14 February 2010

A Full Week

February in Minnesota offers quite a variety of sports for the fan, the casual observer, and in my case, the sports broadcaster.  The last week was a pretty exciting one- hockey from Pine City on Tuesday night, basketball from Columbia Heights on Friday, and then the Mora Vasaloppet ski race today.

I’ve been covering the Vasaloppet for a few years now, and every year presents a wildly different race.  Some years, the temperature’s been so cold the length of the longer races had to be shortened.  Other years, there’s been so little snow that the race had to be held on a frozen lake instead of on trails through the woods.  This year, however, was one of those years where everything worked out beautifully- the temperatures were nice, the snow was plentiful, and the speeds were really fast.

Now, I’m not a skier.  I’m not much for any winter sports, actually (and those who have seen me skate can attest to that).  But covering the Vasaloppet has always been one of my favorite events to cover.  It’s just so different than any other broadcast I do- there’s thousands of athletes participating, there’s people from all over the world, and there’s a lot of down time waiting for the racers to hit the finish line.

When they do, however, it’s crazy.  I just watched the finish of the Nordic Combined from Vancouver and the wild sprint to the end…and it’s the same way at the end of the Vasaloppet.  Many times there are 2, 3, or more racers coming down Main Street in Mora, and how they’re able to keep from stepping on each other’s skis or whacking each other with their ski poles is beyond me (although at the beginning, a skier took out a fellow competitor, causing them both to take a spill and to elict some choice language from the one that got ran into).

The Vasaloppet’s even more fun during Olympic years, mainly because I can go home and see the same event on TV that I just covered.  Does anyone from the Vasaloppet ever ski in the Olympics?  Well, we were close this year- Matt Liebsch narrowly missed making the Vancouver 2010 team in the 15k, so Matt came back to Mora to defend his 58k title.  He was successful as well, as he blew out the rest of the field…which illustrated the gap between the best of the Mora Vasaloppet and the field competing in Vancouver.

It’s back to Mora next week…I’ll be on the hardwood instead of the ski trails, however.  The #1 New London-Spicer Wildcats will be in town to take on the Mustangs, and it’s always a treat to see a #1 in action.

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13 January 2010

Worst Playoff Loss Ever??

A college roommate of mine, still full of schadenfreude after seeing the Packers lose that exhausting 51-45 game on Sunday, told me about a poll a Madison radio station was running today. They listed three infamous Packers playoff losses- Sunday’s, the 2007 NFC Championship and the 2003 NFC Divisional game vs. the Eagles (the “4th and 26) game- and asked listeners which one was the most painful.

Well, I can’t let something like that go lightly…and it got me to thinking, “were those three really the worst three?” Here’s the reply I came up with:

Remember in Rounders when Mike McD says something like this- “Amazing as this sounds, poker players have a tough time remembering big hands they’ve won. But they can remember with incredible accuracy the outstanding tough beats of their career.” It’s appropriate here because it’s so much easier to think of the tough losses the Packers have taken in the playoffs since they emerged from mediocrity back in the early 90s. While it’s better to have been in the playoffs and lost than to never have made it at all, it still sucks when your squad gets bounced. So, without any further adieu, here’s the top 5 crushing playoff defeats of my Packer fan career:

Honorable mention- 2004 Wild Card round, Vikings d. Packers @ Lambeau in the Moon Game. Yes, it sucks that the arch-rivals waltzed into Lambeau and knocked out the Pack and that Moss had to do his despicable, deplorable touchdown celebration (sorry, Joe Buck took control of my keyboard for a minute there). However, when I think of the 2004 season, I think of the Christmas Eve game two weeks prior where the Pack clinched the division by beating the Vikes. It’s memorable for me because I had to go to Christmas Eve Mass at 5pm that night (which doubled as the dedication of our remodeled church), which was right around when the game was getting over. Thankfully, I had Internet on my phone, and just as I was processing into the building, the last refresh showed that Ryan Longwell nailed the game-winning kick. Sing it with me…”Joy to the world, the kick was good.” So when I think 2004, I think of that game, the game my dad minted “The Year B**tt F**re saved Christmas”. (Funny to think that F**re and Longwell were instrumental in that win…)

