2009-10 season recap

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!

Scheduling changes

As you might have guessed, this season has been very busy and not going as scheduled, but the coverage hasn't waned.

I can tell you that the Osseo vs. Centennial game this Friday will not be broadcast; people I spoke with to clear the game apparently didn't remember the conversations I had with them before the season began. An indicator that I need to show a little more diligence in following conversations when I announce a season-long schedule.

However, I will be calling a game this weekend. Community Hoops is lending a hand and giving me the chance to call the M.C.T.C./Anoka-Ramsey women's basketball game this Saturday afternoon. Broderick Bell will take a breather from his coaching job at Humboldt to join me.

Next week's game has also changed from DeLaSalle/Cretin to Mahtomedi/Richfield for boys basketball. Not as much prestige on paper, but basketball fans know that works-on-paper calculations aren't a reliable indicator with two evenly-matched teams.

Depending on the St. Paul City Conference race, I may do something for the Central/Humboldt match at Humboldt; the winner of that game will likely play the next day to take on the Minneapolis champion, in a race that has also yet to be decided.

More updates to come.

Sponsorship information

Followers of this blog may know that I've moved from Keystone Productions to Ty Video Productions. The changes of switching companies include an increased emphasis on sponsorships to help support our broadcasts.

Sponsorship packages start at just $25 and your business would be featured on Metro Cable Network, where our games will be broadcast this season. MCN broadcasts to 1.5 million cable viewers in the Twin Cities area. Of course, the MCN telecasts are on top of our broadcasts online. Whether you sponsor just one game or the entire season, our broadcasts won't be possible without your help!

If you or someone you know is part of a business that would like to be a part of these games, please contact Jeremy Connolly at 651-955-6505 or by e-mail at tyvideoproductions@gmail.com. Learn more by visiting the Ty Video Productions website.
You can also contact Ty Video Productions to order DVD copies of our games!

Mark your calendars!

We're less than two weeks away from the start of high school basketball coverage with Ty Video Productions. 15 games are scheduled for telecast this season on Metro Cable Network from late November through early March. Look for all our games online and on TV starting in December. Match-ups are listed below with pregame summary.

Saturday, November 28th (girls)
Pat Paterson Thanksgiving Tournament @ Hamline University
Bracket A Championship - Rosemount/St. Paul Central vs. Highland Park/Centennial, 10:45 a.m.
Bracket B Championship - White Bear Lake/Minneapolis North vs. Lakeville North/Osseo, 2:15 p.m.

Last year's AAAA runner-up will be one of the stronger teams to start the season, followed by a deep Lakeville North team led by Wisconsin recruit Cassie Rochel, provided those two win their respective first-round games. South Dakota State recruit Megan Waytashek and junior Kahla Becken are key returning players for Centennial. Central will be in rebuilding mode this year, but they do have head coach Willie Taylor, who carries a 262-51 overall record in his head coaching career with the Minutemen.

Saturday, December 5th (girls)
Breakdown Tip-Off Classic @ Hopkins, Lindbergh Center
DeLaSalle vs. St. Paul Central, 11:45 a.m.
followed by
Bloomington Kennedy vs. Minnehaha Academy, 3:45 p.m.
OR
Lakeville North vs. Minneapolis Roosevelt, 5:30 p.m.

The second game will depend on the results of the Pat Paterson tournament. Faith Johnson Patterson moves to the island along with some of her players that got her a 2nd place finish with Minneapolis North in the class AAA state tournament last season. No doubt they will be a contender, looking to erase years of big-game futility under former head coach Brian Frye.

Saturday, December 12th (boys)
Buffalo vs. St. Cloud Apollo @ St. Cloud State, 7:00 p.m.
Our first boys game of the season. Both teams finished in the top 10 in class AAA last season. This may not be the only these two teams fight in 2009-10.

Thursday, December 17th (boys)
Monticello vs. Elk River @ Elk River, 7:00 p.m.
Another top 10 team in AAA last season (Monticello) against a school that plays well with the Magic.

Friday, January 8th (boys)
St. Paul Johnson vs. St. Paul Central @ Central, 7:00 p.m.
Top two teams in the St. Paul City Conference last season play the first of two games. Johnson usually fields teams in the AAA boys state tournament and Central is no slouch either.

Tuesday, January 12th (boys)
Minneapolis North vs. Minneapolis Washburn @ Washburn, 7:00 p.m.
We head to the west side of the river to cover yet another top 10 team last season in AAA (Washburn) facing a school with a rich history behind its back.

Tuesday, January 19th (girls)
Eden Prairie vs. Chaska @ Chaska, 7:15 p.m.
OR
DeLaSalle vs. Minnehaha Academy @ Minnehaha, 5:45 p.m.

