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Have you ever been in a stadium that was full of people, but was silent?
That was the scene Friday night in Kosciusko during a 40-minute injury delay.

Football is a tough sport and we’ve all seen our fair share of injuries on the field, but when the stadium is silent and an ambulance drives onto the field, it puts things in perspective.

Now I know most of the kids on the team just from covering the team as much as I do, but the player that was injured Friday night, I knew better than most.

Big Mike used to frequent our weekly basketball game at a local church. And since he and I are usually two of the biggest guys on the court, we often played opposite each other.

Now I’m not a good basketball player by any means, but I can hold my own under the goal and use some leg strength to hold my ground and grab rebounds. But not against Mike.

Every time we play, he pushed me all over the court.

Now I still talked trash. Would never let him know I had no chance of stopping him.  He’d just smile….and keep scoring.

Mike is a good kid and I wish him a speedy recovery.

Highlights of the night:

• Man, it was fun watching this team finally put it all together. The offense has SOOO many playmakers on the field and this defense is one of the best I’ve seen in my 8 years broadcasting games. This team will be fun to watch downt the stretch.
• Was happy that Coach Orr got a win over his alma mater. Coaching against a school you went to or from the town you grew up in is kinda like competing against your little brother: You better win or you’re gonna hear about it at every dinner, holiday, or family get together. I guess Coach Orr will be enjoying Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
• When I found out it was a blackout night, prior to the game, I hurried back to the radio station to add Ciara’s version of “Paint it Black” to the stadium playlist. Judging from the team’s performance, I’d say it’s a keeper.

There really is nothing like a hometown football game.

It’s great to see the parents come out to support their kids on the team, in the band, or on the cheerleading squad.
What’s even better is seeing the fans that really don’t have any parental affiliation to be there, but they come out to support the home team.

And the home fans wanted football. The athletic director told me that there were 200 tickets sold in the first 30 minutes of them going on sale.

Once again, things were different. I got tracked down so someone could take my temperature. We had a plexiglass partition next to our broadcast set up to separate us from the rest of the press box. The visiting radio and video team had to set up in the top row of the bleachers. However, no one complained. We were all just glad to be there.

The game didn’t go how we wanted. Grenada has a good team, but our guys are still trying to get down the new offense. There were marked improvements on defense however. I have confidence that they’ll get it all put together soon.

Highlights of the night:

• For the 3rd year in a row, I am once again the pregame stadium DJ. I had all of the usual “pump jams” on the playlist, but “Don’t Stand so Close to Me” and “Can’t Touch This” got a few laughs from the crowd. The California Love-Fresh Prince of Bel-Air remix also was quite popular.
• This was our first video broadcast of the year and it went great. No issues at all. We had a lot of people tuned in due to the capacity restrictions at the games. I was also told a restaurant downtown had the stream on a TV in the bar.
• This was a crazy hectic week. I had sooo much work to do that wasn’t football related. And Friday I spent most of the day trying to fix a problem with our other football video stream. Ultimately, that couldn’t be fixed so that broadcast was audio only. That irked me a bit because that means those fans that can’t go to the game, wouldn’t be able to watch. So I wasn’t in the best mood when I left the station to go home to get ready for our game, but as soon as I stepped in our press box, all that went away.

 

Broadcasting high school football is an adventure. You never know where you are going to be. I’ve broadcasted from 100 degree press boxes, rotten wooden platforms, and from the bleachers. Friday night was the latter.

We went on the road to Winona. Normally, they have us a nice spot in the press box, but due to all of the Coronavirus precautions, we were forced to set up in the visitor bleachers.

All things considered, it wasn’t so bad. For Labor Day weekend in Mississippi, it wasn’t that hot. We had a lot of room to set up and move around. We could see also well enough. And it’s really fun sitting with the fans because you can hear EVERYTHING. Sometimes that’s fun and other times I have to turn my mic down so some of the more “colorful” language doesn’t make it on air.

All in all, setting up in the stands isn’t so bad, so long as we don’t have to do it every week.

Highlights of the night:

• I started the night by seeing one of my best friends and former college roommate. He lives less than a mile from the Winona stadium, so he pulled in to the parking lot right before the game. He’s getting ready to move out of state, so it was good to see him.
• The broadcast went great. We didn’t have any issues at all. Which is great given that we didn’t have any electricity and were running off of battery power. Credit to our producer Donald for handling things back in the studio.
• Even though our team came up on the losing side, the game was very entertaining. It was a back and forth affair for most of the night. Kosciusko showed just how many playmakers it has with 4 different players scoring touchdowns. I liked the effort I saw from the team. They never showed any signs of giving up.

For the first time in 7 months, I broadcasted a game!
Even if it was a jamboree/scrimmage. Even if our equipment decided it didn’t want to cooperate. Even if it rained on us right at the start of the game.
It did not matter. We were broadcasting football.

We traveled up the Natchez Trace (always a great drive) to Maben, MS as Kosciusko faced off against East Webster. This would be the first look at the Whippets under a new coaching staff. But for me, and I imagine a number of fans who made the trip, the way the team looked mattered very little. This night was all about returning to our way of life. Something that we do every Friday night. And it was the same for East Webster and fans.

The stands were packed. People were talking to each other. The band was playing. The cheerleaders were cheering. Normalcy.

I don’t know how many more games we’ll get to broadcast, because of the rules for mandatory quarantines and all that, but last night was fun. So if it has to last me a while, I think it will.

Highlights of the night:

• I got to see former Kosciusko High School band director Jesse Yates as he is the head director at East Webster now. I had been texting him all week, asking if he could speak to the coaches to find out where we could set up to broadcast. He was able to secure the penthouse (roof of the press box) for us.
• Kosciusko looks much improved over last year. There were some hiccups with the new offense, but we knew that would be the case because the team didn’t have a spring season to learn it. With the playmakers they put on the field, I have no doubt they’ll get it down. On the other side of the ball, the defense looked great. They flew to the ball and there are a couple of guys I’m so excited to watch for the rest of the year.
• When we first went live on the air, I got goosebumps because it felt so good to be back on the air.

I was FINALLY able to get back to the booth last night for a football broadcast. I was just running the camera for a video stream, but it was still a return to some semblance of normalcy.

We were in Madden for Winston Academy vs Leake Academy. Per state orders, each football player, cheerleader, etc. only go two tickets to give out to parents/family. So, the stands weren’t very full, which made for an interesting experience.  You could hear EVERYTHING that was said on the field. From coaches screaming at refs to players talking to each other, it was very different.

But the broadcast went as well as it could have for our first one since March. No major problems and the folks at Leake Academy were very gracious that we were able to stream the game since many of the fans couldn’t attend.

All in all, it was a fun time and I’m so glad to be back doing what I love.

Highlights of the night:

• Working with Melvin Wooten. He began his 18th year broadcasting for Leake Academy last night. In all the years I’ve been at the station, Melvin and I had never worked a game together, so that was a treat.
• Leake Academy has a good team. They dominated the game from start to finish. Welch is a hoss at RB. He looked like Mike Alstott running over folks.
• Funny story: Remember how I said we could hear EVERYTHING that was said on the field? Well that includes hearing a player for Leake after he took a shot in his…uh…”business.” He comes to the sideline in visible pain. A coach yells something at him and EVERYONE in the stands hears him respond with “NAH, COACH I WANT TO HAVE KIDS SOME DAY.” Laughter ensued.

Steve Azar called into the show to tell us all about his newest album “My Mississippi Reunion.”