What State Am I In?

I landed in Ohio last night, and it was just after Gov. Romney left town so there was no air or ground traffic in the way. I got in a Hyundai Sonata rental (there were 25 Chevys in the National lot and none of them had XM - shame on the American auto industry!) and cruised out of Columbus.

Every news network was repeating the mantra "it all comes down to Ohio." Yet when I woke up this morning in Athens, Nate Silver had no longer listed the Buckeye State as "competitive." He had Ohio as a 91% probability of going to the President. Maybe I should have brought my lawn sign here and plopped it in front of my hotel room.

It was a crisp and beautiful 38-degree autumn morning in remote Athens, 80 minutes outside the state capital and 40 minutes from the West Virginia border. It warmed up during the day, and we're going to have some nice football weather for Frank Solich's 100th game with Bobcats, as they take on Bowling Green Wednesday night.

Athens is a nice progressive slice in one of the reddest portions of Ohio. But don't let the country quaintness fool you, the sorority girls are capable of some serious mayhem.

Headed out somewhere in the Court Street/Union Street area tonight, but sure to be back in the room to keep an eye on Election Day coverage.

The key plot point of the night is 11 PM eastern, which is 8 PM pacific, which is when the west coast polls close. It was the hour when the 2008 election was called for Obama. Every minute past then means that there is still some level of uncertainty, which increases Romney's chances.

But there's no way I'm staying up all night for results. I got a job to do tomorrow, and I want to keep it. I don't trust either candidate to create one for me.

The Day-To-Day College Football Fray

I have this coming weekend off, before a double-up week and a turbulent month. November is the nexus of my year. The crossover month of college football and college basketball accounts for almost a quarter of my yearly haul. Which means I'll be seeing a lot of this:

So while enjoying the calm before the storm (if you will), and entertaining the extended house guests (Sandy refugees), I thought I'd outline a typical week during college football season. Hopefully I can do this without unearthing the Colonel's secret recipe, then everyone could be a TV producer and I'd be out of a great career.

SUNDAY

Early in the season college football games are determined about two weeks out. But when it comes down to nut-cutting time in late October and November, every week is crucial to conference and national championship chases.

Multiple networks coordinate with the conferences for optimum timeslots ("windows") in what are known throughout the landscape as "six-day picks."

So early Sunday afternoon, when we're with or families or watching NFL, we learn the site of next weekend's game.

As it's family time for the rest of your crew, you generally don't coordinate with anyone except for a quick e-mail check-in. Personally, I try to take 30 minutes out ASAP to send notes to the Sports Information Directors (SIDs) of both schools to let them know contact info for the members of our broadcast team.

For the visiting SID, I query as the best timeframe for conference calls with the head coach, coordinators, and possibly the QB. For the home team, I try and nail down a meeting time on Friday for in-person meetings with their coaches and selected players.

On Sunday night I put a preliminary list together for the Production Assistant (PA), for features to edit or clips to pull for our matchup. That way when he/she gets to work on Monday, they can start their scavenger hunt for our video needs.

MONDAY

The first call on Monday is to travel. Many college towns have limited airport capacity, so you'd better call quickly and get a seat grabbed. There are certain places like State College or Baton Rouge where you've got no shot six days out, and you'd better plan your alternate airport.

The hotel situation is marginally better. These games didn't magically appear out of nowhere, and a certain number of rooms have been blocked for TV. But sometimes there aren't enough for the entire crew, so you have people staying at different hotels.

There is a 30-minute operations call, where the producer and director get on with the technical people and go over everything from equipment to crew to general logistics and schedule.

You'll want to touch base with your SIDs, and make sure their game notes are getting out. Then you go back and forth a couple of times on coaches' meetings, making sure that we can do a time that is mutually agreeable to both the coaches and our talent.

At 4 PM, there's a 60-90 minute web conference led by the Coordinating Producer (CP) of college football. At this point we go over the highlights (and some lowlights) of the previous weekends, review video clips, ratings, sales, and production initiatives for the coming week.

Attendance isn't taken, and the power point is available for the Webex conference after the fact, but if you miss the call you could be called on out of the blue to explain something from your past game. It's the TV production version of bed-check.

TUESDAY

This is the quietest day of the week. There are some follow-ups on some loose ends, but mostly it's just homework on the teams.

I dissect the game notes and articles from the team's release. I generally do one page on the team as a whole, one page on the offense (names, numbers, position, stats), and one page on the defense and special teams. So three full pages on my legal pad, and the process takes about 90 minutes.