This girls date will also depend on the Pat Paterson tournament and how the teams fair in the early leg of the season. Eden Prairie reached the AAAA semifinals last season before falling to Centennial.

Tuesday, January 26th (girls)
Robbinsdale Armstrong vs. Minneapolis South @ South, 7:00 p.m.
The 2009 AAAA state champions in girls basketball will have to defend against a team upset by Minneapolis Southwest in last year's section playoffs. South is the preseason favorite to win the Minneapolis City Conference, but expect a wide open race for some time. This will be Armstrong's final year in the Classic Lake before that conference is dissolved.

Friday, February 5th (girls)
Lakeville North vs. Chaska @ Chaska, 7:15 p.m.
Two solid Lake Conference programs for girls basketball. The Panthers were ranked 4th in class AAAA in 2009 while the Hawks were #5. The matchup between Rochel and Tisch will be key.

Friday, February 12th (girls)
Osseo vs. Centennial @ Centennial, 7:00 p.m.
We move to the Northwest Suburban Conference for this girls game. Osseo has played stubborn against Centennial before, delivering the biggest upset in 2008 by knocking the Cougars out in the section final and giving them two competitive games last year under new head coach Joey Waters.

Saturday, February 20th (boys)
DeLaSalle vs. Cretin-Derham Hall @ Cretin, 5:00 p.m.
Both teams were unranked last season, but the Raiders import several top football players who also show court skills. DeLaSalle produces high-level talent as well.

Saturday, February 27th (girls)
Twin Cities girls championship @ St. Paul, 1:30 p.m.
I wish I could tell you who will play against each other here, but parity will be much higher to start the season as both conferences lost a lot of talent to graduation. Minneapolis and St. Paul will be weaker, as will most of the state. Whoever plays here will likely be the result of good coaching versus pure talent.

Saturday, March 6th (boys)
Twin Cities boys championship, 1:30 p.m. (site TBD)
The talent on the boys side hasn't dropped, and fans will get a good game with the boys conference winners.

Sponsorship information will be posted tomorrow.

The Sports Brain returns...and so will the hoops.

About six months ago, I wasn't sure if I would continue covering basketball as my old producer and I parted ways and I lacked support to go forward. This was also the reasoning behind my lack of participation on this site. After covering two football games in October and holding a few chats with my new producer at Ty Video Productions, that concern is no more. I'll be returning to televise the 2009-2010 basketball season.

There will be two big changes this season. Given the whirlwind taking place on the girls side for 2009-2010, we'll be expanding to the boys side for the first time this season. We won't be abandoning coverage of girls basketball altogether, we're just leveling the playing field in terms of coverage.

Change #2 is where the games will be broadcast. We'll still broadcast on SPNN for cable viewers in the St. Paul area, but we'll be expanding in that area too. My producer worked a deal to broadcast games on the Metro Cable Network (channel 6), whose range includes the entire Twin Cities metro area. You don't need to be in St. Paul or wait for the online broadcast to watch your favorite teams in action if you live somewhere else in the metro region.

A TV schedule will be posted when it's finalized. Expect us to televise some major events, but it's the single games that will be more challenging to pencil in.

Broadcast preview: 3rd annual Urban Bowl

I'm on crew again to televise the 3rd annual Urban Bowl at Griffin Stadium (Central's field) Saturday for SPNN. If you're new, it's an all-star football game meant to recognize the best players in the Minneapolis and St. Paul City Conference. Given the weak performance of both conferences among current teams in the last few years, this is probably the best exposure returning players are going to get all season. However, this one has a little more meaning than its spiritual sister, the Inner City All-Star Classic, because Minneapolis players will play against St. Paul players instead of a random jumble. The game is still an exhibition and nothing more than a structured pick-up game, but there are some bragging rights at stake.

The game should look a little more slick than last time as I have rosters and players to watch with me to use for graphics, along with some promotional images. The only real concern I have is the game starting later than its scheduled 3:15 kickoff. Last year, the game started 30 minutes late with no warning, which I thought was disrespectful. However, once you start televising games, it doesn't take too long for the beneficiaries to understand the process behind making a broadcast successful. I'm the graphics designer this time around, so you'll have to wait a little longer for my play-by-play.

The game itself will be tape-delayed, so you'll have to visit http://www.spnn.org to find out when the game is airing. Unfortunately, if you don't live in St. Paul, you won't be able to watch the game.

Broadcast wrap-up: Inner City All-Star Classic

My performance left more to be desired as a sleepless night reared its ugly head and affected my focus. I could have spent some more time doing prep work for the event as far as the CG graphics, but at least I unveiled a new feature that I'll use for ensemble games. Tayler Hill and Royce White got the MVP trophies for what it's worth, although the scorekeeping and officiating was pretty loose. It's always a laid-back game. I already discussed what I think would help improve the event. Overall, I thought I could have turned in a better performance for the network, but I'm sure they'll enjoy the production values I offer for the event.

