Paul Catalina, Terry Tacker, Casey Hartmann and I woke up bright-and-early on Tuesday and drove to Fort Hood for an appearance at their Equipment and Technological Expo.
We interview vendors who he design, build and produce material and equipment that will help our great soldiers become bigger, better, faster, lighter, stronger and smarter.
God Bless Our Troops and everyone who has ever served or is serving to protect our freedom.
We finished up the remote at noon and Sgt. Joe Radcliffe took us to lunch a short tour of the base.
Paul, Terry and Casey stayed in Killeen for another appearance at Fuddruckers in Killeen, while I drove up I-35 to attend the NCAA Women's Regional Final between Texas A&M and Baylor at the American Airlines Center.
It's Round IV between these two really good teams, with Baylor winning the first three.
David Smoak
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
NCAA Women's Regional Semifinals in Dallas
Paul Catalina and I landed in Austin just after midnight on Sunday morning following our trip to Rangers Training Camp in Arizona.
I got just enough sleep to be dangerous, cooked a nice breakfast for a change and headed up I-35 for the NCAA Women's Regional Semifinals at the American Airlines Arena.
Texas A&M crushed Georgia in the first game and we're just under 9-minutes into the second half and Baylor leads Wisconsin-Green Bay, 57-49.
If Baylor wins, we'll have a fourth Texas A&M-Baylor showdown.
Baylor won the first three in knockdown drag-out fashion. #4 won't be any different.
David Smoak
I got just enough sleep to be dangerous, cooked a nice breakfast for a change and headed up I-35 for the NCAA Women's Regional Semifinals at the American Airlines Arena.
Texas A&M crushed Georgia in the first game and we're just under 9-minutes into the second half and Baylor leads Wisconsin-Green Bay, 57-49.
If Baylor wins, we'll have a fourth Texas A&M-Baylor showdown.
Baylor won the first three in knockdown drag-out fashion. #4 won't be any different.
David Smoak
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Surprise, Surprise...Arizona
Paul Catalina and I in our second day at Rangers Training Camp in Surprise, Arizona.
Now. This. Is. Work.
MLB Training Camp.
We're currently watching the Padres vs. Rangers at Surprise Stadium, been a long, but productive day.
We basically got through Wednesday on fumes and adrenalin after literally NO SLEEP following the Lady Bears win against West Virginia on Tuesday night. But, hey--someone has to do this job, right?
Wouldn't want it any other way.
We were so tired after the show on Wednesday, we left the stadium, checked into our hotel, went to PF Chang's (where else did you think we were going?) and then crashed before the sun was down in Arizona.
We didn't wake up until 6:30am on Thursday.
But, we were rested thank goodness and went straight to the Rangers Clubhouse for interviews.
We secured a recorded interview with Ian Kinsler and Derek Holland. We spoke with Holland before the Rangers actually announced their starting rotation and he didn't even know at the time he was included.
Problem is---Tommy Hunter strained his groin pitching against the Reds and now the Rangers are searching for a short-term solution until Hunter is back.
Meanwhile, we also had veteran lefty Darren Oliver drop by the booth and come on live with us this afternoon.
We're LOADED for Friday's show (our last here in Surprise) with the following guests that we know of and working on others.
*Ron Washington, Rangers Manager
*Jon Daniels, Rangers General Manager
*Ian Kinsler, Rangers Second Baseman
*Jamey Newberg, The Newberg Report
Paul and I are also working on getting Melissa Jones or a Lady Bears player for Friday's show before they leave for the Dallas Regional. We normally would have been at their Media Session today, but couldn't make it due to our coverage here in Arizona.
Rangers and Padres are 4-4 into the top of the 7th, we'll wait around for the conclusion and then head to the Clubhouse and get another piece of audio or so.
We'll be right back in the Clubhouse first thing on Friday morning around 8:00am. I brought my golf clubs, might try and hit the links after Friday's show.
You turn around and can run into a golf course. There's one right down the street, well--there are a couple of dozen shows right down the street from the ballpark.
It might be time to hit the little white ball on Friday afternoon.
Thanks for listening when and if you do!