I try to do the visiting team research on Tuesday, and usually do the home team on Wednesday, or Thursday on the plane if I'm behind.

WEDNESDAY

This is when we usually have the call with the visiting coaches. It could be early in the morning or late in the afternoon, it depends on the individuals involved. It is generally attended by the play-by-play announcer, analyst, reporter, producer and director.

The head coach gives you the big picture stuff, while the coordinators go down the depth chart. The talent do most of the talking, but I've done 90 minutes of research of my own so I'll have a couple of questions too.

The flight is Thursday, usually mid-morning, so you pack your work bag and a suitcase before you go to bed.

THURSDAY

I get ready to be gone for a couple of days: make sure the latest load of laundry is at least in the dryer, make the beds, take out the trash, water the plants, turn off the AC, and set the alarm.

The travel day usually involves two flights from Savannah. So you make your time work for you both on the plane and in ATL airport. I've learned to prefer this even over a 5-hour drive because you can't get any work done in the car besides phone calls.

So I make sure my home team research is done, I've got my sales and promos obligations all checklisted, and put together a graphics list for my Associate Producer (AP).

I also make sure I bring a book for the plane, so I can let my mind wander off for at least 15 minutes at a time on takeoff and landing.

When on the ground, there's often a late afternoon walkthrough at the stadium to go over camera positions and details with operations and stadium personnel.

Thursday night is either a couple hours on the laptop in the hotel room consolidating my format with some room service, or a night out with colleagues, or a combination of the two.

FRIDAY

This is the busiest day by a mile. When you get to site, the truck is parked and powered, but nothing is yet "patched" so the truck is essentially just office space until any production can get done - you have to hope the wireless internet is up and running. It's also a good time for face-to-face time with your crew.

Coach meetings are generally late morning. Some meetings are quick and easy, some are "hurry up and wait." Some provide food, some don't. So lunch plans are on the fly.

The afternoons are spent building graphics and completing "pre-production," which involves putting graphics and music on our video clips and photos.

And there are always some sort of technical issues, logistical loose ends, or a UPS package that didn't get to site. You find out what trouble needs to be shot and put it on your list for game day.

I also make sure my "format" is printed out, copied, and stapled. The format is everything that goes into the show: the open, pregame responsibilities, sales, promos, graphics, clips, reporter items, and schedule. The in-truck wireless printer is the greatest invention since in-flight internet and the motorized golf cart.

Friday night's plan depends entirely when your game kicks off on Saturday. If we have a day game, then we have our meeting on Friday evening. If we have a night game, the meeting is Saturday morning.

The meeting is in an antiseptic hotel meeting room with a whiteboard and a TV/DVD player. The major advantages in a Friday night meeting is that there's some hot food and bottled beer, rather than continental breakfast and hotel coffee.

The efficiency of the service and level of the food varies wildly based on the quality of the hotel. For example, the Four Seasons in Austin, Texas is a much better bet than the Holiday Inn Express in Starkville, Mississippi. That's when you might as well throw down your own credit card and bring in the Qdoba taco bar and buy a box of sangria. But it is what it is, and you get what you get.

I lead off the meeting with our base storylines, the analyst goes over Xs and Os, we review the format top-to-bottom. At that point I like to stay "the format is written in ink, but not in stone," and I accept all modification suggestions (certain announcers don't exactly suggest).  We go over the schedule, and divvy up the parking passes.

At the end of a Friday meeting, we figure out who's going out and who's staying in, and hopefully somebody else has a plan on where to gather, or they'll hear my disdain, "Do I have to produce everything?"

SATURDAY

The best is a noon game. Despite the way-too-early wakeup call, you're done in time to catch a plane home. When I lived in Kalamazoo, I was on the Big Ten noon game in 2005 and 2006. I could reasonably drive home from 9 of 11 Big Ten sites (excluding only Minnesota and Penn State) and I'd often be in my living room by 8 PM.

A 3:30 game is OK. It ends too late to fly home, but in enough time to get a nice dinner in town and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Night games just suck. It takes an hour to get out of a packed stadium parking lot, no bars are open, and there's only time for about 3-4 hours of sleep before I catch the first flight home.

But make no mistake, the game is the fun part. Everything else is just grunt work.

Live television is the ultimate mix of stress and stress release. I make more decisions in 3 hours than most people make in a month. But it's not perfect. Sometimes you make bad decisions. Sometimes you are accountable for other people's mistakes. The phone could call from HQ at any moment and take you completely off your game. Sometimes events conspire to create head-shakingly bad TV, which I can tell you is like an out-of-body experience.

