On the road again........

Well folks, I hit the road for a brief two day trip to Peoria, IL to broadcast the collegeinsider.com finals between Bradley and Old Dominion.

For the three fans of the blog, the game will be on Fox College Sports at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific and 3:00 in Hawaii. What time it will be on in Morocco is beyond me as I have no idea what time it is now in Morocco.

I don't know who is looking forward to this more: Myself or my brother in law Matt. I just got off the phone with Matt who said to me, "Chris, I can't thank you enough for doing this. I have your mother and your sister looking forward to Bradley against Old Dominion!!" Matt, anything I can do to help is my pleasure.

The game itself should be a good one. Bradley is an outside shooting team that plays a motion offense that will be going against one tough defensive team. Look for a tight game, one in the low 60's or so.

Well folks, time to hit the road..........

The USBA Chronicles

Well, as I posted a post or two back, I have been named the Director of Communications for the newly formed United States Basketball Association. Over the next few months, I will be blogging about the experience of getting into professional sports from the beginning. This should be a trip and a half.

Yesterday I met with the coaching staff and the Director of Operations for the Jacksonville Admirals. Coach James Easton is an interesting guy whom I think will do very well with this franchise. He has the enthusiasm, has the passion, and knows the game very well. I think teams are going to have to expect to run and run as coach will emphasize defense and a run and gun type of offense. It will be interesting to see what teams will be able to keep up with the Admirals and to see if the scoreboard explodes with the amount of points he wants to put up on the board.

My role with the Admirals is going to be as their broadcaster and kind of a consultant of sorts. Since I am in the area, I have offered to help them out as much as I can. I would like to see the Admirals be the "model" for the way USBA teams run their own franchises. Do I know everything about running a team? Hah!! I have common sense knowledge, but if I can help Coach Easton and his staff out, I am more than happy to do so.

As far as the league goes, it is fascinating to see what it takes to get a league off the ground and the amount of money involved. I saw the budget yesterday and there is money allocated for every teeny, tiny little thing. It got down to how much is allowed for concessions, basketballs, officials, security, and again many things I never would have thought of.

This is going to be an education as I have never done media relations, nor have I ever worked directly with a league before. I have been in the broadcast business, but that is a far cry from what I am doing now. I crank out press releases, develop plans as to how to teach players to deal with the media and fans, and even taking calls about tryouts from agents and players. In a sense, I feel like I am back in school again which is a great thing. I am learning things every ten seconds and am anxious to get to the teaching part of my job. Of course I can't wait to broadcast the first game, but that is something I have done before. The thought of learning something new every day is a great experience for me.

One thing I have learned is about just how dumb players can be. I had a guy call me about the Jacksonville tryout and he actually asked me, "Will there be a drug test?" Now to me, this was a huge red flag and I told him so. Nothing like letting a representative of a league know one MIGHT be on drugs. I guess he needed to know if he needed to clean the body out or not.

More later as I need lunch.........

Yuck.......

To the few fans I have out there, my apologies for not blogging more, but I have had my arse kicked by a nasty sinus infection which has had being at the computer a challenge. Other than my head killing me and not having a voice for three days, here are the updates:

1) Good job by UNF in their defeat of then sixth ranked Florida State. It was a great ballgame in Tallahassee, and I had a blast working with UNF SID Eric Scott. The man tossed a few zingers out there which kept even me on my toes.

2) On March 31st, I will be broadcasting the finals of the Collegeinsider.com post season basketball tournament for Fox Sports College. This will be my first national gig and I am very appreciative for the opportunity. Yes Mom, I will be in a shirt and tie.

3) The ABA is still a joke with the "playoffs" set to start this weekend. Teams who have barely played have "qualified" for the tournament including the newly formed New York Knights. The Knights have played a grand total of ONE game and somehow qualify for the playoffs. So much for the rule that says teams have to play in 70% of the scheduled games to make the playoffs. Another one from the insane world of Joe Newman.......

That is all for now, I am taking a nap.

Some self-promotion and my condolences

Munson named USBA Director of Communications

The United States Basketball Association (USBA) has announced the hiring of Chris Munson as their Director of Communications. Chris will also be responsible for broadcast duties for the Jacksonville Admirals.