David Smoak
Now. This. Is. Work.
MLB Training Camp.
We're currently watching the Padres vs. Rangers at Surprise Stadium, been a long, but productive day.
We basically got through Wednesday on fumes and adrenalin after literally NO SLEEP following the Lady Bears win against West Virginia on Tuesday night. But, hey--someone has to do this job, right?
Wouldn't want it any other way.
We were so tired after the show on Wednesday, we left the stadium, checked into our hotel, went to PF Chang's (where else did you think we were going?) and then crashed before the sun was down in Arizona.
We didn't wake up until 6:30am on Thursday.
But, we were rested thank goodness and went straight to the Rangers Clubhouse for interviews.
We secured a recorded interview with Ian Kinsler and Derek Holland. We spoke with Holland before the Rangers actually announced their starting rotation and he didn't even know at the time he was included.
Problem is---Tommy Hunter strained his groin pitching against the Reds and now the Rangers are searching for a short-term solution until Hunter is back.
Meanwhile, we also had veteran lefty Darren Oliver drop by the booth and come on live with us this afternoon.
We're LOADED for Friday's show (our last here in Surprise) with the following guests that we know of and working on others.
*Ron Washington, Rangers Manager
*Jon Daniels, Rangers General Manager
*Ian Kinsler, Rangers Second Baseman
*Jamey Newberg, The Newberg Report
Paul and I are also working on getting Melissa Jones or a Lady Bears player for Friday's show before they leave for the Dallas Regional. We normally would have been at their Media Session today, but couldn't make it due to our coverage here in Arizona.
Rangers and Padres are 4-4 into the top of the 7th, we'll wait around for the conclusion and then head to the Clubhouse and get another piece of audio or so.
We'll be right back in the Clubhouse first thing on Friday morning around 8:00am. I brought my golf clubs, might try and hit the links after Friday's show.
You turn around and can run into a golf course. There's one right down the street, well--there are a couple of dozen shows right down the street from the ballpark.
It might be time to hit the little white ball on Friday afternoon.
Thanks for listening when and if you do!
David Smoak
Monday, March 21, 2011
H.S. Football Broadcast Programming Announcement
We added Midway High School football to our group for the 2011 season. We also acquired the rights to broadcast additional Midway sporting events based on our programming schedule.
We're excited about the acquisition of Midway football and I want to thank AD Randy Weisinger and head football coach Terry Gambill for their professionalism throughout the negotiating process.
We also have the rights to Robinson, China Spring and Copperas Cove, and we're looking at adding more between now and late-August.
A lot of what we do in placing a program on any frequency is what frequencies and signals we have available.
We do plan on broadcasting high school football on AM1660, 101.3FM, 100.9FM, 106.9FM, Mix929 and eventually, AM1590.
David Smoak
We're excited about the acquisition of Midway football and I want to thank AD Randy Weisinger and head football coach Terry Gambill for their professionalism throughout the negotiating process.
We also have the rights to Robinson, China Spring and Copperas Cove, and we're looking at adding more between now and late-August.
A lot of what we do in placing a program on any frequency is what frequencies and signals we have available.
We do plan on broadcasting high school football on AM1660, 101.3FM, 100.9FM, 106.9FM, Mix929 and eventually, AM1590.
David Smoak
Sunday, March 20, 2011
What a nice weekend...
I'm sitting at court-side at the NCAA Women's National Tournament, 1st-Round game about to tip between Baylor and Prairie View A&M. West Virginia just advanced past Houston and will play the winner on Tuesday night here at the Ferrell Center.
It's been a great weekend, Cindy came in from Tyler, we relaxed and then went out a little bit on Saturday night.
But, we just enjoyed some time together, and of course with Jennifer's dog, "Oreo," who is always the star of the show.
Oreo is so fun to be with--never stops, always wants some loving and I'm always willing to give it to her. Cindy left mid-afternoon to go back to Tyler, Jennifer is on her way back from the coast and I'm at the Ferrell Center. Craig is in Tyler, enjoyed a quiet weekend himself.
I got a little antsy with wanting to play a round of golf, but not yet time--I will try and sneak out and play a round while in Arizona later this week.