5th (tie)- 2009 loss to Cards, 1998 loss to 49ers. Both games ended on ridiculous last plays- the kick in the air pick this year, the TO catch in quadruple coverage in ’98. Deep down, though, the losses weren’t as horrible because in both years, there were buzzsaws waiting for them in Round 2. If you have to lose, better to lose a game like that rather than suffer a humiliating, demoralizing loss the next week (and yes, I think the Saints win big this weekend).

4th- 1997 Super Bowl loss to Broncos. Tough to rank this one as that painful when the Pack had won it all the year before. Still, every time NFL Films drags up that footage of Elway pinwheeling through the air for a first down (“WHAT A WARRIOR! There’s a guy who’s playing like he really wants that elusive championship!!”) I want to puke. It’s like seeing those “Rebirth of a Legend” signs commemorating the remodeled Lambeau…and in that Rebirth of a Legend game, the Vikings hammered the Pack. Not a good association with those signs, nor that Elway video clip.

3rd- 2007 NFC Championship loss to the Giants. It was close between this one and the Super Bowl loss. It seemed like everything was breaking the Pack’s way…they get home field for the championship game, they had just annihilated the Seahawks in the Snow Bowl…and then cold-weather F**re napalms the season. No need to go into any more detail.

2nd- 2003 NFC Divisional Game vs. Eagles (the “4th and 26″ game). The gap between 2nd and 3rd on this list is as big as the gap between Michael Strahan’s teeth. If things were going the Packers’ way in 2007, they were really going their way in 2003. Let’s not forget how they got into the playoffs that year (McCown…rolling out…fires it into the end zone…CAUGHT!!! TOUCHDOWN!!! NO!!!!!! THE CARDINALS HAVE KNOCKED THE VIKINGS OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS!!!), nor forget their wild-card game (Matt Hasselbeck’s infamous “we want the ball and we’re gonna score” call). I was convinced the Pack was going to the Super Bowl that year, and up until that freaking 4th and 26 play, they had been working over the Eagles all game. Then, if that wasn’t enough, F**re has to go and throw one of the most idiotic passes in playoff history to stick a fork in that season and a knife in my heart. Man, did that loss hurt.

Still, it doesn’t hold a candle to this one:

1st- 1995 NFC Championship Game loss to Cowboys. This was the perfect storm for a devastating loss- the Pack had never been that far in the playoffs during my life. They had just gone out to SF the week before and absolutely crushed the Niners (right up there with the Super Bowl win on my list of favorite Packers wins ever). The Cowboys had (briefly) passed the Vikings as my most despised team. Everyone in the universe was all about the Cowboys the week before the game (sound familiar?) but I was 100% convinced the Packers were winning that game. I think Erik Williams was convinced the Packers were going to win too, and since he couldn’t handle John Jurkovic on the line, he decided to destroy Jurko’s knee. After that, the game completely turned, the Pokes won 38-28 and then beat down Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. 15 years later I’m still pissed about that. After driving back to SJU that night, I fired off a Ray Barbone-like e-mail featuring 43 f-bombs to a high school friend…man, I wish he would’ve kept that one.

I don’t think that game will ever be topped as far as painful losses go, mainly because a) since that point they did win a title, crossing off “seeing the Packers win a Super Bowl” on my Sports Bucket List, and b) I don’t think I’m capable of that level of anger anymore. It’s easy to get waaaaay too fired up about a football game when you’re 19 years old; you mellow out quite a bit by the time you’re pushing your mid-30s.

So, now that I’ve gone over 7 killer playoff losses in the last 15 years (wow…never thought of it like that before), I want your thoughts. What are the most killer losses your teams have put you through? I’m pretty sure I know what the Vikings fans will say, so if there are any fans of other teams that are reading this, comment away.

