My kind of RV

[MrVideo]

So week 1 went about as well as most of us could hope for. There were a number of technical issues which made us grateful for 2 set day for the 1st week. In the end, we got on the air at 8 ET, we covered a game, made 0 mistakes & no one got hurt. Off to a slow start on the scenic front. We have 2 graphics machines on our show and 1 of them was down most of the 2 set days and 2 hours before air. There was a lot of tension in the air as we approached game time and in graphics we were "heads down" until we hit air.

 

It wasn't until after the show was over that I though of getting a sweatshirt shot. So here is the NCLR sweatshirt at Toledo Stadium after the game....they got blown out 41-2.

[MrVideo]

A very interesting week in West Virginia. We were at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. There's a huge history associated with this University as well as a tragedy that effected the football team 40 years ago. ESPN couldn't have scripted a better showcase for drama and excitement. The interstate rivalry between West Virginia Univ. located in Morgantown, WV. Marshall has never beaten WV in football. The widow of the 1970 head coach went to her 1st Marshall football game in 40 years plus, they had 40,000 fans which is the largest crowd in the history of the stadium. All that plus a very good football game that went into overtime made for some good television on a Friday night.

 

Our runner this week was Courtney who is from Morgantown and a faithful WVU fan. She was very delightful and was happy to pose for my sweatshirt shot. Here she is in front of the stadium at Marshall. It was much too warm for her to wear it.

 

On my flight out of Huntington, I had the pleasure to sit next to Jack Lengyel who was the coach hired after the fatal plane crash and played by Matthew McConaughey in the movie "We Are Marshall", released in 2006. His only comment on the movie was "I never had long sideburns and I never dressed like a clown". He was a very large man and his National Championship ring was quite impressive.

 

Next week, it's the deep south. Our game will be in Hattiesburgh, MS. Hope you enjoy.

[MrVideo]

This week our crew was in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for the Kansas & Southern Miss game last night. Traveling to the deep south is never easy, but I guess that's part of the charm. What wasn't so charming was the heat. As soon as I walked off the plane in Gulfport, I wanted to change into shorts & tshirt. I'm always a sucker for a southern drawl, but add the genuine kindness of just about everyone we met and it adds up to a memorable trip. I sometimes wonder what these people think when a group of 30 people arrive at once to make television. One highlight included some of the best BBQ ribs I've ever had. Leatha's BBQ Inn is famous for it's home cooking. If you saw our game, we used video from the kitchen for our billboards in the 2nd half.

 

This week's NCLR sweatshirt shot is courtesy of the Southern Miss song girls. All the girls wanted to be in the shot so here's a couple for you to enjoy. I then offered the girls a tour of our graphics truck. 3 of them came back to ask how to get an internship with ESPN. My AP, Drew was quick to give out his email to them.

 

Next week we are in Dallas to work the TCU at SMU game Friday night.

[MrVideo]

This week we were in Dallas, TX for the #4 TCU Horned Frogs @ SMU Mustangs football game Friday night. This is our 4th week of the season and we seem to be working like a well oiled machine. Yes, there are some people who like to get upset when things don't go as planned and our assistant director has OCD. Not too irritating like I've experienced in years past.

 

It was a very warm week in Dallas. I can't think of any other profession where you can show up to work in a t-shirt & shorts. Of course I wore my NCLR Club t-shirt on set day and one of our local utilities comes up and tells me about his '92 Range Rover 2-door. We talked about Rovers during lunch. His is lifted 5" with 42" tires. He tows it behind this Mercedes SUV to most places he off-roads.

 

On to the pictures, Enjoy

 

1.) This was the DFW Duel. They play for a rusty skillet.

2.) When I first went down to the field, there was no one around.

3.) Christine is an assistant to the TCU team manager. She agreed to pose on enemy soil.

4.) Up in the press box. The ESPN broadcast booth is ready for air.

5.) View of empty stadium from press box

6.) Denise is a SMU student working in the press room. She was very gracious and agreed to pose.

 

Next week I go to Logan, Utah

[MrVideo]

This week I didn't travel all the way across the country. Our show was in Logan, Utah at Utah State Univ. vs BYU Friday night.

