It's Hugh's Life

The Super Bowl, Phelps, and A-Rod

2009-02-07T14:38:00.003-05:00

What a crazy week it's been in the world of sports. It started on Sunday with one of the more dramatic Super Bowls in recent memory. Being a Giants fan, it's hard to put it ahead of last year's victory over the undefeated Patriots. The only other "big game" that I remember having that exciting of a finish would be the Rams-Titans game from the '99 season. Who can forget the Titans coming up 1-yard short of the winning touchdown on the final play of the game? So, for me personally, I'll rank it as the third most memorable Super Bowl.

During the Super Bowl pregame, we got a statement from Michael Phelps admitting that he did something stupid (while not clarifying what it was)... he has yet to admit that he actually smoked from the bong that he was pictured using. I'm not going to sit here and preach morals... I've never used illegal drugs, but have friends who have... one just has to wonder what was going through Phelps' mind as he put his lips to the pipe? You have to figure if he's at a college party, there's a good chance there will be pictures... and if he doesn't know the folks personally, what college kid wouldn't take the opportunity to cash in the picture? In all likelyhood, that money will replenish his pot supply for the rest of the semester!

Do I think Phelps will be forgiven by the public? In the long run, yes... personally, I subscribe to a three-strike policy. So, Phelps has one more strike before I write him off as just a cocky athlete who thinks he can get away with anything. Honestly, the first thing I thought of when I heard about the photo (my wife was there when I brought it up) was Phelps' DUI after the 2004 Olympic games. The scary thing is what will happen after the 2012 games? Phelps will be 27 years old... with the exception of Dara Torres, it's rare to see swimmers stay competitive at that point. What will happen to Phelps when he doesn't have to be at the pool training every day? Lets hope that he truly does learn from this mistake.

And then there was Saturday's breaking news... allegedly, Alex Rodridguez tested positive for steroids during the 2003 MLB season. I can't say I was totally surprised by this revelation, but it certainly caught me off-guard. This one stings a bit more for me... I don't know if my co-worker from Louisiana, Chris Hunter, remembers this from 8 years ago, but in 2001 I called A-Rod as the potential all-time home run leader. Of course he needed to stay healthy and keep his numbers up, but I thought A-Rod had a legitimate chance to pass Hank Aaron. Of late, baseball folks pointed to Rodriguez as the man who will wipe the slate clean... clear Barry Bonds (the steroids cover-boy) from the record book. Now, if the allegations against A-Rod hold true, he's no better than the rest of the players who forced us to put an asterisk on baseball for close to twenty years.

I'm Back -- Take 2

2009-01-27T16:18:00.002-05:00

Okay, so maybe announcing my return to the blogging world was a little premature last month. We had just gotten back from visiting my family in Florida for Thanksgiving, and the next thing I know we're at the Atlanta airport, flying into the first of many "snow events" in New England this winter. Our two weeks up north were quite eventful, even if we wound up skipping the Patriots-Cardinals game (we didn't want to deal with the freezing rain and ice on the road).

Without being too specific, I'll just say my trip included a visit to the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut. If anything comes of my 3+ hour stay at the "worldwide leader", I'll be sure to let you know.

So, that explains my absence through New Year's... as for what I've been doing since we got back to Georgia on January 2nd, we'll just blame it on a bit of laziness while also getting our house back in order here.

Watching all of the Media Day coverage from Tampa got me thinking today: if there's one thing I haven't done yet in the world of sports reporting that I really want to, it's covering the Super Bowl. I've been close a couple of times, but when your covering the likes of the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons... well, playoff trips are few and far between.

My first taste of the NFL post-season came in Louisiana. I covered the Saints playoff opener in 2001, as they hosted the St. Louis Rams. Near the end of the game, Rams receiver Az Hakim dropped a late 4th quarter punt, New Orleans' Brian Milne recovered the fumble... and the Saints earned their first ever playoff victory. Of all of the professional sports stories I have covered, the emotion at the Superdome that day has never been matched. The fans were overjoyed, the team was ecstatic... it was an awesome experience.

However, there would be no trip to the Super Bowl, as the Minnesota Vikings (led by Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss) blew out New Orleans the following week, ending the Saints season.

January of 2005, I was one game away from going to the Super Bowl. Behind the skills of Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons had reached the NFC Championship game. All that stood in their way of Super Bowl 39 were the Philadelphia Eagles. There was talk that I would go to Philly to cover the NFC Championship, but with the Super Bowl just down the road in Jacksonville, the station opted to save the money should Atlanta beat the Eagles. Unfortunately for me, Donovan McNabb and company took out the Falcons... and I was left with no Super Bowl trip.

I think the reason I see the Super Bowl as the ultimate experience for a sports reporter is not for the actual game, but all of the hype surrounding it. Heck, I've heard from those who have covered the "big game" that odds are I would likely be in a tent outside the stadium during the actual contest, due to credential overload. It's the stories around the game... the TONS of media and celebrities, the NFL Experience, the fans who travel to support their team... that would make the trip worthwhile.

I have pretty much lived my dream over the last 8 years... here's hoping I get to live one more down the road.

As for my Super Bowl prediction, I like the Cardinals with the points (they're currently 6.5 point underdogs). As for a final score: Pittsburgh 24, Arizona 21. Lets hope it's a good one!

I'm Back!

2008-12-09T16:05:00.003-05:00

I promise you that I had no intention of taking a two-week hiatus from this blog, but after a week-long trip home for Thanksgiving, I wound up with a week-long stay in bed with what turned into an upper respiratory infection.

Anyway, a week's worth of antibiotics later and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again!

A lot has happened in the last two weeks... both in the sports world and in my world. Aside from the holiday and illness, I've had some progress on the job front. But, the more I talk about it, the more I'm afraid I'll jinx it... so I'll just keep you posted if/when something big happens.

