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| Me at UGA/Kentucky Game |
But it all came back to me in a rush.
It felt like a football Saturday. It felt like a morning from back in 2003, 04, 05, 06, 07 or 08. And during that time for me, it was all about the football.
And a lack of sleep.
My weekends for 5-years, from late August to early December were totally booked. They were a blur. Most weeks, High School Football on Friday, Georgia football on Saturday and Falcons on Sunday.
And no, I wasn't going to any of those games to watch.
Friday was Football Friday. It was what I called our High School Football segment. And since I was the Sports Photographer and Producer at WGCL-TV in Atlanta, I could call it whatever I wanted to.
For the first two years, it was come in at 2, make sure everyone had their assignments, then wait for the helicopter to come pick up Mark Harmon and I. We flew to two games shot a little from the air, shot a little from the ground and moved on. Fly back to the midtown Atlanta offices and edit our story.
From there, it was making sure the other 4 guys shooting for us got back and they edited their games. A lot of times it meant sitting with them and writing their game script too.
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| Me at UGA/Alabama game |
If I was lucky, I was home by 12:30, in bed by 1 or 1:30 and then....
Georgia Saturday's. I think this is why I always look back and reminisce at some point during the football season. I got to cover these guys for 6 years and co-wrote a book on them.
It was my favorite part of football season.
A typical day (like Saturday's LSU game) is for a 3:30 p.m kick, up by 8, at the station by 10 and out the door. It took at least 90 minutes to get to the stadium, if we left later, it would be even longer. Lunch in the press box with the gang.
At that time, we did a post game show after the games. It was mostly live, so we had 5-10 people there with us. The 1st couple years it was all live at the stadium (we scaled back later). Which meant we were going the whole time.
A 3:30 kickoff meant the game ended around 7. I was the lead on site, so I made the assignments. 1-2 live cameras, a runner and then I took care of the post game. That meant running into the locker room, getting 5-10 interviews and sprinting back to the truck to turn a couple of them for the show.
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| Me at UGA Game with the guys |
And finally, after the show ended, editing together an interview/highlight story for the 11 p.m show.
By the time I got back, dropped everyone off and got home. It was 11p.m. collapsing in bed by midnight. It was a long day.
And then....
If the Falcons were at home, the alarm went off at 8 for a 1p.m kickoff. I was at the station by 10 and at the Georgia Dome by 10:30 or 11. Lunch in the press room and on the field by 12:30. Shoot the game, get post, go back and edit together a story.
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| Me at Falcons/Bears game |
That was a typical weekend and at the time I loved it.
I could never do it now. And I say that knowing a lot of guys who still do. Blaine Kummert at WAGA, Eric Hager at WSB in Atlanta. Bob Kusek and Brian McKeegan in Nashville. Philip Lee and Mark Slaughter in Cincinnati. And there are more.
I love, admire and respect all those guys and in some ways, miss them.
But I could never do that schedule again.
Never.
Ironically. My life no longer revolves around football games. I work at the Weather Channel and love it. I'm not working on the weekends. But I'd rather go to a festival or hit golfballs or go to someplace cool for dinner than plan my weekend around a football game.
Sure, I get grief from my friends, but they may...or may not understand. My entire life revolved around football games for a long, long time. I have no interest in going back to it....