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10 January 2010

45 isn’t enough??

I’m spent.  That Pack/Cards game that turned from NFL playoff football into Tecmo Bowl took every last bit of energy out of me.  I’m still at a loss.  But, it’s only fair after predicting months ago that the Pack would go 12-4 (didn’t miss that one by much) and win the division by 3 games (oops on that one) that I download everything that’s running through my head after that loss.

I must’ve stared at the TV for about 10 minutes after that strange “would’ve been the tuck rule except for the fact Rodgers kicked the ball in the air and into the arms of a defender” interception that ended that wild game.  Finally, with the talking heads continuing to fawn all over Dallas (more on that later), I came to the realization I had to do something.  The choices?

  • Raid the liquor cabinet and wreak havoc on every bottle in there.
  • Sit and wait for the taunting texts and phone calls to come in (amazingly, it’s 90 minutes after the game and not a one has come in)
  • Go for a jog in the 10-degree weather and hope that clears my head.

I know most Vikings fans would assume that since I’m a Pack fan, that I would’ve hit the bottle hard (or would’ve been hitting it already) but no.  Not tonight.  And since I really didn’t want to deal with any potential taunts, I bundled up and went for a nice little jog.  While out there freezing, all I could think about was coming up with the best way to express my thoughts about the game.  Do I go Simmons style and call this a Stomach Punch loss?  Sure, that’s an easy one…but upon further review, I think the scene in Rounders where Worm’s cheering up Mike McD after his girlfriend moved out is more apropo.  In case you forget, Worm drops this line- “you know what cheers me up when I’m feeeling s**tty?  Rolled up aces over kings!  Stacks and towers of checks so high you can barely see over them.  Playing all night, high limit at the Taj…”  The itch to hop in the car and make the quick trip up to Running Aces was there, but since a) I suck at poker and b) losing a couple Benjamins right after this Packers game would’ve really set me off, I decided against it.  Plus, I wasn’t anywhere near my car- I was running outside on a January night in Minnesota.  Obviously, I wasn’t thinking too straight.

So no Taj Mahal of the metro.  Instead, I started thinking about the rest of the playoffs, specifically how the NFC might play out.  I thought about how everyone with a microphone and a studio show is fawning all over Dallas and bringing up the fact that Minnesota sucked down the stretch (but conveniently forgetting the Vikings are 8-0 at home and have outscored their opponents 794-10 under the teflon sky).  You better believe they’ll be playing the “nobody thinks we’re going to win this game” card all week long.  That got me to thinking…is this the first time in playoff history that the top two seeds will be playing that card?  Everyone’s been saying that New Orleans is in big trouble and now everyone’s saying Dallas is going to roll to the Super Bowl…I mean, this whole “disrespect from everyone” phenomenon is reaching new heights.  Crazy thing is, it always seems to work!  In other words…put me down for the NO/MIN parlay next week and set up that NFC title game that everyone thought was inevitable two months ago.

One final thought…you know that little bit Jimmy Fallon does on his show with the thank-you notes?  Well, here’s one that Vikings fans should write up:

“Thank you, remaining NFC playoff kickers, for showing that you all turn to Jell-O under pressure.  Not only did one of you duck-hook a 34-yard game-winner this weekend and another shank a 37-yard home field advantage clincher a few weeks ago, but the other one of you was so horrible you got cut from the freaking Redskins after blowing a 24-yard kick.  We know that in any pressure situation down the stretch we have nothing to worry about if any of you come on to make a kick longer than 30 yards.”

With all the talk about B**tt F**re, who would’ve thought the most important ex-Packer this postseason would be Ryan Longwell? (And yes, that’s a prophecy.  Mark my words- the Vikings will win a game they shouldn’t thanks to the other team’s kicker blowing an easy kick.)