I possibly played my final round of golf of the year while I was home for Thanksgiving. Dad and I played the course called the Carolina Club, in Coral Springs. I did not take a mulligan and wound up shooting a 95... for me, that's not bad at all having not played the course before. My one criticism of the course is the greens, as they were all tiny and hard. I could not get a ball to stop on them, no matter how clean I hit the shot. We'll see if I get another round in before my wife and I leave for Xmas and New Year's up north, but if not, that was a good way to end my golfing year.

I got to watch (well listen on the radio as we drove home) my FSU Seminoles get trucked by Tim Tebow and the rest of the Justice League (a.k.a. the Florida Gators), then also see Maryland lose to Boston College, therefore costing FSU its spot in the ACC Championship Game. Of course, the 'Noles can't really blame the Terps. They blew out Maryland the week before, and had they not fumbled on the goal line at Georgia Tech last month, FSU would have already been in Tampa for the title game. Now, it's on to the Champs Sports Bowl (ugh!). At least the game is in Orlando, so the Noles will hopefully have a good following as they take on Wisconsin.

We learned it takes 9 days of constant talk about a player shooting himself before it affects one of the more mentally tough teams in the National Football League (Had it happened to the Lions, do you think they would have been affected before the shooting even took place?). Plaxico Burress shot himself the night after Thanksgiving, and my New York Giants waited over a week before they looked a bit distracted in their Week 14 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm not jumping ship on the G-Men though. The Burress questions will thin out as the post-season nears (they still clinched their division on Sunday, when Dallas lost to Pittsburgh), and Eli Manning has shown he can use all of his receivers when he needs to. I'll just hope that Antonio Pierce (a middle linebacker) won't have to cover Brian Westbrook (one of the top RB's in the league) 1-on-1 again in the open field again anytime soon.

That's just a bit of what's been going on in my mind over the last two weeks. As the medicine wears off and I get healthier, I'll be back as the weekend nears.

An Early Happy Turkey Day!

2008-11-21T11:50:00.002-05:00

My wife and I leave for Florida tomorrow (Saturday) and we'll be gone for a full week. I'm not sure if I'll have time to blog between now and then, so if I don't... I'd like to wish everyone who reads this (and those who don't) a Happy Thanksgiving!

Keeping with the Turkey Day tradition, time to talk a little football. I had a good week with my picks last week... here's hoping I keep it going this week:

Thursday -

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh: PITTSBURGH

(I picked Cincy with the points, but only because it was a 10 point spread. I wound up getting that wrong, but I liked the Steelers to win.)

Sunday -

Carolina at Atlanta: CAROLINA

Minnesota at Jacksonville: JACKSONVILLE

New England at Miami: NEW ENGLAND

NY Jets at Tennessee: TENNESSEE

Chicago at St. Louis: CHICAGO

Buffalo at Kansas City: KANSAS CITY

Tampa Bay at Detroit: TAMPA BAY

Philadelphia at Baltimore: PHILADELPHIA

San Francisco at Dallas: DALLAS

Houston at Cleveland: CLEVELAND

Oakland at Denver: DENVER

NY Giants at Arizona: ARIZONA

Washington at Seattle: WASHINGTON

Indianapolis at San Diego: SAN DIEGO

Monday -

Green Bay at New Orleans: GREEN BAY

It's Holiday Time

2008-11-18T16:49:00.003-05:00

When you're a member of the media, one of the first things you realize this time of year is that they don't cancel newscasts for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's. You can usually get one of the three off, and if you're REALLY lucky two of the three, but odds are you'll be in the newsroom at some point during the holidays. It's one of the many reasons that you have to love what you do, if you're in the broadcasting industry. While you're friends and family are sleeping in, stuffing their faces, and watching football, you're sitting around the station, waiting for the newscast to begin.

This year, for the first time since 2003, I will be home for Thanksgiving. For my family, it's the biggest of the fall/winter holidays and I've missed out on the fun for far too long. It's exciting for several reasons... there's the sitting around the table eating all of the family recipes (I recommend our family's cole slaw, and stuffing)... there's the enjoyment of having my wife share in the family fun for the first time... there's the excitement of picking up my brother and his girlfriend at the airport on Thanksgiving Day (and then rushing to our aunt's house to catch the second football game of the day)... in all, I'm sure it's a day that will just feel right.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy working the holidays... and I'd obviously love to be working right now. Some of my more notable sportscasts took place during Christmas Eve (not just because that happens to be my birthday). I would take the chance to rhyme my scripts for the night, treating the viewers to a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas treat. How can I forget this diddy from 2004, leading with the potential news of Nick Saban leaving LSU for the Miami Dolphins:

"Twas the night before Christmas, and throughout the Sunshine State,
Dolphin fans continue to sit and wait..."

If there is one thing that was constant over the last four years, it was that I would be working on New Year's. The last couple of times, it was my trade off for taking off Christmas, so we could spend the holiday with my wife's family up north. To tell you the truth, celebrating New Year's at a tv station is not all bad. I was in a station's breakroom in West Palm Beach when the year 2000 hit... it was fun... we had champaigne, someone turned the lights off at midnight (simulating a Y2K hit, that had us fooled for about a second), and most of all -- we were each other's second family.

And then there was the New Year's of 2006... the night I proposed to my wife. I had it all planned out... Carol was coming to celebrate the night at the station, as she had in 2005, and I would pop the question at a local hotel afterwards... to her complete and total surprise. The best part was everyone at the station was in on it... they knew we weren't meeting our friends at the hotel for a party, but played along (just like your family would). So, while it may not be the ideal situation, I think the holidays can be just as special for those in the broadcasting biz... we just have to make the most of it.

The WWE Experience - Part Two

2008-11-13T15:02:00.011-05:00

So, when we left off last time, I had completed my live shot with John Cena. I had expected him to pretty much leave as soon as we wrapped up. However, one of the other stations in the Macon market showed up to tape an interview with "the champ". That lasted long enough to the point that we had finished our second block of the newscast, and we were already in the break before sports.