Paul Catalina and I leave for Rangers Training Camp bright-and-early on Wednesday morning and will return on Sunday, March 27th.
David Smoak
It's been a great weekend, Cindy came in from Tyler, we relaxed and then went out a little bit on Saturday night.
But, we just enjoyed some time together, and of course with Jennifer's dog, "Oreo," who is always the star of the show.
Oreo is so fun to be with--never stops, always wants some loving and I'm always willing to give it to her. Cindy left mid-afternoon to go back to Tyler, Jennifer is on her way back from the coast and I'm at the Ferrell Center. Craig is in Tyler, enjoyed a quiet weekend himself.
I got a little antsy with wanting to play a round of golf, but not yet time--I will try and sneak out and play a round while in Arizona later this week.
Paul Catalina and I leave for Rangers Training Camp bright-and-early on Wednesday morning and will return on Sunday, March 27th.
David Smoak
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Playing catch-up again...
You'd think something so simple at updating a daily or weekly blog would be easy. Well, it should be and I apologize for not updating much of late.
It's late on Thursday night, the first night of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and I went 6-2 in the first 8-games, not sure about tonight's results, but not bad...but like every year, my bracket will be a mess by this time Friday night (if not earlier).
I love the NCAA Tournament...obviously, it's one of the great single-day's in sports each year. I'll take the opening day of the Masters golf tournament. I used to think the same thing for the opening day of MLB when so many games were played during the afternoon on a Monday---but that's changed with so many opening games being spread out with television coverage.
Well, Paul Catalina and I returned from our week covering the Big 12 Basketball Tournament's in Kansas City, and throughout the entire trip...and even now, I'm still fighting this cough.
I saw my doctor on Monday, he prescribed Z-Pac and steroids and Codeine cough syrup. Everything has worked by the Codeine-laced cough syrup. I couldn't wait to try it the first night back (Monday), but I've been wired after taking it every night. I haven't had more than 2-3 hours sleep in any one night for 2-weeks, and I'm not whining, just updating my blog.
I'm taking straight-up NyQuil in about 20-minutes. But, I have a 6:15am wake-up call for our special show on Friday morning in Temple. We're on 8:00am-11:00am tomorrow morning (like we were today) because our regular hours are blown out with the NCAA tournament games.
I didn't want us to lose the daily revenue during our show and we not only saved the revenue with the special morning shows, we added sponsorship dollars from Automax Hyundai-Temple.
I think we beat everyone to the dealership this morning, but we took a ton of calls and Paul and I had a great time with some topics and discussion. Also, had a nice chunk of people come by and register to win a nice group of prizes.
We're back at it in the morning. I hope, after the NyQuil that I hear my alarm clock. If I don't, that's okay--means I actually got some good sleep.
Our amazingly talented son, Craig, turned 27 this week, continues to co-host his sports talk show in Tyler. So proud of him.
Our fiercely committed daughter, Jennifer turns 24 in early-April, she dropped by my place on Tuesday evening, brought her (my) dog, Oreo, a black and white border collie and Oreo and I are "running buddies." She's so damn smart it's hilarious.
We had dogs when I was younger, our family had everything, dogs, cats, birds, ducks, fish, you name it, we had it. Sometimes the cats enjoyed some of the "pets" as treats, but we just replaced them. But, after getting married to Cindy, we just never had a dog...always cats...cats are cool, they complain on occasion but would rather you not bother them, unless they're hungry or just sucked on catnip.
Thinking back at it, we did have a dog for less than a week back in the mid-80's, but it didn't last long, it was a black lab and we gave it to a friend who had a big ranch...good decision for the dog.
Okay, I'm watching the end of the UCLA-Michigan State game, UCLA was rolling, but not trying to hang-on, up just one with :04.4 left. UCLA at the free throw line. I didn't realize this until the tip, but these proud basketball programs have never met during the NCAA Tournament, hard to believe.
Cindy is driving to town on Friday night to spend a couple of days, looking forward to that...although I think she wants to see Oreo more than me (and Jennifer when she comes back through on Sunday) :)
I think Craig and his girl, Mandee might even drive down, and that would be awesome.