Things will go back to normal for a while, although I don't have any projects coming up for about a month that come with a paycheck attached. I suppose it's hard to pitch yourself when you're new to the game. I will be making my hockey debut later this month (I know, somewhat of a disconnect, but it's good to get that first one out of the way in time for the big games). Hopefully I'll find something to kill time soon.

Broadcast preview: Inner City All-Star Classic

A little late, although I've been busy working on pregame videos for the event. Arlington will likely get a little warm tomorrow without air conditiong in the building, which usually makes for a bad sign as far as the crowd goes; seeing them wave flyers around isn't exactly the best way to market the game. I do miss not having the event at Concordia's Gangelhoff Center, which I thought was a better venue than Arlington. Just my two cents; I'm not familiar with what goes on to set up the event. The only problem I had was finding stats on the players for introductions; some coaches don't do very well posting stats. I bring up a suggestion from Kevin Anderson last year that they should offer the spot for people looking to volunteer; there are many bright, young mathematicians out there and would make the players' bios less empty (favorite food doesn't cut it when you're on the verge of adulthood, unless you're marketing the game to 10-year-olds).

Three players who participated in this year's All-Star series will be in the girls game: Kara Elofson of Hopkins, Brittany Zins of Kennedy, and Brianna Edwards of Minneapolis North. In all fairness, there should have been six. Katya Leick was scheduled to play but had other commitments and won't be at the event (Leick was in the all-star series), Theairra Taylor would have been a lock had she not suffered her ACL injury, and Tayler Hill would have been a lock for the all-star series but used up her eligibility with two national all-star games. One of the stranger years, but this will be the final high school game Tayler Hill plays. Three players from the legendary Hopkins boys team will also dress for the game.

There is some history this year. This is the first time that both the Mr. and Miss Minnesota Basketball award winners will play in the same event. Given the level of basketball talent in the last few years, this statistic was inevitable, but still worth highlighting. I'll probably include something tomorrow to use for my in-game graphics.

Time to do a little research on past players who took part in the event (there's often a lot of dead time). I'm going to a grad party after the game, so a postgame report won't come until at least Monday.

Sparks-Lynx recap

I'm happy that Tamara Moore doesn't like to see her "shadows" sit around, she had me dive in with some post-game interviews tonight, although I did it with another colleague I met at the game. The Lynx defeated the Sparks 87-76 as four Lynx players scored double-digits, getting some help from the Sparks when Lisa Leslie fouled out with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.

I co-interviewed Leslie along with Sparks players Betty Lennox and Vanessa Hayden, who was with the Lynx last season. On the Lynx's end, I talked to Nicky Anosike and Candace Wiggins. Throughout the post-game interviews, I never felt uncomfortable, which I attribute to interviewing several Gophers players and personnel in the last few years and doing more sideline interviews overall last season. That said, I definitely took a cautious approach to tonight's game as I became familiar with the process. I feel relaxed enough about reporting a game when I'm assigned to cover one and with a little fine-tuning, it should bolster my resumé as I start to move up the ladder.

Don't have much time to rest though. I begin several days of work for the upcoming Inner City All-Star Classic, which will include pregame interviews and player introductions. Nothing I haven't done before, but interviews are always a challenge. I'll provide a pregame report on Saturday.

My first Lynx game and my new home

As far as updates go, I will no longer be working with Keystone Productions. An incident early in the spring combined with creative differences makes working with that organization no longer feasible. I'll be broadcasting high school hockey games with Ty Productions next winter and am working to move my basketball coverage under the Ty banner. I'll be calling a game later this month as a "test run" to see how everything will work out and I may do the same with basketball to see how my new co-worker fairs. So far, I like what I see from my new colleague and I definitely know ways to ramp up the quality of his broadcasts. What this likely means is I'll be reducing the number of basketball games I televise to accommodate hockey, but I won't leave altogether. There are quite a few basketball names in the community who don't want to see me leave, and if I want to advance my announcing career, that's probably a good idea.

In other news, I'll be shadowing former WNBA player Tamara Moore for tomorrow's Sparks-Lynx game as she reports for Community Hoops, where I'll do some freelance reporting later this summer. The Lynx come in at 2-0 with wins over Chicago and Indiana while Los Angeles is 1-1 after splitting a home-and-home series with Detroit. The Sparks picked up Tina Thompson from the dispersal draft after the Comets folded, and her presence reduces the impact of Candace Parker's absence as she recovers from giving birth last month. The Lynx's strength is still their one-two punch of Seimone Augustus and Candace Wiggins, but the interesting storyline will be the development of UConn alum Renee Montgomery as the season progresses. Still early, but this should serve as a barometer game for the young Lynx and the veteran Sparks. Post-game report to come tomorrow night.