My wife Carol is a very good sport. I rarely drink, don't smoke... One of my few "vices" is pro wrestling. She puts up with it and to some extent follows what's going on. We had tickets for the show later that night, so of course I got her in backstage with me for the interview. So, while I was preparing for my last live shot of the night (which was to be nothing more than a little hype for the show), she stood off to the side with her camera. She had already taken some pictures of me preparing to interview John... a classic one is where I'm smiling at her camera, while he's sticking his tongue out... quite humorous.

The reason I bring this up: As the sports block began, John was signing autographs for a few folks who had gathered around (mostly the TV folks and staff from the Macon Centreplex). He couldn't have been more friendly... which when you read about other folks who have interacted with him, it's the same story. He's a nice guy who goes out of his way to make sure folks are happy. So, my co-worker was about to toss back to me at the Centreplex... as he does, I start talking. John is leaving the room, when out of the corner of my eye, I see Carol call him back... she asks him something... the next thing I know, he's leaning back against the wall, smiling, and watching me conduct my live shot!

If you look back at my last blog... I said live shots are the most dangerous for reporters because you can't completely control your surroundings, no matter how much you prepare for them. Seeing Cena do a complete 180, and stick around caught me off-guard, flustered me a bit, and I proceeded to stumble over my words. The Champ was nice enough to help out... and I'll let the video take over from here: (Hugh's note: You'll see my eyes jump around 40 seconds into the live shot... it's at that point where Carol called out to John.)

Speaking from a completely biased position... this was certainly an awesome moment. John was not supposed to show up again... he just decided to walk into the shot, and obviously he knows what to do when there's a microphone in his face. This was a moment that certainly stood out. For the next three months, I would be at the grocery store, the mall, a football practice, and I still had folks asking me, "Hugh, you still excited?!"

I've also heard from folks that my two live hits with John probably pushed the ticket sales for that night through the roof. Macon fans are notorious for not showing up to anything in town, or waiting until the night of the event to make a decision. For the first time in recent memory, the Macon Centreplex was practically a sell-out (close to 8,000 fans)! While I'm sure it was John Cena "over-selling" the excitement of the night, I'd like to think I played a little part in that success.

Once the live shot was over, John was nice enough to stick around for one more picture with me and my wife... (see above)... and it turns out that's what Carol was asking... would he mind hanging out long enough to take a picture with the both of us. He may get booed by half the crowds he performs in front of, but after that night, I'll always be cheering for John Cena.

Hope you enjoyed the look back... now lets look ahead to my picks sure to go wrong for this week (since I started this blog, I'm currently 30-24 in my picks... got to love the NFL - sarcasm):

Thursday Night -

NY Jets at New England: NY JETS

(I made my picks Thursday afternoon, so I'm off to a 1-0 start for the weekend.)

Sunday -

Denver at Atlanta: ATLANTA

Minnesota at Tampa Bay: TAMPA BAY

Baltimore at NY Giants: NY GIANTS

Oakland at Miami: MIAMI

New Orleans at Kansas City: NEW ORLEANS

Detroit at Carolina: CAROLINA

Philadelphia at Cincinnati: PHILADELPHIA

Chicago at Green Bay: GREEN BAY

Houston at Indianapolis: INDIANAPOLIS

St. Louis at San Francisco: SAN FRANCISCO

Arizona at Seattle: SEATTLE

Tennessee at Jacksonville: TENNESSEE

San Diego at Pittsburgh: SAN DIEGO

Dallas at Washington: WASHINGTON

Monday -

Cleveland at Buffalo: BUFFALO

The WWE Experience - Part One

2008-11-11T00:53:00.005-05:00

The most dangerous/exciting part of the tv news business is the "live shot". A reporter can do all the research in the world, have all the questions ready to ask, but when the anchor tosses to you in the field... anything can happen. And, when your interview subject is a professional wrestler... who is basically an athletic improv actor... it can turn into a wild ride!

Anyone who's known me for any length of time is aware that I have followed World Wrestling Entertainment since elementary school, so needless to say my live shot involving the WWE on February 4, 2006 was an assignment I was happy to have.

I had done a live shot with WWE almost a year earlier. The night of that event in Macon, I interviewed Atlanta-resident Chris Benoit. Yes, 2 years later he committed a horrbile double-murder suicide... and I certainly don't look back on that live shot with the same enthusiasm as my 2006 experience. But, for the '05 interview, the WWE informed me several days early that Benoit would be my interview guest. I had time to prepare mentally for the live shot.

In '06, I walked into the Macon Centreplex blind... not knowing who I would get. I had told the WWE's PR contact that the "bigger the name, the better the chance of packing the building with walk-ups". As the afternoon wore on, the wrestlers started to make their way into the building. Finally, the on-site contact or road agent, Steve Keirn, got a hold of me. For those with a good wrestling memory, Keirn was an original member of "The Fabulous Ones" with Stan Lane, and later went on to be Skinner in the WWF.

Keirn informed me that my interview guest would be Shelton Benjamin, as they thought Shelton would appeal to our audience. The look on my face probably gave something away, as Keirn looked at me and asked, "Is Shelton not good?" I told him that Shelton's a great wrestler (he's a mid-card guy with awesome athleticism), but I had told the front office that the bigger the name, the better to get Macon to show up for the event. Keirn took a second and said, "I can get you Big Show." I said that would work... not only is Show a top-card guy, he's also 7'4" tall and weighs over 400 lbs! Seeing me standing at 5'10" and 180 lbs., just trying to interview him, would be great for television.

So, for the next five minutes I prepped myself to talk with the Big Show. Then, to my surprise, Big Show didn't walk through the door. It was one of the few names bigger than his in the business... the reigning champion John Cena! The first words out of my mouth, "Oooh. My boss' 8-year-old son is going to be really jealous of me." The champ was going to be my guest... in the world of pro wrestling, it doesn't get any bigger than that.

Before going live, we had about five minutes to talk. John, who is from just outside Boston, was wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, as it was the eve of the Steelers' Super Bowl win. My wife, Carol, is also from just outside Boston, and when she saw him in that jersey, she said, "You should be a Pats fan!" John responded that he is a Pats fan, and you got the feeling that the jersey was more due to the Super Bowl timing than anything else. (Hugh's note: Following the posting of this blog, Carol informed me that John had lost a bet to a Pittsburgh fan... hence the reason for him wearing the jersey.)