Sometimes there's a suit right there in the truck over your shoulder - which generally isn't as bad as you think - they get paid to make decisions too. They can immediately answer your questions, work as a go-between with the network or the school, and can get you off the hook if there's a problem. The downside is you're not always producing your game.

It's rare that people aren't in good humor after the show. Everyone had the adrenaline rush, and now whether you had an "A" game or not, you got through it. Mistakes are usually fixed posthumously when brilliant minds merge on the ride back to the hotel. But as they say, the game is already on Mars by then. All you can do is start getting ready for the next one.

Just Another Day At The Office

It doesn't suck when your office is in a mobile unit outside a sold-out college football stadium. And only adding to that satisfaction is run of great finishes I've witnessed and documented in the last several weeks.

Last night it was Louisville coming back from 10 points down in the second half, Teddy Bridgewater throwing for 400+, a late Cincinnati rally led by Munchie Legaux, and the Keg Of Nails changing hands on a game-winning FG in OT.

Here are my last 5 college football assignments:

September 15 - Utah 24, BYU 21

Utah thought they had won on two separate occasions. The sidelines emptied and the fans rushed the field, twice. After a clock adjustment and an illegal participation penalty on a Stanford Band-type play, BYU's tying FG attempt doinked off the upright. Then the Utes got to celebrate for real.

October 5 - Syracuse 14, Pitt 13

It wasn't a barn-burner by any stretch, but one-point games don't suck. It helps that the alma mater actually captured a conference game at home.

October 13 - Texas A&M 59, Louisiana Tech 57

Another one for the history books. Freshman legend Johnny "Football" Manziel set the SEC Total Offense mark (for the second time this season) with 576 yards of total offense, accounting for 6 TDs. The Aggies led 27-0, by 23 at halftime, and by 16 going into the 4th quarter. Still, gutty La Tech had two chances to tie on failed 2-point conversions. Texas A&M hung on in Shreveport.

October 20 - Louisville 27, South Florida 25

It wasn't a classic, but just a run-of-the-mill game-winning TD drive with under 2:00 left. And it was led by Louisville's super soph to preserve a still-unbeaten season.

October 26 - Louisville 34, Cincinnati 31 (OT)

Louisville's late magic continues. Eight down, four to go.

Next up: Bowling Green at Ohio U - Wednesday, November 7. The day after election day in Ohio will be interesting whether the game is or not.

On This September Saturday: Football > Baseball

Despite my professional responsibilities, I consider myself a baseball guy first. And September baseball is high drama, but yesterday it was swallowed up by an dynamic week of college football as conference races are off to a booming start.

Let's go through the epic battles yesterday, in order of finish.

Miami 44 NC State 37 How did Phillip Dorsett get behind the defense for a 62-yard TD with 19 seconds left? Stephen Morris passed for 566 yards and he and Mike Glennon combined for over 1,000 pass yards.

West Virginia 70 Baylor 63 Yes both defenses were non-existent, but an incredible game to watch in the Mountaineers' Big 12 debut. Geno Smith's numbers (45-51, 656 yds, 8 TD/0 INT) were unprecedented in our lifetime, and they weren't just dinks and dunks. His passes had air under them and they always landed on their target. The WVU WRs and Baylor Offense guys were also statistically off the charts, but too many to mention here.

Cincinnati 27 Virginia Tech 24 It was a pretty pedestrian 13-7 game going into the 4th Qtr, but then the laser tag game broke out with four lead changes in the last 9 minutes. It was highlighted by Cincinnati's heroic 85 yard drive in final 1:49, capped by a sensational 39-yard TD from Munchie Legaux to Damon Julian.

Georgia 51 Tennessee 44 Lots of big plays and 95 points on the board, but the teams still had time to combine for 7 turnovers. UT QB Tyler Bray's 3 INT proved to be too much to overcome, as well as Georgia's 282 rush yards.

Texas 41 Oklahoma State 36 Another game with 4 final quarter lead changes, and gutsy Texas Soph QB David Ash took his team 75 yards down the field for the win in Stillwater. This sets up the showdown with West Virginia next week in Austin.

Nebraska 30 Wisconsin 27 Huskers were down 27-10 in the 2nd half, and finished with 20 unanswered points. Bo Pelini's defense forced a Monte Ball fumble on 4th & 1 to seal it. In Nebraska's storied history, I've never heard Memorial Stadium so loud or raucous.

I fell asleep before Oregon State came down the field to upend Arizona on the road 38-35, or it certainly would be detailed as well.

