{"id":79213,"date":"2017-01-30T20:03:10","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T20:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=79213"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:33:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:33:00","slug":"sportstalk-shop-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/sportstalk-shop-next\/","title":{"rendered":"The SportsTalk Shop:  &#8220;Up Next&#8230;What the &#8212;-"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s6s6onkA17g\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A few years ago a local athletic director appeared on our \u201cSportsTalk\u201d show and tossed out the real possibility that Pennsylvania would reclassify its sports teams and expand the playoffs.\u00a0 At that time several things quickly passed through my mind about those possibilities and what might be the end result.<\/p>\n<p>One that quickly came to mind was what will happen over the next two months.\u00a0 Let me explain\u2026<\/p>\n<p>In years past, this is a very difficult time of year for everyone involved in local sports, including those of us in the media.\u00a0 Traditionally for the next several weeks, there are at least five days a week in which we are doing high school basketball playoff productions, which normally triples (and sometime even more) the number of games that we normally prepare for.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s three times the amount of coordinating crews, loading\/unloading trucks, rolling cables and wires, calling\/acquiring\/resending information, compiling rosters, statistics, computer graphics, and so on\u2026<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s always a hectic time, but at least there was usually at least one or two days here and there in which everyone (coaches, players, media members, administrators et al) can try to catch their breaths, recharge their batteries and maybe spend a little time with their families.<\/p>\n<p>However\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Using some rudimentary math skills, if the number of championship tournaments would then be doubled from what we\u2019ve always done in the past, a quick computation would reveal that we\u2019d be doing\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>WOW!!! That\u2019s a lot of games!!!<\/p>\n<p>Gone are the days when Mondays were reserved for make-up dates, in the realistic and usually likely situation that there\u2019s significant snow in the forecast in eastern Pennsylvania area over the next two months.\u00a0 Sundays\u2014once forbidden to be used for any high school playoff games\u2014are now being slated for some games to be played.\u00a0 And, for some of us who would normally settle for working from home at least a few hours on the \u201coff days\u201d\u2026those hours are now filled with significantly additional prep time, more texts\/emails\/phone calls and many more games to work.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s flash forward to this week.<\/p>\n<p>Our studio manager emails out the crew schedules to everyone (and also posts the schedule on a beat-up clipboard on a rusty hook in the side office\u2014for the \u201cOld School\u201d folks) that list our production schedule and everyone\u2019s work assignments.\u00a0 As our hearty and incredibly talented crew members slowly make their way in to the studio to check out the new schedule, I knew what was coming as their eyes started scanning our upcoming workload\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>A glance over the assignment schedule\u2026eyebrows slowly rise, <\/em><br \/>\n<em>followed by a widening of the eyes\u2026a quick breath and a glance <\/em><br \/>\n<em>to the side to see if the production calendar supports what <\/em><br \/>\n<em>is on the clipboard\u2026then, a quick look around for guidance,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>but finding none\u2026facades deliberately transform into more <\/em><br \/>\n<em>exasperated expressions, and finally forced utterances of \u2026<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u201cWow\u2026that\u2019s a lot of games!!!\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<em>(or something along those lines)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake.\u00a0 Every single person on our crew roots for the young people in our area, and not a single person in our studio will ever hope that a team that reaches the state semifinals comes home with anything less than then a PIAA gold medal.\u00a0 I truly don\u2019t think anyone who feels differently would endure these next two months every year for more than a season or two\u2026and we have crew members who have been here for decades!<\/p>\n<p>And so, it now begins. Monday, February 6, will be our first Monday high school broadcast of the year\u2026and don\u2019t ask me when the playoffs end, because I never look that far ahead.\u00a0 All hands are on-deck and many of our other responsibilities get pushed off until a much later date.<\/p>\n<p>But for all the work we do, it is, in the end, a great experience.\u00a0 While I don\u2019t enjoy rarely seeing my family over the next few weeks, this time of year is truly special.<\/p>\n<p>When you arrive at the arenas\u2014there\u2019s a different atmosphere that you don\u2019t feel at any other time of the sports calendar year.\u00a0 There are rising levels of adrenaline in every quarter\u2026every series\u2026every play.\u00a0 The intensity only increases exponentially once you get to the \u2018do or die\u2019 games&#8211;in which the losing team sees their long season come to an abrupt end.\u00a0 The rush is incredible\u2014not to mention thrilling when games go down to the final play and it\u2019s a great honor to have the chance to be on the floor when those exhilarating moments occur.<\/p>\n<p>Memories include the smiles on the faces of the players, the coaches, their staffs and everyone\u2019s family of the winning teams that advance through each round of the playoffs \u2026 and the hugs, tears and special moments that you physically and mentally record each year while watching the trophy ceremony after the successful completion of each round.\u00a0 Those are the memories we are so fortunately to get an up close-and-personal look at, year in and year out\u2026.and make a grueling work schedule for a few months, all worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>So until next week, forgive me if I try to take some pleasure in peaking around the corner of my office and down the hallway, and chuckle a little each time one of our crew members arrive at our studio and make their way over to that beat-up old clipboard on the wall.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago a local athletic director appeared on our \u201cSportsTalk\u201d show and tossed out the real possibility that Pennsylvania would reclassify its sports teams and expand the playoffs.\u00a0 At that time several things quickly passed through my mind about those possibilities and what might be the end result. One that quickly came to&#8230;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The SportsTalk Shop: &quot;Up Next...What the - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The SportsTalk Shop: &quot;Up Next...What the - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago a local athletic director appeared on our \u201cSportsTalk\u201d show and tossed out the real possibility that Pennsylvania would reclassify its sports teams and expand the playoffs.\u00a0 At that time several things quickly passed through my mind about those possibilities and what might be the end result. 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