Another year is wrapping up in my time at East Tennessee State University, and never have I felt it more important to focus on what is within my control than during these past two months. Through a mega-crossover season that featured fall, winter and spring sports all being played at the same time and was only made more challenging by a variety of social justice and human rights issues circling around the athletic department, I’m happy to be able to look back on the busiest few months of my professional career and feel like I was able to put forth a strong body of work, despite internal and external philosophical conflict in tumultuous times.
A pair of new endeavors this year were the Porter’s Tires Pregame Report and Ballad Health Midweek Minute, sponsored segments that set the stage for all of our men’s basketball and football games. These reports ran on our social media platforms as well as in-venue throughout the winter and spring as our crowds increased from a few hundred because of COVID restrictions at indoor arenas to a few thousand at football as those restrictions lessened.
The chance to be on-camera more is one I really valued. With the recent increase in video consumption versus other types of media, it seems more and more important to be involved in this visual medium.
Below are the final month of pregame reports that preceded each of the men’s basketball team’s final five games, a stretch that saw them as high as number one in the Southern Conference standings, but saw them fade to the middle of the league by the season’s final day.
Scroll just a bit more and you’ll find a few examples of the Ballad Health Midweek Minute, a feature that had a special eye towards history and was a bit more produced as to stand out from the pregame reports.
Just a couple of the things from a year that threw as many twists, turns and ultimatums in the way as any I’ve been a part of. Only 11 more broadcasts before the athletic season is wrapped up, here’s to finishing strong!