• Women’s Basketball had 452,929 High School Athletes, and 15,096 at the Collegiate level. 3.3% went from High School to the NCAA and .02 & from High School to Professional
• Football had 1,071,775 High School Athletes, and 51,252 in the NCAA. 5.7% went from High School to NCAA, and .08 & from High School to the Professional ranks

If you want to go pro, play baseball. 9.4% of NCAA Baseball Players have went on to become Professional Baseball Players. 3.7% from Ice Hockey, 1.8% Football, 1.7% Men’s Soccer, 1.2% Men’s Basketball, and 1% Women’s Basketball Athletes have gone on to play at the Professional Level.

What do all these numbers mean? Well You may feel that you have what it takes to go pro (and you just might) just keep these numbers in mind and think about the school that fits you both academically and athletically.

Coming Soon

It’s been awhile since I have posted something. Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about this and any readers that I may have.

Coming soon I will have some tips for recruiting videos, some numbers from the NCAA about athletes going pro, and many more items.  In the meantime check out my website and see what I can do to help you.