 

Not much to talk about this place. It's a simple small town in northern Utah about 30 minutes south of the Idaho border. The weather was perfect early football season weather. Yeah we were bored, so we took a drive & here's what we saw.

 

Pic 1. I always look for a backup shot if I don't find one inside the stadium.

Pic. 2 Just over the Idaho border

Pic. 3 This is Rob & his assistant who were pulling a trailer with his LR3. This is the first in stadium Rover shot of this series.

Pic. 4 Rob has owned 5 Rovers and just returned from Moab the weekend before. We talked Rovers for quite some time at strike.

Pic. 5 Cheerleaders are so overrated. Erika is a student at USU in the sports marketing program.

 

Next week we go to Rutgers, NJ. This has to be the worst venue in our entire schedule. Rude, obnoxious and seriously overrated football program and they act as if we're being allowed to televise their games.

 

In a few weeks I may be taking a side trip where my NCLR sweatshirt has never been before...stay tuned.

[LandRonB]

Way to go Jim; keep it up. Good way to keep members checking in or checking out NCLR on occassion. I like the Land Rover talk and pictures added in the mix.

[Jantiz]

On the last set from Logan Utah, I thought for a moment my LR3 had snuck out in the night to a game and didn't take me I think it's time perhaps for a change of title to the thread. I vote for: "The brotherhood of the traveling Sweatshirt"

[MrVideo]

It's been quite a busy past few weeks. Traveling Wednesday thru Saturday, then squeezing in activities such as attending the annual event, Pacificon, playoff baseball & family events has taken it's toll and I've not been at my best lately. This week we were in Cincinnati, Ohio for our Friday Night Football show. The campus there is one of the most interesting I've visited over the years. The football stadium is squeezed in the middle of the campus and open to walk through any time.

 

This week's sweatshirt shot is courtesy of the South Florida Cheerleaders. They were very happy to do the standard pose, but these young ladies upped the ante a little.

 

Next week promises to be jammed packed with opportunity for new and exciting NCLR Club sweatshirt shots. We will be at UConn for the West Virginia @ UConn game Friday Night. Friday morning, I'm driving a short distance to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) headquarters for a tour and shoot some video. I've also been granted operation use of station W1AW sometime around 11 am ET. I'm hoping to reach out to my ham friends from here if 20 meters is open.

 

After our game Friday (really early Saturday AM when we wrap up), a friend & I are driving down to Washington DC to partake in the Comedy Central rally on the National Mall. I hope a have a new category of shots to share with you soon. This is what makes up for flying 4+ hours sitting next to a woman with a newborn child yesterday.

 

Until next time, enjoy

[KSuttle]

Dude...you must get a shot of Stewart with an NCLR sweatshirt!

[HMBRover]

Friday morning, I'm driving a short distance to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) headquarters for a tour and shoot some video. I've also been granted operation use of station W1AW sometime around 11 am ET. I'm hoping to reach out to my ham friends from here if 20 meters is open.

 

That's great, Jim. I'm sure it will be a blast! 20 meters was open this morning at 8 AM (PDT) to the east coast but signals were weak. Hopefully conditions will continue to be good. W1AW always has a good signal out here. I'll try to give a listen for you starting about 8 AM (11 AM EDT) between 14.225 and 14.300 MHz.

 

Good luck!

[MrVideo]

A few weeks have passed since my last posting about my travels. There's been lots going on in addition to the weekly routine of travel Wed. thru Sat. Our trip to Connecticut was full of excitement from the beginning. UConn is in East Hartford and ESPN's headquarters is in Bristol, just 30 minutes down the road. All day long, streams of people I'd never met but have spoken to over the phone or swapped emails for many years were showing up to say hi. Over in the A unit, there was a loud bang & smoke came poring out of the lower bay. A transformer had practically melted one half of it's housing. The brass at ESPN saw us in our finest as we extinguished the fire, then ran extra power cables so the engineers could re-route the power. An hour of time lost, so we chat amongst ourselves until power is restored. After lunch break the 2nd episode occurred and both trucks were down for another hour as they brought in a portable transformer to power the A unit. We ended up staying until 8 pm getting ready for the next day.

