Call to the Bullpen

A while back I mentioned I got an unexpected opportunity to work on a North Texas softball T.V broadcast.

I became the timeout coordinator for the Fox Sports broadcast of NT vs. UTEP on Saturday, May 2. Here's the story behind that.

Just chillin' in the background

I worked as a sideline reporter with the up-start American Sports Network for three Mean Green football games this past season. It was a pretty awesome experience.

Anyways the producer who ran those games mainly works for Fox Sports doing New Orleans Pelicans games and other sports between the end of their season and college football starting

I was hanging around the NT athletic center and I heard that this same guy would be producing the softball game vs UTEP.

So, I reached out to him and asked if I could just hang out in the production truck during the game. I've never been in a control room or truck during a live broadcast and I thought it would be a pretty cool thing to see. Plus -- if anything I could just keep the relationship going and say hi to Dave Barnett -- who was the play-by-play, and also named the new voice of North Texas athletics.

Well, around 30 minutes before first pitch someone alerted the producer and director that the stats guy hasn't shown up. So, the timeout coordinator -- Dave Barnett's son -- was called up to do stats and I became the T.O.C (aka "redhat"). 

It's a super easy job where you basically stand on the field, and listen to the producer for the go-ahead to make sure the teams don't start playing until the TV crew is ready.

 It provided a great view of the game, and a nice line on the résumé. I saw the replay of the game around midnight the same day and was on the look out for some pictures I was in.

The pic at the top of the page is one, and here are a two more:

I'm in gray, UNT's Coach Koz in green

And caught taking a picture on my phone...

Hopefully I'll get to have another opportunity to work with Fox Sports.