It should be noted that prior to going live, John was very calm. But as soon as I said "stand-by", something changed. The following video picks it up from here:

For lack of a better word, it was an "exciting" interview. But little did I know, John wasn't done. During the break between this interview and my next hit in the sports block, he did another taped interview for a local tv station (nowhere near the amount of energy as mine), signed some autographs for folks in the room, and then stuck around for the sports block after my wife asked him to...

What happened then? We'll take a look at that on Friday. :)

Random Thoughts for the Week

2008-11-07T13:54:00.003-05:00

Nothing's really burning in my brain today, so a few random thoughts about sports and other stuff:

- I'm not going to lie... my wife and I are avid television watchers. So, I want to know... what the hell happened to the 8pm hour on Thursday nights? For years we could count on solid comedies to fill the void (Friends, etc.). This year, as we're waiting for Grey's Anatomy at 9pm, our choices are the following: Ugly Betty (um, nope), Kitchen Nightmares (just scary), Survivor (not a fan), and My Name is Earl and Kath & Kim (not funny at all).

Luckily, it appears that will change beginning in January. FOX announced that "Bones" will be moving from Wednesdays at 8, to Thursdays at 8 (to accomodate the return of "American Idol"). While Bones isn't a comedy, it is one of our favorite shows and will certainly be a nice change for Thursday nights.

- During half-time of Monday Night Football last week, Barack Obama said that as President, he would like to get rid of the BCS and create a college football playoff. I only wish he could make that happen. I've hated the BCS since day one, and while I'm a faithful Bobby Bowden fan, it will truly suck if Joe Paterno gets screwed out of playing for a national championship this year.

- The intensity of the high school football season is about go up a notch. It's the final night of the regular season tonight, and then the road to the Georgia Dome begins. This year will be the first time the state championships will actually be played in the dome, as it had previously hosted the semi-finals. It should truly make for a great weekend of football this December, when the top 10 teams all make their way up to Atlanta.

- Beginning this week, the NFL will hold a Thursday Night football game. It airs on the NFL Network, so if you're like me, you don't get to see it. It was probably a good thing this week, as I picked Cleveland to beat Denver. The Browns led for most of the game, but with 1:14 left in the contest, the Broncos scored their game-winning touchdown. Oh well... so I'm 0-1 for the week.

Here's the rest of my picks for Week 10 of the National Football League:

- New Orleans at Atlanta: NEW ORLEANS

- St. Louis at NY Jets: NY JETS

- Buffalo at New England: NEW ENGLAND

- Green Bay at Minnesota: GREEN BAY

- Seattle at Miami: MIAMI

- Tennessee at Chicago: TENNESSEE

- Baltimore at Houston: BALTIMORE

- Jacksonville at Detroit: JACKSONVILLE

- Carolina at Oakland: CAROLINA

- Indianapolis at Pittsburgh: PITTSBURGH

- Kansas City at San Diego: SAN DIEGO

- NY Giants at Philadelphia: NY GIANTS

- San Francisco at Arizona: ARIZONA

Have a great weekend!

A Weekend of Mixed Emotions

2008-11-03T15:24:00.004-05:00

It felt just like old times this past weekend, with a hint of "new". I was able to snag a couple of press passes to Saturday's Florida State - Georgia Tech game in Atlanta. While I would be standing on the sidelines for the afternoon, my wife (Carol) joined me, keeping track of the action from the press box.

It was my first live FSU game since 2005, when Carol and I visited my family in Tallahassee, and took in a Noles victory over Syracuse. I had last been on the sidelines of an FSU game in 2004, when I convinced my bosses in Macon that I should do a story on a couple of local players who were suiting up for Bobby Bowden. It was certainly an assignment I enjoyed. The only other FSU game I had seen live since graduation was our 2000 meeting with Florida. We beat the Gators and went on to play for a national championship.

The thing those three games had in common: FSU won! It made me feel good, watching my alma mater whoop up on the opposition. And, I truly felt we were going to witness more of the same this past weekend. Sure, the Noles had dropped an early ACC game to Wake Forest, but since then the offense has had flashes of brilliance... and our defense has carried us the rest of the way. On top of that, Georgia Tech runs the "wishbone offense", something that you don't see often in Division One football. The general train of thought with the wishbone is that fast defenses are capable of stopping the mostly ground-based attack. Oh yeah, one other thing... the Yellow Jackets hadn't beaten Florida State since 1975!

However, my vision of a FSU blowout was shot down by half-time. After jumping out to an early lead, the Noles allowed Georgia Tech back into the game... FSU trailed 24-20 at the half. We remained down until late in the 4th quarter, when trailing 31-20, D'Vontrey Richardson connected with Preston Parker for a TD... tack on the 2-point conversion and we were down 31-28 with 6:00 to go.

On Tech's very first play from scrimmage, the FSU defense picks off the pass from Tech's back-up QB. It was shaping up perfectly... FSU converted on a 4th down try and drove the ball down to the 4-yard-line with under a minute to play. The chip shot field goal would tie the game, but why not go for the win? We're that close, with plenty of time, and downs to give... unfortunately when Marcus Sims ran for the endzone, Tech's Cooper Taylor put his helmet on the ball... it popped out, rolled around, and eventually was recovered by the Yellow Jackets. Game over.

It was an emotional roller coaster in the stands and on the sidelines (at least for yours truly). Looking back on the game now (approximately 48 hours later), I have to give credit to the following things:

1) FSU Fans. They showed up big time! I've been to my share of Georgia Tech games over the last 5 years, and this was the first time the visiting crowd took up at least 25-percent of the stadium.

2) Jonathan Dwyer. The Georgia Tech runningback is the main reason the Yellow Jackets won the game. He had two touchdown runs of 40-yards or more... take away those two plays, and FSU is probably leaving Atlanta with a victory.