 

Friday morning I went down to the ARRL headquarters just 15 miles down the road. I brought along our RF audio engineer who is also a ham. The tour was nice as there were just the 2 of us. We had a great chat with the engineers in the lab about D-Star with moved into spectrum reallocation theaory. Great insite to the testing of equipment and new items. We then were let into the historical building where W1AW is located. Talk about a candy store. They have 3 studios and 2-3 radios in each studio. The antennas were impressive also. I wore my NCLR Club sweatshirt while operating.

 

Our game Friday night almost went into overtime and we were all relieved when a field goal won it for West Virginia with :30 to go. After the game & we strike the entire compound, my friend Russ, audio guy Tuna & myself drove to Washington D.C. to attend the Comedy Central Rally for Sanity and/or Fear. That was a great experience. I only have 1 sweatshirt shot in front of the White House so that will have to do. It was a crazy event and I wish they were more prepared for the crowd. I read that the park service would only allow a permit for 60,000 people. I can easily say there were 250,000 people acting nice to all around and not a single fight. That's amazing in it's self.

 

The last few weeks I've been to Houston & Moscow, ID. Both places didn't provide any opportunities for a photo shot. This week I go to Boise, ID & next week Reno, NV.

 

Enjoy

[Disco2Guy]

Good to see the continued updates Jim! I think you should write a book, "There and Back Again, A Sweatshirt's Tale"

[KSuttle]

Good to see the continued updates Jim! I think you should write a book, "There and Back Again, A Sweatshirt's Tale"

 

The question is...does the sweatshirt get washed between trips?

[Disco2Guy]

Nah, he likes the combined fragrance of the cheerleaders' perfume!

[MrVideo]

Winding down the college football season in the next few weeks and we're broadcasting games in the last 3 that feature Boise State. Last Friday it was Boise State @ Idaho. I took a lot of pictures there and I thought you'd enjoy some behind the screen shots of the booth setup.

 

Pic. 1 The view of the field & dome from the booth

 

Pic. 2 Shows the monitors the announcers look at during the telecast.

Left is the booth shot, next is Net return off satellite, then Program and the ISO

monitor which is switchable by the producer in the truck. The very far right monitor is the telestrator which is how they draw on the screen. You can see the output keyed in the program monitor.

 

Pic. 3 There are 4 LED 500 watt soft lights luminating the booth. The cue ball (center) is

the camera for the talent & occasionally a wide shot.

 

Pic. 4 This is the controller for the cue ball. All the connections behind it get sent down to

the truck via a single fiber optic cable.

 

Pic. 5 Check out how the goal posts are mounted in this dome.

 

Pic. 6 Exterior of the Kibbie Dome.

 

This week it was Frenso State @ Boise State on the blue turf. The people of Boise are so friendly and happy that we were there to cover the game. While the game was a blow out, the telecast was joined in progress after a basketball game on ESPN2 and we were playing catch up the 1st quarter with our lineups & sponsored elements. Before the game, we passed the cheer squad on our way back from lunch, so I grabbed my sweatshirt & camera and went back, but they had moved on. So this week's shot is provided by one of last year's models. Jenna was our runner for a few shows and she asked me if I wanted a shot on the field again. So right after the game, we ran down to the field to get Pic. 7. See if you can see the final score in the background.

 

This week I get to drive Rosie to Reno for the Bosie State vs Nevada game Friday night. Fresh snow on the road will only make my journey more pleasurable. We're hoping our Thursday night meal will be better than previous years.

[MrVideo]

