Last season, I embarked on a journey that took me from small town gyms in rural Henderson County, to the suburbs of Chicago, and the IHSA State Finals. In that journey, I broadcasted 112 games (play-by-play). That work averaged out to nearly 7 1/2 broadcasts/week.
Never was the Quest for 100 broadcasts in doubt, though I did check the calendar and do the math on occasion. During the first week of the season, I had already reached 11 games, and the boy's basketball season had not even tipped off yet.
The culmination was at the Class 2A boy's basketball regional at Sherrard, with the Monmouth-Roseville Titans facing the Alleman Pioneers. The funny part of my 100th broadcast, was the fact that it got mentioned on the WQAD sportscast that night, with video. I laughed out loud when they mentioned my 100th broadcast, with the video panning between my color commentator Jeff Thompson, and WRMJ's Jim Taylor, as the anchor says, "There's Beau doing his thing," and I wasn't even in view!
Following that broadcast, I could say I didn't slow down, but in reality I did put it into cruise control (still a heavy schedule, but easy street for me). I headed to Bloomington-Normal a day early to broadcast the Class 4A Sectional championship between Moline and Edwardsville. I am glad I broadcast that game, as I logged over 300 listeners for that broadcast alone, and had more than 20 people in the online chatroom. Then, I broadcasted all eight of the Class 1A and 2A girl's basketball state finals at Redbird Arena. Through those three days, I ranked fourth out of over 250 different radio stations that broadcast online using Network1Sports.
Throughout the season, it was a chase of sorts. Every gym I walked into, at least a half dozen people would ask me what number game I was on. I blogged about each game, which can be read here: http://ihssn.blogspot.com/. Note: I did not write a blog for the 112th and final game, which was the Sectional championship between Orion and Lewistown.
Toward the end of the run last season, many people posed the question, "What is the goal for next year, 150?" I laughed at that notion, but did have it in the back of my head. I really enjoy broadcasting games, and have always counted up the amount of broadcasts I do each year. It's also a joy to see the players, coaches, and fans who don't normally get radio or broadcast coverage.
100 (or 112 as it finished up) was a little tough, but I was able to take some breaks and put it into cruise control and various parts of the season. Honestly, it was pretty easy. 150 games....that will be tough. This will require a 6-night week, broadcasting an average of about 9 games per week.
This past weekend, I took out the calendar, and counted up my games that I will be broadcasting for WAIK (Galesburg boy's and girl's basketball). The problem I could run into is that Galesburg plays a primarily Thursday/Friday/Saturday schedule. This puts the various shootouts in jeopardy, in which I can broadcast five to six games in one day. The positive, is that both GHS girl's and boy's host two tournaments during the season, which can give me additional games.
I went through the first two months of the season, and figured I could get between 65 and 70 games in by New Year's. That is, if there are no snow cancellations, and I don't lose my voice. I did lose my voice during the week of Thanksgiving, and missed two broadcasts. I had zero voice. Common belief is that the Christmas tournaments are the halfway point of the season. That is not true, taking in both small school boy's and girl's and large school boy's and girl's. The halfway point of high school basketball is actually in mid-January. I think I pinpointed January 17th as the midway point for the upcoming season.
150 games will be one of the toughest goals to reach, something spanning four months of the year, keeping me busy an extreme amount of time each day and week. Can it be done? It WILL be done!
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