3) Josh Nesbitt. The Georgia Tech quarterback is young, but he's the heart and soul of that team. When he was knocked out of the game in the 3rd quarter, you could sense Tech would struggle the rest of the way (which they did)... and that FSU could make a run to win it (which they ALMOST did).

So, now the Noles need Wake Forest to suffer another loss before the season is over. If that happens, and FSU wins out, the Seminoles could still play for the ACC Championship in Tampa. And, there's a chance they could wind up facing Georgia Tech if they get there. If Saturday's game was any indication, it could be one of the more exciting ACC Title match-ups in the game's short history.

Football Friday Night

2008-10-31T10:39:00.003-04:00

Anyone who is a friend of mine on Facebook has seen this status at some point this fall: "Hugh is gearing up for another Football Friday Night." In case you're wondering, Football Friday Night (or FFN) is the 30-minute high school football show we put together at 13WMAZ, which airs live at 11:30pm every Friday night.

When I first moved to Macon, it was hard to understand just how important FFN is to the Central Georgia community. High school football in the state of Georgia is a whole other animal. Back in South Florida, we cared about high school football when I was in school... but there were few towns or cities that just shut down for the night when the local high school team had a game. Here in the Peach State, that's a weekly occurrence. The smaller the town, the MORE important their high school is to their community. There's tailgating with tons of food, and more local radio stations devoted to covering their teams than I can count.

So, every Friday night during the football season, there's a group of 10 of us that head out across the extremely large 13WMAZ viewing area, covering these huge events. With kickoff usually at 7:30pm, we stick around at least through half-time... maybe longer (or shorter if you have more than one game to cover, like me)... before heading back to the station. We hope that all of our editing computers are functioning properly, and we're all under the the time crunch to make sure the video is ready to air.

Then at 11:30, something truly amazing happens. A good majority of folks, who were out watching their local teams, make it appointment viewing to tune in and watch their schools and their rivals on FFN. It's a ratings anomaly... while most TV numbers drop the later it gets, WMAZ's improves from 11:30 to midnight. On a typical Friday, 15 percent of the Central Georgia area is watching our show (a 15 rating)... even more amazing, of all the people watching TV at that time of night, 40 percent of those people are watching our show (a 40 share)! Trust me when I say that is a ratings bonanza... our competition (which I was a part of about 7 years ago) was lucky to do 1/15 of those numbers.

So while I may be currently job-hunting, it's still an honor for me to be a part of something truly special every Friday night. The group I work with on Fridays cares about the product, and in turn the audience cares about us.

Here's my Week 9 NFL picks (sure to go wrong):

NY Jets at Buffalo: BUFFALO

Jacksonville at Cincinnati: JACKSONVILLE

Baltimore at Cleveland: CLEVELAND

Detroit at Chicago: CHICAGO

Tampa Bay at Kansas City: TAMPA BAY

Arizona at St. Louis: ARIZONA

Green Bay at Tennessee: TENNESSEE

Houston at Minnesota: HOUSTON

Miami at Denver: DENVER

Dallas at NY Giants: NY GIANTS

Philadelphia at Seattle: PHILADELPHIA

Atlanta at Oakland: ATLANTA

New England at Indianapolis: NEW ENGLAND

Pittsburgh at Washington: WASHINGTON

What a Spread!

2008-10-28T14:03:00.002-04:00

I wrote about it last week, but it can't be said enough. When it comes to predicting winners (especially in the National Football League), I'm no expert. For the second straight week, my picks on here went 8-6 (I was 6-2 after the early games, but came back to reality late). While an 8-6 week won't boost your ego, it won't knock it down too far either.

But if you really want to screw with your football emotions, let me introduce you to the "point spread". Long before I was born, the casinos in Las Vegas began paying a select few people to be "oddsmakers". These folks set the "spread" for the week on every game... professional and college.

If the 0-7 Bengals are visiting the 7-0 Titans, the oddsmakers determine how much Tennessee SHOULD win by... say it's 10 points. The listing in the casino or newspaper would look something like this:

Cincinnati vs. Tennessee (-10)

So, as a person placing a bet, it's up to you to decide one of three things:

1) Cincinnati will pull off the upset and win the game outright.
2) Tennessee will win the game, but not overcome the 10 point spread, therefore Cincinnati would still be the "winner".
3) Tennessee will win by more than 10 points and win the game outright.

(In this instance, should Tennessee win by 10, the game would be considered a PUSH... nobody wins... however, the oddsmakers can choose to make a spread with half-points. If they do that, there will not be a push.)

For much of the past decade, I have been facing these choices each and every week, for every game of the NFL schedule. To protect those involved, I'll just say my buddy Joe runs a season-long football pool. In this pool, we have to choose winners based on the point spread. We are not wagering on each game, however the winner at the end of the season has the best cumulative total of wins.

This past weekend, 8 correct picks would have been HUGE. Instead, yours truly went 3-9 with two pushes (New England and Washington each hit exactly on their spread number... had they scored one more point, I would have also been right with those two). My saving grace this week... everyone struggled with the spread. 25 of the 67 folks involved had 4 or less correct picks.

The point spread also makes for weird scenarios... throw in Fantasy Football ramifications, and you literally get confused sometimes as to who to root for. For instance, lets look at last night's Monday Night game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans.

See if you follow me... I chose the Titans to win outright, so with a 4.5 point spread, they needed to win by 5. However, I was facing a friend in Fantasy Football who had the Titans defense and Colts wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez. I was leading by 23 points in Fantasy... so to lock up my win, I needed the Titans to give up a lot of points to the Colts, but Gonzalez could not be the one scoring. But every time Indianapolis scored (they had the lead until the 3rd quarter), I also needed Tennessee to respond, so they could cover the spread!

It's scenarios like this that has made my wife ask me if I should give up one or the other (fantasy or the football pool)... not because she doesn't like me taking part in all of it (she does too), but because it's rare for me to have a football weekend where I'm completely happy. Usually I'm having a decent week in the picks and my fantasy team is tanking, or vice versa. But, the way I see it, a bad football weekend is still WAY better than a weekend with no football at all.