Another thrilling week of sports television. This week shines a light on the down side if the profession. In order for the general public to enjoy sporting events on their days off requires us to work while the rest of the country relaxes. This week we were in Reno, NV for the #4 Boise State vs #19 Nevada WAC match-up in one of the best games we've covered all season. Mother Nature was the featured player as there was two feet of snow in downtown Reno by Tuesday. Wednesday morning I packed up Rosie with my travel kit and headed out shortly after 9 am. The drive was very uneventful until just before Truckee. Here's a picture of I-80 as we waited for CalTrans. Thursday morning we arrived at the stadium to 9 degree weather. We plowed through the setup as quickly as the elements would allow. Around 1:00 our local crewer brought over his BBQ and the tech manager was flipping burgers & dogs for the whole crew. It was certainly the best option for the day. We were lucky to have most of our Boise State packages built from last week, so we got out of the truck by 5:30. Our tech manager also arranged for the crew to have dinner at a local country club. It was one of the best dinners we've had on the road in the past few years. The game Friday night went pretty well considering we were joined in progress after a basketball game. That means we have to jam in all the sponsored elements that usually happen in the first few segments of the show. We wrapped up the strike around 2 am and it was about 30 degrees then. The next morning I drove back to Sacramento to work the WGN Bulls show that night. After that show, I drove home only to get up at 4 am to get to Stanford for setup of a 12:30 basketball game Sunday afternoon. Today, I am working the Detroit show at the Shark Tank. Tomorrow I get on another plane to head to Detroit for my last college football game of the year. I kept my sweatshirt on the entire time I was in Reno.

[MrVideo]

This will be my wrap up of another college football season. Over the past 12 weeks, I've traveled over 60,000 miles bringing live sporting events into your homes, local bars & restaurants. I've told you a few of the behind the scene details of our setups and stadium shots over the year but what I want to wrap the season up with is the great food I enjoyed over the country. As you can imagine, running through airports or arriving late at night our dining choices can be dicey at times. We use our smart phones to search for local coffee, lunch spots and better than decent dining. Other times, it's local recommendations that takes us to unique food.

 

Pic. 1 The local festival "Swinefest" in West Virginia was a finger food delight. Fingers too sticky to take a pic of the food.

Pic. 2 I catch many flights at the break of dawn. Thought I'd share this beautiful shot.

Pic. 3 Our best bbq dinner was in Hattisburg, MS. The most tender, savory & overall delicous ribs.

Pic. 4 Texas bbq was the most abundant in serving size

Pic. 5 The ribs were more of a dry rub and not as tender

Pic. 6 The Man vs Food burger in Boise, ID. 2 Lbs of beef

Pic. 7 We always looked for local coffee shops. This one was in Detroit

 

I hope you've all enjoyed following my travels around the states with my NCLR Club sweatshirt.

[Disco2Guy]

Mmm good wrap-up. 60k miles? Wow that's a lot! Hope you get frequent flier miles for the same airline.

[MrVideo]

We are well underway in the college football season and it's time to revive the NCLR Around the States photo tour. While it's been a great deal of fun shooting various women holding or wearing my NCLR Club sweatshirt, the timing this year hasn't been optimal to get the shot each week. Of course, having our first 2 games in places where it was over 100 didn't lend itself to asking anyone to put on a sweatshirt. After a few weeks of having my new 5th anniversary version with me, we went to BYU where one of our past models, Janna was working for us again. Amazingly enough, she came up to me and asked if I had my sweatshirt with me. We both agreed that the BYU field was not a pleasing shot, so we went inside the graphics truck to shoot her wearing my new sweatshirt.

 

The following week, our runner Christine agreed to be my model. This time we're in the 1st & 10 room.

 

This past week, we were at Cowboys Stadium and once again, Christine eagerly agreed to shot this one on the field.

 

Look for more of her in the future, because she told me my sweatshirt to too big, can I get something smaller to wear?

 

Enjoy

[sasquatch]

I could have sworn we had an NCLR logo'd micro bikini option??? Without getting myself into too much trouble, Christine is cute!

[MrVideo]

We now have a model for our new line of women's NCLR Club wear. You met Christine last time as she modeled my sweatshirt where she was actually swimming in the large size. You should know she is quite the athlete. She played softball for UNLV for a few years and when we toss around the football, she can launch a pretty tight spiral for 15+ yards.

 

We came up with a plan to show her in a NCLR Club t-shirt but she wanted to make a few modifications. This week we were in Ames, IA where you eat, drink & go bowling. If you saw our game last night, Iowa St, a 21 point underdog, beating #2 Oklahoma St 37-31 in double overtime. On our set day, we got this shot and it was 37 degrees outside. We then went bowling.

 

Enjoy

[DiscoChef]

I like the new line of NCLR clothing! Christine needs to make a MORG appearance- lol

 

Enjoy following this thread- thanks jim