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28 December 2009

My How Things Have Changed

Certain things happen when you’re a Wisconsin guy who marries a Minnesotan; namely, you get to be bombarded from all directions about your Wisconsin teams at every single family function.  While I’m used to the treatment- I did, after all, go to college in Minnesota from 1995-1999, which means I was there to get attacked by everyone during the Vikings’ 1998 season (and gloat during the Packers’ 1995-1997 seasons)- it had gone to a whole new level this year with the introduction of Voldemort himself playing quarterback for the Purple.  Everything came to a head at Thanksgiving where the Vikings were flying at their highest point of the season and where the Packers loss to Tampa was still somewhat fresh.  I was called “Bitterman” by the family since I still held total contempt for F**re…the Vikings were on TV, kicking the crap out of the Bears…every time they scored, I’d get the mocking “boy, that old guy can still throw the ball pretty well, huh?” from everyone…really, it wasn’t that much fun.  Thankfully, my wife managed to win the numbers board to take a bit of the sting out of it, but still…a Vikings team, led by a former Packers icon, looking Super?  No numbers board can soothe that pain.

Fast-forward to Christmas…with the Vikings coming off a couple horrible losses on the road, Voldemort in a power struggle with Childress (what’s the Harry Potter analogy there…Peter Pettigrew?), rumblings of “he’s had a great season, but we saw F**re break down at the end of the season last year too”…yeah, I was looking forward to seeing everyone, especially with the Packers playing pretty good football.  After fighting our way through snow and ice to make it to the party, I was greeted with a half-hearted, “oh look, Bitterman made it!”  With a grin on my face, I just said, “my, how things have changed since I saw you last.”  Everyone knew it too- there were a few half-hearted attempts to knock me down by mentioning the last-second Pittsburgh loss, but deep down, they’re realizing this season could be going the exact way Packers fans warned it would.  While the Vikings certainly are still a major threat to make it to the Super Bowl, it doesn’t seem as preordained as it was just five weeks ago.

That got me to thinking…there are a lot of things out there that are just stunningly different now than they were in the not-so-distant past.  Case in point…

  • Just a few weeks ago, the Saints had gotten done annihilating the Patriots on Monday Night Football, causing most people to think Saints + home field advantage = lock for the Super Bowl.  Then they lost to the Cowboys at home, which I’d say is somewhat forgivable since a) they’d won 13 in a row, getting more than a few breaks along the way and b) they were playing a desperate Cowboys team who’d heard nothing but things like “this team is awful in December” and “they have no heart” for the last two weeks.  But the home loss to an awful Tampa team after they were up 17-0?  Unbelievable.  Who would’ve thought the Vikings could drop two out of three yet still not be eliminated from top-seed contention?  A few weeks ago, people were talking about the Saints in the Super Bowl…now, it’s how they’re fatally flawed and prime for a big-time upset.  My, how things have changed.
  • On the flip side, a couple months ago Philadelphia went out to Oakland and got whipped by the Raiders, prompting me to say that any team that loses to Oakland cannot be taken seriously as a playoff contender.  And while it’s still possible they can come up with a crucial loss just as the bandwagon reaches critical mass, it’s inconceivable to think that we’re heading toward a phenomenal second-round matchup between the Eagles and the Vikings after they stunk out the joint in Oakland.  My, how things have changed.
    (Side note- are we heading for the “All-Tortured Fan Base” NFC playoffs”?  While Philly fans will claim their team’s killed them more often than any other, Vikings fans don’t take a back seat to anyone.  Remember, they were the first 15-1 team to not make the Super Bowl- kneeldown, anyone- and two years later they were pasted 41-0 in the NFC Championship by the Giants.  They’re the masters of pulling the fans in and then ripping out their hearts.  To a lesser degree, the Saints are like that…they don’t have the quantity of stomach-punch losses, but they’re on their way.  And those three teams are going to be the top three seeds?  It’s wide-open for Arizona to repeat.)
  • On the other side of the NFL, a few weeks into the season everyone was writing the Chargers off as the biggest disappointment in the NFL after losing to Denver and falling three games back in the division.  I’m not 100% sure on this, but I don’t think the Bolts have lost since that game, and it seems like they’re getting better with each game.  Everyone knew the Colts would be one of the teams to beat, but to see the Chargers emerge as the other (potentially getting us to one hell of a great AFC title game)? My, how things have changed.
  • Finally, back in August I spent the entire week out at Hazeltine for the PGA Championship, getting there at about 6:20am just to watch Tiger hit balls on the range.  I was in awe of the crowds for a freaking practice round just to watch him and him only.  On Sunday, I was standing by the path leading from the clubhouse to the practice green and Tiger, in his best Sunday red shirt, walked about three feet away from me with that famous laser-like focus.  A friend of mine got pulled from his work shift to get inside the ropes to take amazing pictures of him warming up.  Another friend of mine and I discussed whether he was in the top 10 for most recognizable people (not just athletes- all people) on the planet.  It was, in a word, amazing to see that guy up close.