Baylor Lady Bears start their march towards an possible NCAA Championship on Sunday at home, I'll be there for the coverage on Sunday evening. If they win, and they should, they'll also host a game on Tuesday in Waco.
Paul Catalina and I are headed to Rangers Training Camp on Wednesday morning for 5-6 days covering baseball spring training. That's about as relaxed as it gets. Looking forward to getting some fresh air--hope my cough is over by then, might take the sticks and play a round of three of golf. At least, I hope so.
We're trying to keep March busy with basketball and so much more. It's been a great month for us and so many people at our station have contributed.
I continue to be amazed by our camaraderie and so proud of the effort, commitment and professionalism.
We're finishing up the 1st-Quarter of 2011 with a lot of momentum, now we need to sustain it through April-June. If we can somehow sustain the momentum in April, May, and June...I can't wait for what we can do during the football season.
Oh, we're about to make a major announcement involving our 2011 high school football coverage on Monday of next week.
Stay tuned and thank you for listening when and if you do.
David Smoak
smoaky@1660espn.com
It's late on Thursday night, the first night of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and I went 6-2 in the first 8-games, not sure about tonight's results, but not bad...but like every year, my bracket will be a mess by this time Friday night (if not earlier).
I love the NCAA Tournament...obviously, it's one of the great single-day's in sports each year. I'll take the opening day of the Masters golf tournament. I used to think the same thing for the opening day of MLB when so many games were played during the afternoon on a Monday---but that's changed with so many opening games being spread out with television coverage.
Well, Paul Catalina and I returned from our week covering the Big 12 Basketball Tournament's in Kansas City, and throughout the entire trip...and even now, I'm still fighting this cough.
I saw my doctor on Monday, he prescribed Z-Pac and steroids and Codeine cough syrup. Everything has worked by the Codeine-laced cough syrup. I couldn't wait to try it the first night back (Monday), but I've been wired after taking it every night. I haven't had more than 2-3 hours sleep in any one night for 2-weeks, and I'm not whining, just updating my blog.
I'm taking straight-up NyQuil in about 20-minutes. But, I have a 6:15am wake-up call for our special show on Friday morning in Temple. We're on 8:00am-11:00am tomorrow morning (like we were today) because our regular hours are blown out with the NCAA tournament games.
I didn't want us to lose the daily revenue during our show and we not only saved the revenue with the special morning shows, we added sponsorship dollars from Automax Hyundai-Temple.
I think we beat everyone to the dealership this morning, but we took a ton of calls and Paul and I had a great time with some topics and discussion. Also, had a nice chunk of people come by and register to win a nice group of prizes.
We're back at it in the morning. I hope, after the NyQuil that I hear my alarm clock. If I don't, that's okay--means I actually got some good sleep.
Our amazingly talented son, Craig, turned 27 this week, continues to co-host his sports talk show in Tyler. So proud of him.
Our fiercely committed daughter, Jennifer turns 24 in early-April, she dropped by my place on Tuesday evening, brought her (my) dog, Oreo, a black and white border collie and Oreo and I are "running buddies." She's so damn smart it's hilarious.
We had dogs when I was younger, our family had everything, dogs, cats, birds, ducks, fish, you name it, we had it. Sometimes the cats enjoyed some of the "pets" as treats, but we just replaced them. But, after getting married to Cindy, we just never had a dog...always cats...cats are cool, they complain on occasion but would rather you not bother them, unless they're hungry or just sucked on catnip.
Thinking back at it, we did have a dog for less than a week back in the mid-80's, but it didn't last long, it was a black lab and we gave it to a friend who had a big ranch...good decision for the dog.
Okay, I'm watching the end of the UCLA-Michigan State game, UCLA was rolling, but not trying to hang-on, up just one with :04.4 left. UCLA at the free throw line. I didn't realize this until the tip, but these proud basketball programs have never met during the NCAA Tournament, hard to believe.
