Blessed

The Redbirds defeated the Padres today in San Diego by the score of 8 - 5 in a game that took 3:35 to play. I am now on my balcony at the Phoenician in Phoenix and I am trying to describe MY average directing on the telecast today. However, I just left my favorite hotel in baseball, The Omni, and I am now enjoying a very nice breeze on my balcony of my 2nd favorite destination in baseball - The Phoenician. I have a cold drink in hand and a soothing, cooling breeze massaging me and for the life of me I can't complain. Now I am going to get corny. I am madly in love with my wife, my grandkids bring me undescrible joy and I have the best job in baseball. I will not and cannot write a negative word tonight. My God, I am lucky and I am blessed.

Just Saying

3:06 is what it took for the Cards to beat the Padres 12 - 2 tonight in San Diego. For the Redbirds, this was a tale of two halves. Through the first 5 innings they failed to score. They scored their 11 runs in the last 4 frames. For the St. Louis TV team this as also a tale of two halves. The first 5 innings moved at a rapid pace thus making it difficult to not "cram" in our paid promotional items. With all the run scoring in the final 4 innings, there was plenty of time to air these items. I realize that these items "pay" for the TV production, BUT this telecast is reaching a near breaking point. The game is the most important factor for the TV crew and the fans. It is the responsibility of the TV crew to cover the game without making the "paid" items a distraction to the game. This is becoming increasingly more difficult for us in the TV truck. Our production team is very adept at covering the game without distracting from it. This is becoming almost a distraction for us in the truck. Just saying.

You Live With It

San Diego is a really really nice place. The weather is perfect and the people are friendly. The Padres weren't very friendly to the Cardinals tonight as they beat them 4 - 1 in 2:35. Yes, the Pads beat the Cards 4 - 1 but I should have described this game as a 4 - 1 beating. This game wasn't even close. The Redbirds were never really in this game. They seemed a bit out of sync the whole night. When a team is out of sync, the game is out of sync, and therefore, the telecast is out of sync. We were just a bit off the whole game/telecast. Not so much as to present a bad show, but just enough that one can feel it in the TV truck during the telecast. It is not a good feeling but it not like everything we are doing in the truck is bad TV. It's almost comical that no matter what we do we are going to be just a bit off. You never surrender but you know that the TV product is as good as it's going to be and you live with it. Thank God we are in San Diego.

By The Numbers

The Cardinals beat the Cubs at Busch Stadium today by the score of 5 - 3. There were 3 sections of today's game/telecast. Let's go inside the numbers. Going into the bottom of the 7th inning the Redbirds were leading 4 - 1 and the game was 1 hour and 54 minutes old. Then the rain came and segment 2 began. The rain delay lasted 3 hours and 21 minutes. The remainder of the game, segment 3, took 46 minutes to play. 2 hours and 40 minutes to play the game wrapped around a 3 hour 21 minute rain delay. A fairly short game but an extremely long day. My brain is mush and I am wiped. Off day tomorrow and we fly to San Diego. Thank God!!

Night And Day

Yesterday's Cubs 5 - 0 win took 2:32 to play. Tonight's Cubs 2 - 1 win took 3:20 to play. How can a 2 - 1 game take almost an hour longer to play than a 5 - 0 game? A 5 - 0 game with 14 hits takes almost an hour less to play than a 2 - 1 game with 12 hits. How does that happen? Last night's game vs tonight's game - night and day. My mood from last night to tonight - night and day. Enough said. Good night.

Loved It

The Cubs defeated the Cards tonight in 2:32 by the score of 5 - 0. This game at Busch Stadium was one of the better games a TV baseball director can enjoy. The first 7 innings of this game flew by and were played in under an hour and a half. Thanks can be given to the 2 starting pitchers who were outstanding. I also loved this game/telecast because of the storylines involved. The Cubs are considered by many to be the best team in the game. The years of futility for this organization make this assertion a very compelling story. The starting pitcher for the Cubs pitched for the Cardinals last season and the starter for the Redbirds replaced him in the rotation. Also, I don't believe that I have ever experienced Busch Stadium as electric as it was tonight. I believe the TV crew and, thus, the audience feed off this energy. Our telecast tonight proved this to be true. I love what I do and I enjoy doing it. Tonight was extra special. I loved it!

The Fastest Sport

The Cards beat me the Reds in 2:44 today at Busch Stadium by the score of 4 - 3. I have directed all the major sports and, as I have stated before, baseball is by far the fastest game to cut. Each sport has it's primary "game" camera. For baseball, that camera is in the high home position and is called camera 2. Now, when action is going on in any sport the "game" camera is the primary camera to begin the action. The difference between baseball and the other sports is that baseball is a 360 degree sport which means cameras can and do surround the field and any camera can be involved in the cut. Plus there is a longer opportunity to cut cameras during a baseball game than any other sport. For example, more cameras will be cut for a homerun than a goal in hockey, a basket in basketball or a touchdown in football. However, a touchdown cut came cone very close to a homerun cut. This makes for a faster "game" for the TV director. Now the reason I have blabbed on and on about this is that the first 3 innings of this game may have been the "fastest" innings I have ever cut. I remember thinking " Holy shit, I am going to be fried after this one. Thankfully the game settled down and I maintained my sanity. Well, that's another discussion.