I started the day meeting with a potential sponsor of one of our last available weekly analyst segments, and I feel "very good" about closing the deal by the end of this week.
I also dropped by Baylor football practice this morning, recorded a couple of interviews with wide receiver Krys Buerck and defensive tackle Phil Taylor.
I love the mid-morning practice schedule right now because it gives me a chance to talk with some players and get an interview or two for our show.
Mickey Rogers, who owns 8-9 Fuddrucker's, including 2-3 in the central Texas area, called me this morning and asked to meet for lunch. I had the Elk Burger---which since I'm trying to remain disciplined on my diet----it was filling but not to the point where I felt like I'd eaten a big old fat burger. Elk is 70% of the the fat than a regular burger.
My assistant sports director Paul Catalina came by about midway through our lunch and dropped down a Buffalo burger in a matter of seconds.
Mickey seemed very pleased with our coverage and our upcoming high school football "Pick 'Em" weekly challenge and high school football coverage.
And, about mid-afternoon, I received a GREAT heads-up tip on some big news coming down from the Baylor football team, and sure enough--it was a story we've been on for several weeks, "Baylor freshman safety Ahmad Dixon was cleared by the NCAA and is eligible for the 2010 football season.
This is huge news for the Bears and Dixon has been very impressive in his 1 1/2 weeks of practice.
I have been in contact with numerous "sources" for the past several days on Dixon's clearance and I was excited some of them trusted me enough to text me and "heads-up, big news coming from BU football."
I was able to get the news up on our website, 1660espn.com almost immediately and soon afterward I posted an update on another website and their membership went nuclear with excitement.
It is SO nice to be involved with a major college athletics program and have almost daily information.
I loved covering the JUCO programs in East Texas and UT-Tyler, ETBU and others, but this is a lot of fun with Baylor football and athletics.
I interviewed defensive tackle Phil Taylor this morning and he's very honest about how disappointing his junior year was after his transfer from Penn State. He told me, "I was too big, overweight and out of shape."
Isn't that the first part of coming back from a disappointment, admitting a mistake or when you're wrong.
I also interviewed senior wide receiver Krys Buerck, who is from Mesquite and I covered some of his games against Tyler Lee and John Tyler while broadcasting in Tyler. Those were the days and some INCREDIBLE memories.
Buerck was also very versatile and he's doing the same thing with Baylor as a wide receiver and punt return man.
Also, our show today was delayed about an hour with the Rangers loss in Tampa, 8-6. Actually, they lost in St. Petersburg and we lost an hour of the show.
We had the updated information on Dixon's eligibility, and we interviewed Chris Bullajian from BearsIllustrated.com on Dixon's clearance.
We started a "Where are they Now?" segment three weeks ago, sponsored by the Baylor Alumni Association and it runs each Wednesday at 5:25pm. Today, we interviewed former BU quarterback Brad Goebel. He beat Texas three of four times during his career in Waco, he won at every level, including Cuero in high school before playing in the NFL with the Eagles, Jaguars, Browns, and Redskins.
Following the show we had a very productive meeting on our upcoming high school football season. We discussed everything from format, commercials, logs, billboards, broadcast crews, equipment, coaches shows and how we can do even better.
Special thanks to Rudy's Country Store and BBQ for sending some great food our way to nibble on during the meeting.
I also was able to sit back after the meeting and just reminisce about so many things, where I am, what I'm trying to accomplish and what I want to do in life and at 1660ESPN.
Sometimes, it's nice to sit back, relax and just take it all in---because we're about to hit a time when it's full-bore, non-stop, morning-noon-and-night.
I've told Paul (Catalina), if he can help us get a lot of goals completed by Thursday night, he can have Friday off---no vacation day, no vacation request, just get the hell out of here and enjoy a day off.
That takes me back to our high school football meeting, there are some people in our building/company who I think can do much more, are talented but perhaps they haven't been given some opportunities to grow or shine.
That has nothing to do with anyone or anything before I arrived, but ownership giving me the ability to think outside the box with some people.
I tried to give them some new opportunities in the past week, including a couple of people this evening that will also give me a chance to listen to what they do, their talent and decide on whether they can be more involved in our plans.
I really was able to reflect back on some great things in my life and professional career---and I can only hope things go very well here in central Texas. Our owner met me tonight to discuss some additional ideas and plans and it's such a breath of fresh air to have someone who also thinks outside the box and understands you have to sometimes spend money to make money.
He (Gary Moss) has allowed me to run, with an occasional, "Whoa Nellie," when I get a little bit ahead of myself.
We have a tremendous group of people at the station and now, it's time for us to take everything to the next level.
We have a lot in front of us, and I hope to get a little break at some point this weekend---but there's so much for us to do, that might not be possible.
That's not me complaining about hours or time, as I've said, I have a great opportunity and job here in Waco and I believe in this saying, "You know you have a great job when you never count the hours you work, and you never know how many vacation days or sick days you have available."
We don't have time for anything like that, we have work to do, our talk show, game broadcasts, Baylor football, the Cowboys, and scoreboard show.
We'll have plenty of time to look back at some point later this year and hopefully, smile, relax, and say, "that was a blast."
Wow, I've typed way too much, but for some reason my adrenalin has been pumping most of the evening.
Have a great week, I'm headed to get some sleep and then Baylor football practice in the morning.
Smoaky
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