Cindy is driving to town on Friday night to spend a couple of days, looking forward to that...although I think she wants to see Oreo more than me (and Jennifer when she comes back through on Sunday) :)
I think Craig and his girl, Mandee might even drive down, and that would be awesome.
Baylor Lady Bears start their march towards an possible NCAA Championship on Sunday at home, I'll be there for the coverage on Sunday evening. If they win, and they should, they'll also host a game on Tuesday in Waco.
Paul Catalina and I are headed to Rangers Training Camp on Wednesday morning for 5-6 days covering baseball spring training. That's about as relaxed as it gets. Looking forward to getting some fresh air--hope my cough is over by then, might take the sticks and play a round of three of golf. At least, I hope so.
We're trying to keep March busy with basketball and so much more. It's been a great month for us and so many people at our station have contributed.
I continue to be amazed by our camaraderie and so proud of the effort, commitment and professionalism.
We're finishing up the 1st-Quarter of 2011 with a lot of momentum, now we need to sustain it through April-June. If we can somehow sustain the momentum in April, May, and June...I can't wait for what we can do during the football season.
Oh, we're about to make a major announcement involving our 2011 high school football coverage on Monday of next week.
Stay tuned and thank you for listening when and if you do.
David Smoak
smoaky@1660espn.com
Sunday, March 13, 2011
I can't wait to get back to Kansas City...
I'd been looking forward to our trip to cover the Big 12 Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, and I enjoyed the games and tournaments.
I just wish I'd felt better. I caught a pretty bad head cold following our ESPN College Game-Day weekend and here I am, nine days later and I'm still coughing constantly, battling a stuffy nose, an earache and sore throat.
I've tried everything and special thanks to folks within the Baylor athletic department for trying to help with some medicine.
I have coughed almost non-stop for 8-9 days, some days worse than others, and here I am on Sunday night and battling you guessed it, a nagging cough.
I will go and see my doctor here in Waco, Dr. Hinds, sometime on Monday. I had a throat culture done before I left and everything came back negative. But, something is strange because I've taken Advil Cold & Sinus, NyQuil, DayQuil, Advil, Lozenges, Mucinex, anything and everything and I'm right back at square one.
I actually feel better today than I have in a week, but the constant coughing has just worn down my throat and I'm not sure if I'll be on the air for another day or two. That in itself is very frustrating.
We'll have a lot to digest this week, including Baylor missing out on the NIT, man...from the Elite 8 to nothing. I know every program would want any post-season tournament but perhaps this season needs to end, "now."
The Lady Bears captured the regular season and conference championships and they'll get a #1 seed and host the first two rounds in Waco and most likely play their third and fourth round games in Dallas. They have a watch party set for 5:00pm on Monday and we'll try and get Coach Mulkey on our show sometime between 3pm-6pm.
We've launched our NCAA Bracket Madness promotion, YOU picking the NCAA Tournament and my goal is 300 entries. Right now, without any promotion, we're only at 15, but we'll pound away at this for the next 2-3 days. I "NEVER" do well at these brackets, NEVER. But, I'll fill it out like I always do and watch is disintegrate right before my very own eyes.
Baylor football resumes their spring drills and we'll dive back into that as well this week.
I need a quiet week, and we should get that with some appearances, but being back home is great.
Paul Catalina and I leave for Rangers Training Camp a week from Wednesday and we're looking forward to that, was hoping Butch would come just for the golf, but he has some family plans. I think he'd love Arizona with the baseball and golf and we'll work on him this week.
So, our week in Kansas City is over, and because I couldn't enjoy it like I wanted--I can't wait for next year.
David Smoak
I just wish I'd felt better. I caught a pretty bad head cold following our ESPN College Game-Day weekend and here I am, nine days later and I'm still coughing constantly, battling a stuffy nose, an earache and sore throat.
I've tried everything and special thanks to folks within the Baylor athletic department for trying to help with some medicine.
I have coughed almost non-stop for 8-9 days, some days worse than others, and here I am on Sunday night and battling you guessed it, a nagging cough.
I will go and see my doctor here in Waco, Dr. Hinds, sometime on Monday. I had a throat culture done before I left and everything came back negative. But, something is strange because I've taken Advil Cold & Sinus, NyQuil, DayQuil, Advil, Lozenges, Mucinex, anything and everything and I'm right back at square one.
