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.