Hugh Meets Tony

2008-10-24T00:35:00.005-04:00

This weekend, NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series returns to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for its fall race in Georgia. In honor of the race, I feel the need to share my encounter with Tony Stewart.

For those who don't follow racing, Stewart is one of the top drivers in the sport. He's probably one of the best ever to transition from open-wheel driving to stock cars. In 1996, he was the Indy Racing League Rookie of the Year. One year later, he won the IRL championship. He jumped to NASCAR full time a couple of years later and hasn't looked back. He's won 33 events and is a two-time Cup Series champion.

However, there is another side to Tony Stewart. It's been well-documented over the years that the driver of the #20 Home Depot car accumulates warnings from NASCAR almost as much as he collects victories. The Indiana native has a hot temper. He's not afraid to get into a fight with another driver (physically or verbally), and he's certainly not afraid to lash out at reporters.

That's where I come in.

It was October 25, 2006... a chilly day in Macon, but it was full of excitement. The new Bass Pro Shops was holding its Grand Opening, and the main attraction: Tony Stewart. The first 300 Stewart fans would get the chance to meet their favorite driver and get his autograph. Of course, being the prepared sports reporter I am, I made early arrangements with the Bass Pro PR staff to interview Stewart live at the top of our 6pm newscast. It's something we've done numerous times... usually with a lot of success (I'll tell you about my John Cena experience some other time).

I did my research on Stewart the night before, wanting to come off as knowledgable as possible. But all of that time and effort was thrown out the window when I arrived at Bass Pro around 4pm that day. I show up and the first thing the PR staff tells me is, "Tony's here. He's willing to do the live shot, but he won't talk about racing."

Read that quote again... "...HE WON'T TALK ABOUT RACING."

That's the equivalent of Tiger Woods not talking golf... Kobe Bryant not talking basketball... Peyton Manning not talking football... it's pretty much unheard of!

The first thing that ran through my mind was "Screw it... he won't talk racing, we won't talk to him." But after a few seconds to clear my head, I figured any sound from Tony Stewart was better than no sound... our viewers would still want to hear from him.

The PR staff told me that Tony doesn't like talking racing when he's out at functions for Bass Pro Shops... he'd rather talk hunting and fishing, as he apparently owns a HUGE amount of land up in Indiana. Seeing my live shot going up in flames, I thought I figured out a way to make it work. The reason Stewart was available for the opening in Macon is that he was already in Georgia, prepping for that weekend's race in Atlanta. It just so happened to be called: The Bass Pro Shops 500. I asked the staffer if I could ask Tony one racing question, specifically using the name of the race to make it a "plug" of sorts. It would be a win-win... I get the racing question, he makes the sponsor happy. She said she would go ask and get back to me.

An hour goes by and she finally returns, telling me, "Tony says he won't do it. He won't talk racing no matter what." After picking my jaw up off the floor, I re-grouped, and asked when we'd be able to conduct our interview (after I arrived I found out our live-shot would go head to head with the opening ceremonies, therefore Stewart's interview that to be taped).

Once I assured the staffer that I wasn't going to "screw her over" by asking a racing question (apparently Tony would not only get angry at me, but at her too... and we didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with Bass Pro -- a lot of good stories to be had there), she led my crew and I inside the building, site of the VIP reception. Seconds after we set up, she brought Tony Stewart over to us.

He was quiet and polite... didn't seem to mind us being there, but I also got the vibe that he was ready to pounce if I asked a racing question. The closest I got was asking about his fans... many that had been camping outside the store since the night before. Stewart said he hoped they would have shown up like that just for the Bass Pro opening, even if he wasn't there (yeah, right).

What our viewers did find out about Stewart that night is that he loves to hunt and fish, loves the huge fish tank in the middle of the Bass Pro Shops stores, and he's good friends with the Bass Pro owner. When the interview ended, we shook hands, and he walked away... probably thinking he intimidated yet another reporter. In actuality, I just wanted to make sure our viewers got what they wanted.

On our 11pm show that night, our audience also learned why they didn't hear Stewart talk about that week's race... that news came from me.

Okay, on to this week's NFL picks. I was 8-6 last week... lets see if I can improve on that this time around:

- Oakland at Baltimore: BALTIMORE

- Arizona at Carolina: CAROLINA

- Washington at Detroit: WASHINGTON

- St. Louis at New England: NEW ENGLAND

- Kansas City at NY Jets: NY JETS

- Atlanta at Philadelphia: PHILADELPHIA

- San Diego vs. New Orleans (in London): SAN DIEGO

- Buffalo at Miami: BUFFALO

- Tampa Bay at Dallas: TAMPA BAY

- Cleveland at Jacksonville: JACKSONVILLE

- NY Giants at Pittsburgh: PITTSBURGH

- Seattle at San Francisco: SAN FRANCISCO

- Cincinnati at Houston: HOUSTON

- Indianapolis at Tennessee: TENNESSEE

Have a great weekend and Go Noles!

I'm No Expert

2008-10-21T13:41:00.002-04:00

If there's one thing I've learned in the near-decade of covering sports (and watching them for much longer than that), it's that I'm no expert when it comes to making predictions. I tell people that if I was a so-called expert, instead of covering the teams, I'd be in Las Vegas making money off of them.

Take this past week's NFL predictions for example (check out the blog below for game-by-game choices): I went 8-6 for the week... and that was without having to deal with the point spread. Sure, it's over .500, making it better than average, but of the six games I lost, I thought four of them were slam dunks.

The Chargers blow out the Patriots in week 6, and finally appear to be on a roll. How could they lose to an upstart Buffalo team? They did.

Miami has been wreaking havoc with their "wildcat" offense and solid defense. They're playing at home against a Baltimore team that's starting a rookie QB. How could they lose in the friendly confines of the stadium formerly known as Joe Robbie? They did.