I had one eye on the baseball action as well, and there was plenty of compelling stuff it just didn't reach the magnitude of the events on the gridiron.

AL East Yankees blew a lead at Toronto and lost 3-2. Orioles blew a lead but got a Manny Machado HR in the 7th and Jim Johnson nailed down his 49th save in a 4-3 win over Boston. The AL East is tied again.

AL Wild Card The amazing A's trailed Seattle 4-1 late. They got one in the 8th, they tying 2-run HR by Josh Donaldson in the 9th, then winning 3-run HR by Brandon Moss in the 10th. Unfortunately only 21,517 were in Oakland to enjoy it.

The A's crept within one game of the Yankees/O's for the Wild Card lead, and put more distance between the trailing Angels, who were rained out in Arlington and now need to play two there today.

AL Central The Tigers big money guys earned it. Justin Verlander won his 17th. Miguel Cabrera hit another HR and is closing in on Triple Crown (.327, 43, 136) in a 6-4 win over Minnesota. Meanwhile White Sox ace Chris Sale had his worst start of the season in a 10-4 home loss to the mathematically-still-breathing Rays. Detroit now leads by 2 with 4 to go.

NL Wild Card The Cardinals came back from 4-0 down to force extra innings, but lost to Washington. The Dodgers got 2 taters from Matt Kemp in a combined shutout of Colorado. LA inched closer to STL, and are 2 back with 4 left.

Ultimately there was plenty of TV to go around yesterday, just not enough TVs in the house. Maybe baseball wasn't better in one particular snapshot, but that's the thing about baseball. It goes every day, 162 of them. While football may win any given day, baseball wins day after day.

A Saturday Away From The Fray

It's unusual that I get a Saturday off in the fall (or winter). It's quite the out-of-body experience to catch glimpses of afternoon college football from my own kitchen. But bouncing around for the weekend with the kids isn't such a bad Plan B.

First, the White Bluff Burger King for breakfast. Entirely their call. Breakfast and an indoor playground, and I concurred since I knew I'd get to break in my next book. It was maybe the slowest and most understaffed counter service I've ever experienced at a fast food restaurant. It was beyond frustrating but I have to admit, the food wasn't bad. And the kids ate plenty. E-Man astutely pointed out that fall began at 10:49 AM.

On to Star Bike. C-Love is dangerously close to losing the training wheels, but her legs get longer every day and she had just outgrown the old one. I carry a wrench every time we ride now as I am constantly hiking up the seat or the training wheels, so I splurged on a used Raleigh Retro Sixteen.

The staff told me she should be good for the next couple of years. The kids both got new helmets and we were on our way home. We read some books and played video games, while I made lunch and kept track of the football scores and tried to keep one eye on the Yankee game in what has become a gripping AL East pennant chase.

The Yankees were up 5-4 on Oakland in the 7th when we pulled up at the theater to meet two other families for Finding Nemo 3D.

Now I like Pixar films as much as the next dad, and this is a good one. But I'm sure Finding Nemo was far more ground-breaking in its 2003 debut than in the 3D re-release. The kids look cool in the glasses but the 3D thing doesn't do much for me.

The saving grace was that through an incredible stroke of luck, the Yankee game was still going in the bottom of the 13th when I got to the car. I heard the amazing rally from 4 runs down (fortunately ESPN Radio had it and I wasn't forced to listen to John & Suzyn) but didn't catch the triumphant 14th as we all did pizza at a friend's place.

I got home and searched for highlights and game stories. I reconstructed the late innings, extra innings, and historic comeback as best I could in my own mind and was going to renumerate it here. But there was a level of drama and tension I couldn't possibly reenact having not watched it.

What I can say is that Ichiro Suzuki is in rare air this week. In the last 5 games, he's 14-for-20 (.700), bringing his average up to .335 in 56 games in Pinstripes.

The other prong in all this drama is that the Orioles won another extra-inning game today themselves, the 16th straight such win for the math-defying O's. And if there's any wonder how great they've been playing: the Yankees have won 7 straight, and the Orioles still only trail by 1 game.

I was convinced that September baseball is more compelling than September football. But last night's results with Kansas State, Oregon State, Rutgers, and a resurgent Notre Dame scoring huge wins throw that argument back up in the air. And there's still NFL today - if you can get around your life and get situated to catch it.

I Like The Cut Of Your Jib

A friend recently alerted me to a You Tube video from a September 2007 West Virginia pre-game.  I didn't know it existed, much less the tally of almost 500K hits. The last 10 seconds or so captures an inaudible conversation between the reporter and the producer.

