Saturday, May 1, 2010

Tired? Yes. Tiring? No.

We had a 12:10 first pitch today, but that is not the telecast I am writing about.
I am writing about last night's telecast.
In fact, I am combining both telecasts into this one blog.
There is a good reason I am combining both telecasts into a single blog.
Last night's game telecast began at 7:00 after a half-hour pregame show.
The Cardinals were leading 2-1 going into the sixth inning when it started raining. The pitcher for the Cardinals was having trouble with his pitching hand being wet and had trouble with his control. During the top half of the inning, the Reds scored 2 runs to go up 3-2.
Then it started pouring rain.
After a rain delay of 2:32, play resumed with the Cardinals batting in the bottom of the sixth. The game ended at 12:30 AM with the tying run on second.
Both sides of the game/telecast (pre-rain and post rain) had a nice pace.
When the game finally resumed, everyone on the crew, although tired, continued to deliver a good TV baseball product.
Crew call for today's 12:10 PM start was 8:00 AM.
Despite being a short turn around, every member of the crew showed up with a great attitude. Despite being physically and mentally tired, our crew worked their tails off and I believe that each member of the crew enjoyed the telecast.
We televise 155 Cardinals games each season and this can become quite a grind.
There are many factors that contribute to a successful TV baseball season.
Perhaps the most important is the relationships between the crew members.
Our travelling crew of producer, director, graphics operator, and tape producer are all friends. We are together almost every day from the middle of March through the first week of October. It is imperative that we all get along.
If we did not get along and actually enjoy each other, a day like today would prove to be difficult. In the truck during the telecast today was a blast!
The Cardinals scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning and won 6-3.
The game went 3:19 which is a bit long but we were having so much fun that the game went by rather quickly. There were some great super slo-mo shots, the replays worked well, and the graphics were pertinent.
Yesterday, we signed on at 6:30 PM for the pre-game show and we signed off at 12:30 AM.
Today we went to air at 11:30 AM and closed out the show at 3:30 PM.
Tired? Yes.
Tiring? No.
I am very fortunate and very grateful that I work with such fantastic TV teammates.

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