I'm a fan

As a kid growing up I played a lot of baseball and football with my neighborhood friends. It was especially fun to play football in the street in winter because the snow banks offered us the chance to make that fingers extended, feet just inbounds, sideline catch and then drop face first into the snow . . . just like Paul Warfield. I was never a great player in anything but that didn’t matter; just being able to play was enough for me.

And more than that actually, I am a fan. I like to follow my teams and the games, mostly football, baseball and basketball and since I used to play golf I follow that too. Now and then I’ll watch a little hockey and of course the Olympics which is like a sports fan’s all-you-can-eat buffet.

So when I started my television career 30+ years ago I was very excited to work at WCNY-TV in the early 80’s because we covered a lot of high school and college sports. I learned that a) I loved doing sports TV and b) I could get into games for free (and then get paid!) so it seemed like a winning combination to me.

I got a break in January 1982 when ESPN hired me to work a basketball game at St. Bonaventure. I got mileage, perdiem and a day rate. I was in heaven. Twenty-six years later I’ve worked as a director, camera operator and videotape replay for many, many different events and networks. It’s still fun.

So when I came to Syracuse to start the Orange Television Network in 2004, in the back of my mind I wanted to see if I could gather the resources to do sports television. Not an easy thing to do because most sports television happens when big networks roll multi-million dollar remote trucks into arenas and spend a lot of time and money, things I don’t have. But there was one important thing I did have: an enthusiastic and supportive group of students who wanted that experience too. So with the help of a few colleagues and some frugal budgeting, last night marked the first “SUper Sports” production of the fall semester. The staff from Citrus TV produced the UConn/SU women’s volleyball game from Manley Filed House.

And for more on that, go to the OTN Producers blog. See you over there.