Chris is the former Sports Director for ESPN Radio Vermont and has written for Our Sports Central, US Basket, the Vermont Times, Vermont Guardian and d3football.com. Currently Chris lives in Jacksonville, Florida and is a broadcaster on Atlantic Sun Network coverage of University of North Florida athletic events.

Munson says of his hiring, “This is a tremendous opportunity for me. This is a great step for me in my professional career and will allow me to work directly with a professional sports league.”

USBA president Duane Jenkins says, “Chris brings a strong knowledge of the media and how to work directly with them. His experience in the field of journalism and minor league basketball will be a tremendous asset to the USBA.”

About the United States Basketball Association (USBA)--- The USBA is a mid spring through early summer professional basketball league. League offices are in Atlanta, Georgia. The USBA is an independent league and does not have affiliations with any other league. Players can be catapulted to enjoy further opportunities in the National Basketball Association Developmental League, as well as be exposed to other professional basketball leagues from around the world. The league age requirement is players be 20 years or older.

For more information on the league, go to usababall.com. For media inquiries, please contact Chris Munson at chris.munson8@gmail.com

This is going to be a big challenge for me and one I am very much looking forward to. This is a very natural progression in my career and it is something I have always wanted to do. Cross one more thing off the bucket list.......

My condolences go out to the family of Barre-Montpelier (VT) Times Argus sportswriter Pete Hartt who died suddenly yesterday afternoon. Pete was a wonderful man who had a smile, a joke, and wisdom when it seemed to be needed the most. Pete, you were too young and you will be missed. Thanks for all of your help when I first broke in with ESPN Radio Vermont, and thanks for welcoming me into the fraternity of Vermont broadcasters and sportswriters.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, baseball season

Tonight is the night I look forward to the most; the start of baseball season. Well, at least for me.

I have color duties for the University of North Florida against Michigan and can't wait. I just love the game and broadcasting baseball is more fun than watching George Bush Jr leave office for the last time.

Preparing for baseball is a different animal. One has to have just about every piece of information about a player as there is so much dead time in between pitches, pinch hitters, etc. One has to be able to have the ability to paint the picture of a game so a blind person can "see" what is going on.

What I do is this: I will give the temperature and weather conditions every couple of innings so the listener knows what the players are facing. If the wind is at the hitters back, the ball will fly and the pitcher has to keep the ball low. If the wind is in the face of a hitter, maybe the pitcher can get away with hanging one as he knows the wind will knock the ball down. Weather is important, especially in baseball.

Also, I will set the defense, mentioning how far off the lines the corners are; whether or not the infield is in, and where the outfielders are. I will walk through what both the pitcher and hitter are doing on the mound and in the batter's box and then describe the pitch. Everything has to be described to create the visual effect for a listener on radio.

Baseball is timeless. I have seen games go an hour and 50 minutes to five hours. One has to be prepared and also have a broadcast partner with a sense of humor. Two of the best I have ever seen are Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo with NESN in Boston. Those two play off each other better than any two I have ever seen or heard. When things get a bit boring, Orsillo will set up Remy and vice versa. When that happens, all bets are off as Remy usually starts laughing so hard he can barely speak. Yes, it keeps them amused, but it also shows the viewer that they are having fun together. Yes, good chemistry is important.

Now, for my baseball compulsions. I HAVE to be at a game in time to watch batting practice. Generally I will go on the field, check out stances, the wind and what the field conditions are like. How can I paint the picture if I don't know what is happening before the game?

I need pencils and plenty of them. Honestly, I am not the greatest at keeping a scorebook so I need pencils so I can erase my countless mistakes.

Gatorade....Must....Have.....Gatorade. I talk so much that if I don't have plenty of fluid, I will sound like an obscene phone call gone bad.

Normally I have a glass of red wine before a game. I do this because I was once told red wine is good for the voice. Superstitions are a pain in the tush to break.

Tonight's game will be on the web at www.1320wbob.com starting at 6:45 Eastern Time. John Lawrence and I will have the call starting at 7:00.

My never ending issues with the ABA

As many who have followed my work on Our Sports Central, US Basket and other publications know, I have some serious issues with the ABA. The thing is, as every day goes by, I seem to have more and more issues with the league that simply will not go away and simply die.