I actually feel better today than I have in a week, but the constant coughing has just worn down my throat and I'm not sure if I'll be on the air for another day or two. That in itself is very frustrating.
We'll have a lot to digest this week, including Baylor missing out on the NIT, man...from the Elite 8 to nothing. I know every program would want any post-season tournament but perhaps this season needs to end, "now."
The Lady Bears captured the regular season and conference championships and they'll get a #1 seed and host the first two rounds in Waco and most likely play their third and fourth round games in Dallas. They have a watch party set for 5:00pm on Monday and we'll try and get Coach Mulkey on our show sometime between 3pm-6pm.
We've launched our NCAA Bracket Madness promotion, YOU picking the NCAA Tournament and my goal is 300 entries. Right now, without any promotion, we're only at 15, but we'll pound away at this for the next 2-3 days. I "NEVER" do well at these brackets, NEVER. But, I'll fill it out like I always do and watch is disintegrate right before my very own eyes.
Baylor football resumes their spring drills and we'll dive back into that as well this week.
I need a quiet week, and we should get that with some appearances, but being back home is great.
Paul Catalina and I leave for Rangers Training Camp a week from Wednesday and we're looking forward to that, was hoping Butch would come just for the golf, but he has some family plans. I think he'd love Arizona with the baseball and golf and we'll work on him this week.
So, our week in Kansas City is over, and because I couldn't enjoy it like I wanted--I can't wait for next year.
David Smoak
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Trying to summarize the past week...
I'm sitting here inside the Parsons Roofing 40' RV, otherwise known as our ESPN Radio-Central Texas Luxury Suite.
We've been broadcasting and spending the past 36-hours inside of this RV counting down the ESPN College Game Day and Saturday night's Texas @ Baylor game.
I'd like to start by thanking Baylor University for their unprecedented access to their campus and events this week. As I've said many times, I don't know what relationship our station had with Baylor before I arrived in late-June, but I do know the response we are receiving from throughout Baylor Athletics has been tremendous.
The month of March should fly by with the Big 12 Tournaments next week in Kansas City, whatever we do with the NCAA Tournaments, Rangers Training Camp in late-March in Surprise, Arizona, and perhaps the NCAA Women's Final Four the first week in April.
Our sales staff has aced the sponsorships in putting us in position to not only cover these events, but cover our expenses and add to an already record-breaking March.
We will continue to push to get better...
I received an email asking me why we decided to cover the ESPN College Game Day with an appearance in an RV outside of the Ferrell Center. I responded, "why not?"
We'd other be in the studio or another appearance on Friday, so why not start the countdown to the ESPN College Game Day show? It only made sense and now, sitting here inside the RV, mid-afternoon on Saturday, I can't think of much else we could have done. We had a couple of gremlins in the system "outside of what anyone heard on the air," and we react to both with ease.
I'll go ahead and answer another email question, "Why did you decide to broadcast live on Saturday morning leading up to College Game Day."
Again, "Why not?" Butch, Paul and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and atmosphere.
We had ESPN's Rece Davis and Jay Bilas on Friday's show...and we were still able to cover the local high school and college post-season tournaments.
I'd like to thank a few people in particular for the past week's access at Baylor, including Ian McCaw, Nick Joos, Chris Yandle, John Garrison, Diane Jee, Jordan Barker, Kevin Huffine, Tom Hill, Drew Pittman, and Scott Drew.
There are many more who were involved, but those are the people who I had the direct contact with at some point.
One story about Friday night...Coach Drew stopped by our RV on Friday for a live interview and then I didn't think we'd see him again until perhaps Saturday morning. Well, as a pretty good group of us were enjoying the tailgating on Friday night, here comes Coach Drew---with a large aluminum pan of Crazy Wings from George's. He spoke with us for about 15-20 minutes and went home to the family and I'm sure to watch more video on Texas.
And, speaking of food, I'd like to also thank Fuddruckers, Rudy's and Hooters for their donation to helping feed about a hundred students who stayed around the Parsons Roofing RV on Friday afternoon.