My, how things have changed.

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27 November 2009

Live from the Press Box

For the vast majority of the 316 sports broadcasts I’ve done on the radio, I’ve led off with the phrase “we’re comin’ to ya llllllllive from (fill in the location)…”.  Today, we’re comin’ to ya…well, not so much live as “whenever you get around to reading this, but it’s comin’ to you from the press box in the Metrodome as I’m covering my first Prep Bowl for Examiner.com.  It’s a pretty sweet press box too…nice Cambria countertops, a gigantic popcorn machine, unlimited Coke and Sprite…yeah, it’s a long way from covering a game in a cramped press box with the cold rain blowing in through the open window.

So far (and it’s the third of four Prep Bowl games today), the games haven’t been all that exciting.  I’m writing this in the middle of a 33-0 game…the first two contests were 37-22 and 42-21.  A lot of the semifinal (and quarterfinal games were a lot tighter than this, which will only fuel the argument that the state tournaments should be seeded to help avoid a day of blowouts in the finals.

But that’s an argument for another time.  Some of the other perks of being in the press box:

  • The best thing?  Right after halftime and after the game, someone comes around and hands you stat sheets and a play-by-play breakdown of every drive in the game.  I can’t tell you enough how handy that comes in, especially during radio broadcasts.  I just love being able to drop in things like “that third down conversion makes them 3 for 7 on third down conversions during the game”.  Keep track of that when I’m writing down stats by hand?  Fat chance.
  • There’s a bunch of flat screens above us that are on about a 5 second delay from the action on the field, so if something crazy happens on the field, you just look right up and BOOM!  That’s what I call instant replay.
  • There’s a speaker system that’ll tell all the writers the instant stats right away as well as let you know of any records that might be getting set.  Very, very handy.
  • Wireless access so one can load up the GameCast of, say, Alabama/Auburn just in case the live action is a blowout…I mean, so I can post the game recaps right away.

Yes, I could certainly get used to this…but there’s also something fun about doing a broadcast when you’re sitting right next to the clock operator, the visiting defensive coordinator and the students filming the game.  Maybe it’s experiences like that which makes marble countertops and free popcorn that much more fun.

Speaking of which, it’s time to go get another bag…

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24 November 2009

Where’ve I Been?

It’s kind of embarrassing to look at my blog and see “9 November 2009″ as the date of my last published article.  It’s even more embarrassing to look at the topic of that article- the Packers’ horrible loss to Tampa Bay.  Oh, how much has changed since then…the Pack follow up that horrible loss with an impressive victory over Dallas and then get a Pyrrhic victory over San Francisco where they lose two of their star players on defense.  It’s definitely nice to see the Pack at 6-4, but it’s going to be tough to stay hot without Kampman and Harris.

