I apologize for not keeping up with this blog more often. This season turned out to be my busiest not just on the basketball side, but with other projects that involved sports or other topics.
Finishing up coverage at Target Center last night, this was the first time where I was actually comfortable reporting finals coverage. Last year, I was wondering what my future would hold thanks to The Great Recession and the ugly departure from Keystone Productions. My first go-round in 2008 was tricky as I was overwhelmed by the aura of being at Target Center at a young stage in my reporting career. I sent a tape and got feedback from a producer at KSTC channel 45, who broadcasts the state tournaments annually, and since then, my skills and confidence in my play-by-play duties have exploded. I'm officially at the point where I'm ready to have my ego bruised.
That didn't mean this season went without a hitch. As usual, schedules changed and other curveballs tried to thwart our coverage, but we ended up televising more games than previous seasons (11 high school games, 1 community college game, 1 semi-pro game). I did accomplish my goal of covering more teams this year. Expanding was almost a necessity with the lack of superstars for girls basketball this year. The YouTube ratings reflected the lack of big names. My most-watched game of the season was the first high school game we televised: Rosemount vs. Centennial, neither of them even close to making state this year.
I'm not sure what will happen in the season to come as user-generated content continues to expand and change the game of high school basketball. There's not even a guarantee I'll be able to cover the high school circuit as extensively for 2010-2011. Graduating from the U of M and not having a daily ritual to follow makes the future even more unpredictable.
With that said, it's hard to really set goals for next season because I won't know where my broadcasting career will go next. I have better knowledge of protocol, but I am concerned the pool of teams may not be so large.
In any case, my focus will shift to the Lynx and Howard Pulley leagues for the moment and securing the 2010 All-Star series at Macalester College. Thanks for sticking with us! The ride is always exciting!
