20 Down 36 to go...

The Oregon Ducks are 9-and-11 after their first 20 games.
This weekend in Portland, the team lost three out of four.
Losing those games was a bummer, but it would have been worse to have been travelling with the team. When I ride the bus to and from games, I also have the opportunity to hear most everything Coach Horton tells the players before and after the game.
It is an honor to have that level of trust with the coaching staff because they could ask me to leave before Coach talks - if they thought I would use inappropriate stuff on the air.
I've learned the fine art of running some of the 'on the bus' stuff through the Coach in a pre-game interview or off tape, but before the games.
I enjoy talking to Coach Horton about baseball because he is always willing to sincerely answer my questions. There's alot of stuff goes on in an interview. When you know the Coach is upset about something - or sensitive to an issue - you have to come up with a diplomatic way to broach the subject. For instance, right now Oregon is struggling to find the key hit.
As the guy asking the questions, I have to make sure I address that point, but I can't just blurt out something stupid like, "Geez Coach, what's wrong with the offense?"
Instead, I think I've learned to take a 'big picture' look at things.
Rather than get too wound up with the bad things going on with a team, I am reminded (and like reminding fans) that everything in sports is temporary. Struggles today can turn into successes tomorrow. The team that can't seem to get the key hit will often times work their way out of it.
Experience has also taught me that one hit can open a can of offense because hitting in baseball seems to be contagious.
I'll be there when that key hit comes. I hope you will, too.

Also, I spent the ENTIRE weekend with legendary Jerry Allen, calling those games.
He and I will work the games together for the rest of the season.
Jerry has treated me so well, complimenting my work and teaching me a few things, too.
Its kinda hard being the student again, but this opportunity and the privledge of calling University of Oregon baseball is worth taking a step back and learning from someone like Jerry.

Email and OZone Love

Well I think I can say I am now in a bit of a routine when it comes to calling Duck baseball games. The team is getting to know me better and Coach Horton and the rest of the staff are getting used to being around.

One of the best things to happen this season took place over the weekend.

As some of you already know, a television feed of each home baseball game is produced on a feed that is carried on the goducks.com website. People pay a subscription fee to access the video feed and it turns out, the audio from the radio is fed with the video.

It provides fans with a real-time broadcast from home games for anyone around the world.

Midway through Friday's games, one of the directors from the OZone feed turned me on to the fact that the cameramen are listening to the radio feed. He suggested that if I mention something specific they can follow what I am saying with shots from the cameras.

So over the next few games, I paid closer attention to the video feed, which gave me a few things to talk about between pitches AND made for a more complete OZone feed.

During commercial breaks on the radio, OZone is still live. That made for an uncomfortable moment when it took them a few games before they warned me about that tiny, little insignificant fact.

Because of that continuous feed during breaks, another cool thing kind of just happened.

I invited people listening during one break to send me an email.

I received emails from six people. They ranged from Wisconsin, Las Vegas, San Diego and a few around Eugene. I heard from a former coach of KC Serna, the older sister of Tyler Anderson and from parents of players.

Over the next few games this weekend, I heard from more than a dozen fans, family and friends from the Ducks, many of whom had very flattering comments for me.

Better than that, though, I'm getting to know some of the people who hang on every pitch from miles and miles away.

One person wrote that while she was listening to the game the other day, she chewed through her fingernails. She said "Only motherless boys should pitch."

Little gems like that build relationships. Email exchanges that begin from the radio broadcast are a brand new element for me. But they add to the two things I covet most: trust and respect.

You can't buy those things, you can only earn them and they are priceless to me.

Those relationships are more important to me than wins and losses and they are the reason I love what I do.

If you would like to send me an email, go ahead! brian@bciradio.com.

General Stuff

Back out on the road with the Ducks, this time in Seattle.

The team rode the bus all the way here, getting in late last night. (Well, late for me - 10:30)
There are four guys from the Seattle area on the team. Most of them plan on seeing family while they are here. So do I.

I grew up in Puyallup, Washington (home of the Western Washington Fair - Do The Puyallup!)
before moving to Portland and points further south later on.
My family and I lived in Federal Way while I was with 710 KIRO (1999-2002).
I thought that would be a dream job, but it turned ugly when my wife Jannie and I operated on two totally different schedules and the girls (Tori and Abby at that time) were in school a half an hour away while Jan and I toiled in Seattle.

One time we were headed out of town on a Friday afternoon. I picked Jannie up from work early in the afternoon and we were going to get Abby from pre-school and Tori out of school. But when we got to our street, it was blocked with police tape and our neighborhood (and Tori's school) were locked down. We had to wait a couple of hours before the police declared the area safe.
It seems a bad guy had stolen a car and crashed it near our neighborhood. I guess he was on the loose and they didn't know where he was, leading to the wide area being closed off.
Once he was detained, we could get Tori and go, but that was a little too freaky for either of us.

Now we live in Roseburg, where that sort of thing NEVER happens (yeah right).

Coming into the city last night was cool. The team perked up when we cleared the last hill and Seattle came into view. Several pics of Safeco Field were snapped. I was there for the first pitch and all the ceremonial stuff prior to a 4-3 loss to the Padres (Jose Mesa walked in the winning or losing run).

One thing I don't miss is the slate gray sky here. Its depressing when the highway and the sky are the same color. That happens here from October to May.

Kinda cold and rainy today, but the Huskies have an all turf field and we'll play no matter what.

Talk to you on the radio.