Sorry.
I don’t think I’ve ever started a story with an apology but for Sports fans and being in the full disclosure mode, sorry is required.
My job is the ultimate “dream job!” I’ve often told people being a Sports Anchor/Reporter is more like a hobby than occupation. As a young boy a day never went by without a hockey stick being in my hands (right handed shot!) When hockey gloves weren’t on my hands, a catchers mitt was. Sports was and is a huge part of my life.
My job has literally taken me from North-South, East-West. I’ve covered a Super Bowl (great stories hanging with Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen,) 2 Little League World Series (Williamsport Pennsylvania is sleepy hollow USA,) CART Spring Training (nothing like doing 130mph in a pace car!) numerous Molson Indys (terrific events in Vancouver never to be seen again) an Olympics, and so many Canucks/Lions/Whitecaps/Canadians games that I can’t even count, let alone remember.
Like I said, sorry.
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Watching a game in my media seat (yes, we have assigned seats for every team and game) is different than watching it from a lazyboy recliner. I enjoy the skill level of the players, but I don’t watch as a fan. I’m more analytical; how does a team defend, what type of offence is in play, how does a player read the play, are the little things being done before or after a play? I’ll solely watch one player to see his or her tendencies. I also get to talk to Coaches, GM’s, players and scouts both On and Off the Record. To this day moments occur when I’ll walk away following an interview with people like Wayne Gretzky, Pat Quinn, Gordie Howe or Bobby Orr shaking my head in disbelief that a kid from Prince George spent quality minutes picking the minds of some of the games greats.
Again, sorry.
Then there’s the travel. No charters, no flying with the team, just economy and please make that an aisle seat. Much easier to get in and out of, not to mention a little more leg room for my 6-3, 228lb frame. Doing my job on the road is as close to hard labour as it gets for a Sports Journalist. Okay stop laughing, it’s true. During the Stanley Cup run, cameraman Trevor Henderson and I took 25 flights covering some 45,000 miles. That’s serious UPS parcel service crammed into a month and a half! Airports, Hotels and Car Rentals can get old real fast. Then there’s a typical game day which goes like this; 9:00am arrive at rink. Unload and set up camera gear. Cover both teams skates, interviews in both dressing rooms, Coaches too then edit and feed clips/standup/story for various platforms. In our case it’s Global BC, Global Website and BC1. 2:00pm pack up all the gear and grab some lunch. 5:00pm back to rink, repeat procedure and hope game doesn’t go into overtime! Typically we’re done around midnight. Yes a complete, full day of SPORTS.
I’m sorry, so sorry.
The one thing I do in every City I visit is to make sure I walk around downtown. I’ve burned off numerous green house portions of stress walking the streets of Miami, Chicago, Nashville and San Jose just to name a few. All in the name of work…right?
I could go on and on except I’ve got game 3 of the Canucks/Sharks series to cover!
Sorry.
Have a great day.
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