This post, however, isn’t about the Pack.  It’s about what I’ve been up to the last couple weeks- namely, following a couple high school football teams through the section playoffs and down to the state tournament at the Metrodome.  Last week I was able to call a game from the Dome press box, a game between Mora and Glencoe-Silver Lake which ended in a 28-0 GSL victory.  It was the fourth playoff football game I’d called in a three week span, games that spanned from Minneapolis all the way up to Duluth.

In addition to broadcasting games on the radio, I’d been looking for other outlets to do some freelance writing, outlets that would be a little bit more formal than my own blog.  Enter Examiner.com into the mix…they’re an online news site with local editions in 50-60 cities around the U.S. and Canada.  There was an opening for a Minnesota High School Sports Examiner, and since I’d been broadcasting high school sports for 7 years, I figured I was qualified to apply for the position.  After a few days, I received word from their staff that they felt I was qualified as well, so I am now the Examiner for Minnesota High School Sports!

It’s certainly really exciting to write for a larger audience, and it’s a little bit different to realize that there will be people more than my family and friends reading these articles.  I’ve been doing ad-hoc writing for quite a while, however, so the time was right to make a foray into something a little more official.  Don’t worry, I’ll still post articles/blog entries here skewering B**tt F**re and providing completely biased opinions about the Pack, but anything high school related will be on Examiner.com.

Here’s a direct link to my page on Examiner.com; definitely take the time to browse around the site and read some of the articles.  I’ve been familiarizing myself with the site as well and have found a few Examiners that I’ll be following.  There are links right on my page that will set up an RSS feed so you can be automatically notified when I post something new, or you can sign up for e-mail alerts that’ll do the same thing.

Again, I’m really excited to start covering high school sports for Examiner.com, and with the Prep Bowl coming up this week at the Dome, I certainly picked a great week to start!

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9 November 2009

The Bay of Pigs, Redux

While last week was a tough loss for the Pack, a quick glance at the schedule showed the 0-7 Tampa Bay Bucs were going to be the perfect tonic for the ails of the Green and Gold.  A convincing win over a bad team to get things straightened out before the game vs. the Cowboys?  Looks easy enough…and with that early bomb of a touchdown pass to James Jones, it looked like this would be in the bag.  Of course, things ended up getting bad and then worse for the Pack, eventually giving the Bucs that first win of the year, 38-28.

The best thing about this game?  I didn’t see the second half of it.  Even with the Packers winning at halftime, the game itself was pretty pathetic.  It was one of those games were if the Packers win, it would be one of those unfulfilling, play-just-well-enough-to-beat-a-bad-team wins…and if they lost, well, I really wouldn’t have wanted to see it.  What’d I do?  Since it was about 55 degrees out and likely the last nice weekend day before April 2010, it was time for a nice little bike ride/geocaching mission.  To be honest…I really didn’t think the Pack would actually lose to the flippin’ Bucs.  I wasn’t even monitoring the score while out on the treasure hunt, but around 3:15 my phone started to light up like a switchboard (no hiding in a basement with spotty cell reception this week).  One friend asked if I needed to be put on suicide watch.  Yet another simply said “ouch”.  I knew this couldn’t be good…and I later confirmed it, 38-28 Bucs.

It happens to players all the time- they say all the right things during the week, but deep down they know they’re going to waltz into the crap team’s stadium and win, so they don’t really pay as much attention as they should during film and conditioning.  They might go out for a really late night on the town, where they wouldn’t if they had a “big game” that weekend.  Next thing you know, they’re giving a winless team their first W of the year.  I’ve gotta call myself guilty of the fan version of this- I didn’t properly get ready to watch the game, put on the lucky Packer socks or any of that stuff since, well, I figured I didn’t need to.  I went geocaching during the 3rd quarter, for cryin’ out loud!  Maybe there was a bit of a letdown after that loss last week for both me and the Pack (and really, how often do you hear about a letdown after a loss??), but the facts are the Packers are now 4-4, they’re facing a hot Dallas team in a very important game next Sunday, and I only found two geocaches.  Tough day all around.

At least it was nice out.  In a few weeks, we probably won’t even have that.

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