Right now, there's about 50-80 people coming and going right outside of our tailgate location.
Mike Dewey did another nice job of coordinating the area with Baylor University. Mike loves to tailgate, he loves to have a good time, and he is really trying to start a tradition of great tailgating at Baylor sporting events.
I just received an email from ESPN Radio in Bristol, and they've asked me to live updates during tonight's UT-Baylor game. That sounds great and all, but because of the setup inside the Ferrell Center, I have to do the updates from inside the media room about 1-2 times and hour...so I'll have to walk away from the live action a few times.
Oh well, enough for now, Paul and I just met inside the RV to discuss our upcoming trip to Kansas City...just one of many things we're doing this month---and very excited about it all.
Thank you for reading this blog if you do, and listening to our show when and if you do.
David Smoak
smoaky@1660espn.com
We've been broadcasting and spending the past 36-hours inside of this RV counting down the ESPN College Game Day and Saturday night's Texas @ Baylor game.
I'd like to start by thanking Baylor University for their unprecedented access to their campus and events this week. As I've said many times, I don't know what relationship our station had with Baylor before I arrived in late-June, but I do know the response we are receiving from throughout Baylor Athletics has been tremendous.
The month of March should fly by with the Big 12 Tournaments next week in Kansas City, whatever we do with the NCAA Tournaments, Rangers Training Camp in late-March in Surprise, Arizona, and perhaps the NCAA Women's Final Four the first week in April.
Our sales staff has aced the sponsorships in putting us in position to not only cover these events, but cover our expenses and add to an already record-breaking March.
We will continue to push to get better...
I received an email asking me why we decided to cover the ESPN College Game Day with an appearance in an RV outside of the Ferrell Center. I responded, "why not?"
We'd other be in the studio or another appearance on Friday, so why not start the countdown to the ESPN College Game Day show? It only made sense and now, sitting here inside the RV, mid-afternoon on Saturday, I can't think of much else we could have done. We had a couple of gremlins in the system "outside of what anyone heard on the air," and we react to both with ease.
I'll go ahead and answer another email question, "Why did you decide to broadcast live on Saturday morning leading up to College Game Day."
Again, "Why not?" Butch, Paul and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and atmosphere.
We had ESPN's Rece Davis and Jay Bilas on Friday's show...and we were still able to cover the local high school and college post-season tournaments.
I'd like to thank a few people in particular for the past week's access at Baylor, including Ian McCaw, Nick Joos, Chris Yandle, John Garrison, Diane Jee, Jordan Barker, Kevin Huffine, Tom Hill, Drew Pittman, and Scott Drew.
There are many more who were involved, but those are the people who I had the direct contact with at some point.
One story about Friday night...Coach Drew stopped by our RV on Friday for a live interview and then I didn't think we'd see him again until perhaps Saturday morning. Well, as a pretty good group of us were enjoying the tailgating on Friday night, here comes Coach Drew---with a large aluminum pan of Crazy Wings from George's. He spoke with us for about 15-20 minutes and went home to the family and I'm sure to watch more video on Texas.
And, speaking of food, I'd like to also thank Fuddruckers, Rudy's and Hooters for their donation to helping feed about a hundred students who stayed around the Parsons Roofing RV on Friday afternoon.
Right now, there's about 50-80 people coming and going right outside of our tailgate location.
Mike Dewey did another nice job of coordinating the area with Baylor University. Mike loves to tailgate, he loves to have a good time, and he is really trying to start a tradition of great tailgating at Baylor sporting events.
I just received an email from ESPN Radio in Bristol, and they've asked me to live updates during tonight's UT-Baylor game. That sounds great and all, but because of the setup inside the Ferrell Center, I have to do the updates from inside the media room about 1-2 times and hour...so I'll have to walk away from the live action a few times.
Oh well, enough for now, Paul and I just met inside the RV to discuss our upcoming trip to Kansas City...just one of many things we're doing this month---and very excited about it all.
Thank you for reading this blog if you do, and listening to our show when and if you do.
David Smoak
smoaky@1660espn.com
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