Starting in mid-August and now for the last seven years lasting till about the first week in December my Friday nights are full and fulfilled. I talk on the radio about high school football.
When I watch a game (not on the air), I'm a surprisingly quiet fan. I don't say a lot, but what a thrill to talk about the game when describing it to someone else.
One Sunday at church at Granny White about 8 years ago my friend Andy Lane talked to me about some broadcasting of high school football games that I had done in Hamilton, AL and how there was talk about starting a program for the Lipscomb High School team. Little did I know 1. how little I knew and 2. what all was ahead for me.
We met a few months later, Baryon Binkley, Jonathan Seamon and myself at the Captain D's in Melrose. I was to learn that Bayron knew most everything there was to know about producing, selling and the history of radio in Middle Tennessee. And I met Jonathan who is literally a legend in broadcasting (he's in the NAIA Hall of Fame as a broadcaster). A golden voice, a genuinely friendliness and a work ethic that wouldn't stop. I'd learn that my new broadcast buddies were men of excellence.
We've been picked up by other stations over the years, we are live on the Internet and in an "in house" FM station. The last seven seasons of broadcasting has seen the program grow and expand larger than we ever imagined. We've broadcast 98 games and been to the state championship four of the last five seasons...surely some sort of high school football broadcasting record. We've seen coaches who are training young men to be real men. We've seen parents who care more about how their children behave than how they preform.
We got to enjoy being dads on the air as in the '02 season four of us had sons on that State Championship team.
But, perhaps most of all, we've had fun! It's been a ball (and a blessing. It was through that program that I first got to know and grew to love Scott T.). The many one liners, the mess-ups and mistakes, the meals and the friendships. I've grown to love these guys, Jonathan, Bayron, Craig, Burt, and Peter. Each added something special and each game seemed to get better. I think I could write a book on each of them, but then I don't need 5 lawsuits slapped on me :)!
We'll be on AM 900 Saturday at noon to broadcast, live, our 99th game. It will be a state championship game. And, very possibly, will be our last game.
Too those guys, I'll miss what I do with my Friday nights...and thanks for letting an outsider, be an insider. Just...thanks.
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