Dallas was the choice of many to be the NFC Super Bowl favorite. They were visiting a St. Louis team that had just fired their coach, and earned its first win of the season. Sure Tony Romo was out, but with so much talent around FSU alum Brad Johnson, how could they lose to a Rams team that still lacks an identity. Somehow, they did (badly).

Indianapolis looked like the Indy-of-old in week 6. They crushed the Baltimore Ravens at home, Peyton Manning looked unstoppable, and the defense was back in business. They were visiting a Green Bay team that has looked good, not great. The "tundra" of Lambeau Field wasn't even close to freezing yet. There's no way a hot Indy team could be stopped by what's looked like a weaker than expected Packers' D and lose. Yet, they did...also in blowout fashion.

Welcome to the parity of the National Football League! One week, your team can look like world beaters... the next they're lucky if they can get a first down. Last year, the New England Patriots were the exception to the rule. During the regular season, we all knew they were going to win, it was just a matter of if they were going to cover a three touchdown point spread. But, the Super Bowl proved that the Patriots weren't immune to the parity-bug... just ask the New York Giants. They took a little bit of momentum and somehow were able to carry it over, and over, and over, and in the end denied the Patriots a truly perfect season (sorry, honey).

While we might not see true powerhouses (the 49ers of the 80's, the Cowboys of the 90's, the Patriots of the early 00's) anymore, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. It gives fans across the country a chance to think their team just might have a chance at success this year. Just don't ask me to predict which team that might be.

Media Meets the Media

2008-10-17T00:28:00.011-04:00

The life of a local sports broadcaster is not as glamorous as many people think. Sure, you get the "local celebrity" treatment at the grocery store, or you're invited to play a nice golf course or two, but other than that it's a lot of long hours, and little pay, for essentially 7 minutes of TV time per night.

When working in a market like Macon, you focus mostly on the local high schools and colleges. For me, I truly enjoyed every so often you travel to Atlanta (or Athens) and hang with the masses, covering the Braves, Falcons, the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, or NASCAR. You're not only talking with the top college and professional athletes in the country, you also get to meet members of the media that we watch on a daily basis... basically the folks from ESPN.

If you've ever wondered what some of the ESPN talking-heads are like, here's a rundown of the ones I have met over the years:

Suzy Kolber - a brief history here. She was the weekend sports anchor at WPEC just before I started volunteering/interning there, so we have mutual friends. She happened to be very nice and pleasant when we spoke on the sidelines of an Atlanta Falcons game, and passed along a "hello" to her friends back in West Palm.

Mike Massaro - He couldn't have been nicer. Mike was ESPN's NASCAR reporter before they even got NASCAR back on their network. I ran into him at the media lunch room at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I had asked Mike how his day was going, with it being just a practice day and all. Since FOX and NBC had the NASCAR rights, Mike told me the story of how he had to convince drivers to leave the track for the little airport across the street from the Speedway. That was the only place ESPN was allowed to set up or conduct interviews. It's nice to see Mike have a prominent role now that his network is the home for the Chase for the Cup.

Stuart Scott, Stephen A. Smith - I grouped these two together because my encounters with both were brief... basically a handshake and a few words. I met Scott on the sideline of an Atlanta Falcons game. He happened to be walking by in a good mood. I introduced myself, we shook hands, told him I enjoyed his work. He appreciated the kind words, and went on his way. I met Stephen A. in the press box at Turner Field, covering a Braves - Phillies game. I had to wait until the end of the game, as it was one of the few times he wasn't on his cell phone. When I got his attention, he hesitantly turned around, and the rest pretty much went the same way as the Scott meeting. On a personal note, at the time of the meeting, Smith was still relatively new to ESPN. I appreciated the different on-air style, but wasn't a huge fan of his screaming. He has since calmed it down a bit and I now find him very good on the air, and enjoy seeing him debate Skip Bayless on 1st and 10.

Todd Blackledge, Michelle Tafoya - Both are now with ESPN, but I got to meet them when they were still a part of the SEC on CBS coverage (it was my senior year of college). I interviewed both for a behind-the-scenes story on the production of the FSU/Florida game. Neither were made up for TV, as it was the day before the game, but both were more than happy to take time out for an on-camera interview. It certainly left a good impression on me.

I've also had brief run-ins with Mike Patrick, Chris Mortensen, Ed Werder, and Erin Andrews (when she was still in college)... all four were even more brief than the ones listed above, so no way to really gauge personality.

If you had the chance to meet any ESPN talent, who would it be? My top two at this point would be Chris Berman and Mike Greenberg. Who knows what the future may hold? That might still happen at some point.

Now, here's my week 7 NFL picks (sure to go wrong). For the purpose of this blog, I will pick the games straight up. So far this season, in a pool that I'm in that uses the point spread, I'm picking just over 50% right... of course straight up should make it a bit easier for me (hopefully):

San Diego at Buffalo: SAN DIEGO

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: PITTSBURGH

Baltimore at Miami: MIAMI

Dallas at St. Louis: DALLAS

San Francisco at NY Giants: NY GIANTS

Tennessee at Kansas City: TENNESSEE

Minnesota at Chicago: CHICAGO

New Orleans at Carolina: NEW ORLEANS

Detroit at Houston: HOUSTON

Indianapolis at Green Bay: INDIANAPOLIS

NY Jets at Oakland: NY JETS

Cleveland at Washington: WASHINGTON

Seattle at Tampa Bay: TAMPA BAY

Denver at New England: NEW ENGLAND

I welcome all critiques and opinions. I hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for making this a successful first week for this blog. See you next week!

Fantasy or Nightmare?

2008-10-14T11:02:00.011-04:00

Hi, my name is Hugh, and I'm addicted to Fantasy Football.

For those who still haven't been exposed to the fantasy game, simply put, fans draft NFL players and accumulate points based on those players' performances. Sounds easy enough, right? What's amazing is the more you play it, the more addicted you get.

I ventured back into the "fantasy" world in 2003, with co-workers in West Palm Beach. Being a newbie to the whole live draft experience, I wasn't too upset when I finished dead last in our league. I did very little research and just figured I'd use my good football knowledge to draft a team. Looking back, I made some pretty poor choices... my first round pick was Corey Dillon! (just typing that irks me) But, by the end of that season, I was hooked.