At last count, I have over 220 franchises that have been announced as entering the league, then they disappear. Some, like the Vermont Frost Heaves, have valid reasons like moving to a real league. Others cite ownership issues, have their owners arrested for fraud, players don't get paid, and more issues than there are teams who have folded.

Here is one of the latest good ones from the league. The Georgia Gwizzlies (Named for a typo....No, I am not kidding) were suspended by CEO Joe Newman for the rest of the season for failing to show up for a scheduled game. Well, the Gwizzlies and their typo filled releases are STILL playing against ABA teams. I guess Embry and his delusions of wanting to play in the CBA aren't allowing him to make even remotely sound judgements.

What is even better is an e-mail exchange that between CEO Newman and Our Sports Central president Paul Reeths that was posted on OSC. In the exchange, Newman makes the claim that teams missing games doesn't hurt anyone. Now mind you, this is a league who played 38% of their games last year. This year, no one can tell what percentage of the league's games have been played since there isn't even a master schedule on the site.

It really gets me that Newman seems to think missing games doesn't hurt anyone. How about the fans who made plans to see a game and then there isn't one. What about the sponsors who aren't getting the exposure they paid for? Does he factor in the players; many who get paid by the game? Nah, no one gets hurt by missing games, no one at all.

I will end up going on about this disaster of a league at another time as I have countless stories that I have accumulated over the years. Now, time to go to a ballgame.

How I prep for a game

People often tell me they think all I do is sit in front of a microphone and yap about a basketball, baseball, hockey game, etc. What people don't realize is there is a ton of other work that goes into actually preparing for a game. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is to look or sound like a fool on the air. Here is a general list of what goes into my preparation for a basketball game:

Two days before:

Go to each team's website and grab rosters, stats, and media guides. I then go to the conference and NCAA sites and grab the leaders. Print those out and start highlighting stats, accomplishments (Player of the Week, academic honors, etc.) and comparing common opponents the two schools may have played. I then highlight (With the trusty yellow highlighter) the leaders on each team in each category and where players rank in the conference and in the NCAA.

Contact each SID and ask for game notes, pronunciations, etc. Start a general review of the players so I have a base knowledge before I start the rest of my prep work.

One day before:

Take all of the information I have and create what I call a spot chart. This has the player's number, name, hometown, stats and any other information I think will be pertinent throughout a broadcast. This can be quite tedious, but reinforces the information in my head. Also, if a name is difficult to pronounce, I make sure the name is phonetically spelled out on the sheet. This way I am not guessing and pronouncing it in 300 different ways. Really, what I end up doing here is taking about 70 pages of information and condensing it into two sheets of paper.

Next, on that same chart I take the team rankings in PPG, defense, rebounding, three point percentage, three point percentage defense and turnovers and put it a bit apart from the individual information. This always comes in handy during pre-game. I then print it all out and staple the information by team and by league. Really, I want everything at my fingertips when I need it.

Day of:

Check my bag for highlighters, pens, media guides, throat drops, stats, etc. If I forget something, I tend to go into a panic and that is the last thing I want before a game.

Before the game I grab a bite to eat and have ONE glass of red wine. It is superstition as I was told once that red wine is good for the pipes. Especially if I am doing a game solo, I need my voice to be as strong as it can be. While eating, I either look over stats and info or just read my book. Both are actually quite relaxing.

Upon arrival at the arena, I check the setup, talk to the coaches, talk to the SID's, watch warmups and do sound checks. I am compulsive about getting to the arena at least an hour and 15 minutes before a game so if anything goes wrong, it can be fixed before the game starts.

About 30 minutes before airtime, just don't bother me unless you have to. I am usually going over things with my PBP or color guy and like to get into my little zone. I hate not being prepared and this is my last chance to do so. I will say each name about five times, regardless of how easy it is to be safe.

Ten minutes before, we do a final sound check which takes all of about 30 seconds to do. People hear us going "Check, check, check", singing, swearing (We like to get it out of our systems) or having a running conversations with the officials. Many of the refs are very cool, so we will give them a hard time when they think we are on the air.

One minute before, we are ready to go and it is the time of the day I love the most......Gametime. The proverbial red light goes on and I just hope I don't screw up too bad.

Total time it takes to prep is about four to five hours. When I was with ESPN Radio in Vermont and doing this three to five times a week, I would spend countless hours doing prep. The more work one does, the better the broadcast will be.