The still I grabbed doesn't catch Erin Andrews' best look, though it is the best side of the Head Of Backtime. But what's with the wedding ring and the watch? It wasn't that long ago, was it?

I don't remember the particular conversation, but it's pretty likely I was conferring with Erin to redo her report. Not that she did anything wrong - it was the blurting out of "Yeah thick ones Georgie!" from the background.

And while I don't remember that precise moment, I do remember that day. Normally Bubba would be out with Erin and Wade Hewitt (camera) for pre-game GameDay reports. The late morning crowd in Morgantown was a little saucy, and I must have thought we needed to double our efforts. I assure you the folks in yellow were not security. This was before EA got her own secret service squad a couple years later.

I also remember on more than one occasion telling some mouth-breather calling out names or taking inappropriate cell phone pics to "Be Respectful!" of a reporter and a lady trying to do her job.

Earlier this month, Erin changed networks. She will get more hosting duties and likely substantially more money. I don't know if I'll ever work with her again, but I enjoyed our time on college football.

I'm not going to lie, she brought some drama and gossip to the table - I'm averse to both. And she was road-weary, coming from a Thursday night game to a Saturday noon game. And as is the case with female talent (believe me I know), she was obsessed about her weight (we should all have such problems). Though she ate like a man when the situation called.

But when it came down to it, for 3+ hours on the air each week she was the ideal sideline reporter. She was exactly where she was supposed to be. She didn't care how much she got on the air, and she kept her reports concise. And she worked herself into a great interviewer - especially the quick coach hits.

Whether she can transition from all-star reporter into a host will be a challenge. But at least she's taking on the challenge. Some people still just rely on their awesome-looking back of their head.

Sudden Depth: Overtime Needs An Overhaul

The NFL overtime system is often criticized since both teams are not guaranteed to possess the football. The powers that be would tell you that the NFL is for tough guys, so you’d better take control of your own destiny and finish the thing in regulation or you may not get the ball.

It’s not an equitable system like college football in which each team gets a possession. Right? Wrong.

The college football overtime isn’t football. Starting 1st and 10 on your opponents’ 25-Yard line is a video game. All stats count in scoring situations which often lead to score totals that approach a college hoop game. It puts records in jeopardy, and the final score is often no indicator of the way the game went.

Worse than that, football staples like clock, field position and special teams have virtually no meaning. If you’re the punter (unless you’re also the holder) - you might as well hit the showers. If you’re a return guy – take the rest of the day off. By eliminating the specialists, you turn a game of chess into a game of checkers. It’s a hockey shootout on field turf.

So the college system doesn’t work either. But both teams need to have a possession, right?

Not necessarily.

Here’s the plan for both college and pros: One overtime period (15 minutes or 12 or 10). First team to 6 points wins, or whoever has the most when the clock runs out.

If Team A wins the toss, and they come down and score a touchdown, they win. Team B won’t be killed by a field goal, but they’ll have to answer. If they allow a TD, they don’t deserve the ball. Most importantly, the Touchdown is the walk-off Home Run. It’s the exclamation point. Not the question mark.

And there’s a world of strategy involved. It’s 4th Down, if you punt – will you ever get the ball back? If you make the Field Goal, do you squib it or kick deep? There are coffin corners and 2-minute offenses, safeties, and ties, yes the dreaded tie (obviously in Bowl games or Playoff games, you play multiple OTs if unsettled).

If two teams play 60 minutes to a deadlock, don’t take the coaches off the hook. They need to work overtime too.

Here's The Situation: Ron Franklin's Oscar Picks

Fans of major college football and basketball appreciate the drama (and occasional comedy) that comes through the narration of Ron Franklin. Ron not only appreciates the drama from the live action, but from Hollywood.

Ron has seen virtually all the films nominated and offers his predictions with his take:

Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire - Just an incredible story of perseverance. The living conditions were captured in a way never seen before.

Best Actor – Frank Langella “Frost/Nixon” – An underrated actor “nailed” Nixon like nobody had yet.

Best Actress – Kate Winslet “The Reader” – She could have won for this or “Revolutionary Road” – which she wasn’t nominated for.

Best Director – Ron Howard “Frost/Nixon” – Felt like you were transported back in time and the tension really escalates.

SNUBS

“Gran Torino” – A beautiful film and a definitive statement on prejudice and racism.

Leonardo DiCaprio “Revolutionary Road” – Compelling performance in a depressing turn about broken dreams.

There's the situation from a man who can call drama when he sees it.