Unlike the past, the internet made it extremely easy to follow my team. I first attempted to play fantasy football as a teenager, but prior to the year 2000 fans would have to keep track of stats on their own. I remember scanning the box scores on Mondays to total up my team's points... eventually placing a call into our league's commissioner, who acted as scorekeeper, to find out how I fared for the week.

Fast forward to present day. Yahoo, ESPN, and several other web sites allow you to hold drafts online, or in my case, enter the players taken in our live draft. Once that's done, the web-site runs itself. They keep track of the stats, records, and even settle potential scoring disputes. Now that I don't have to calculate my point totals, I can just look at the box scores to see which players are performing well. Do I want to pick up the 3rd string wide receiver for the Denver Broncos? I also get to see the health reports on all of my players. Should I sit my starting running back because he's suffering from turf toe? So much information is out there and you just want to use it to make your team that much better.

With one season of fantasy knowledge under my belt, I brought the craze to my co-workers in Macon. Of the 12 of us, I was the only experienced member of the group. Yet at the end of the season, it didn't matter. The guy who almost won the league had most of his players drafted for him (he had to answer phones during a hurricane). However I had minor success that season, reaching the playoffs for the first time. The following year, I entered the playoffs as the top seed in the league, received a bye to start the post-season, and proceeded to lose in the semi-finals.

I just missed the playoffs in 2006 (a year in which my wife claimed the league championship), but finally in 2007, I had my glory. In dominant fashion, I rode Drew Brees, Randy Moss and a host of others to the title! I had my bobblehead trophy to go next to the Mrs.' on the mantle (see picture above). But instead of relief, I felt more pressure! I wanted to repeat. I wanted a Fantasy Dynasty. I wanted to play more fantasy.

To prove my dominance wasn't a fluke, I prepared like never before. I took part in mock drafts online. I watched more preseason games than I can count. I had a strategy like never before. I even joined a second league that my brother started this year.

Then on draft day, I picked 6th overall, gladly choosing Tom Brady. How could I go wrong with the reigning NFL MVP? He's a quarterback who threw for 50 TD's last season and had a knack for not missing a game...that is until he blew out his knee in the first quarter of the first game of the season. I overcame that loss by trading for Philip Rivers, who has been quite dominant himself this year, but the week one karma hasn't let go of me. Six weeks in, I have one win, four losses, and one tie. This week, I needed an average performance from the NY Giants defense and I would have won. What do they do? Give up 30+ to the Cleveland Browns! I basically need to win five of my last seven games if I want to sniff the playoffs, and my next game is against our league's newest member... who just happens to be 6-0 and all alone in first place.

So, six years into my fantasy world, it has come full circle. Last place in year one... champion in year five... looking at last place in year six. But I won't throw in the towel. I'm still making trades, still looking at what free agents are available, and already thinking about my draft strategy for 2009.

On Friday, I'll head back into the brodacasting world to give you a fun story from "the biz" and let you in on what my predictions (sure to go wrong) will be for Week 7 in the NFL. Feel free to drop me a comment or a line and give me your thoughts.

The Reality Check

2008-10-13T00:41:00.006-04:00

Based on the strong urging from a close friend, here I am in the "blog-o-sphere". If anyone chooses to read this on a consistent basis (I promise to update several times per week), I figured I may as well make my first entry about how I wound up here... a 30-year-old, solid sports reporter, six months into looking for his next job.

The easy thing would be to blame the economy... and it has had an impact (if it weren't for a "hiring freeze", I'd probably be in South Carolina right now), but there's plenty of factors involved. In reality, I chose a profession that is extremely cut-throat. If you don't get ratings, you're out of a job. If you don't have "the look" a news director wants, you're not getting the job (no matter how much more qualified you may be). To top it all off, the local television industry is kind of a dying breed. The 24/7 instant updates (first provided by cable news, now the Internet) have forced TV stations to re-think everything. Contrary to what the bosses used to believe, the news doesn't just happen at 5, 6, and 11.

I actually had a GM of a rather dominant station tell me not too long ago, "We're no longer a TV station, we're a web-station first." What's amazing is that when I graduated from Florida State in 2000, I don't know how many of us saw that coming, especially in just a short 8 years.

When I took my first job, as Sports Director for KWBJ-TV in Morgan City, Louisiana, we didn't even have a web-site. I had my hands full as a one-man-band sports department. Monday through Friday, my days started at 9am, but it was rare for me to be home before 9pm on any given night. If there was a high school sports event taking place, I was there to get the highlights. Then there were the weekends filled with covering local colleges and the New Orleans Saints, but we'll get to those stories another time.

From a local TV standpoint, I really witnessed the web boom about 4 years ago. I was in my first year at WMAZ in Macon, Georgia. When I first began there, we updated the Sports Page once a day, at the end of the night, after we finished with our 11pm newscast. By the time I was let go (as a budget cut), we were updating the page throughout the day, posting stories as quickly as we could. Yes, this took away from our time to prepare for our sportscasts, but before we could start to argue, we got the numbers back. On a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, the Sports page was in the top five of pages viewed on our site. During the high school football season, it was practically the most viewed page of all. The demand was there and our job was to provide the community with information.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that my job hunt goes on due to the Internet, as well as the economy. I have bought into the web-first thought process that's going around local television now, but the problem is not enough people are buying ad time into it yet. Sales departments at TV stations are still trying to figure out how to "sell" the web, and how to get "page views" to equal television ratings. With the lack of a cash flow, stations are now asking for less people to continue with the same amount of work, if not more.

Yet, if a station called tomorrow, offering me a chance to go back to doing what I love to do... even with all of the negatives in local TV right now... it would be pretty damn hard to say no.

Let me know what you think about this post -- and let me know what you might like to hear about. In the past 8+ years, I've met famous people, courageous people, idiotic people... and there's plenty of stories to be told.