From a sheer volume standpoint, this has been and for another week will be the busiest stretch of time for this guy.
Lots of basketball, all in driving distance, and then a couple football games, which has me back at airports on the weekends.
First, I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!
We have been all over the place with weather, from nice to cold, and now the rain over the last couple days. There is even a rumor of maybe one last chance of snow this weekend…
Normal, crazy spring weather.
Kind of like my schedule.
There was a stretch of about a dozen games in five days, and there have not been many days where I was not heading to some exotic locale for a game.
Come on, there isn’t anything as cool as a trip to Terre Haute…
There was one game there, and lots of basketball, mostly in Indy.
Yes, there were the regular Pacers games (they are nearing the end of the regular season), a trip to Bloomington for women’s college playoffs (the NCAA finishes this weekend, and yes indeed - Boiler Up!), and this week, there are more NIT games (they are done Thursday night).
It is Pacers Monday, to Butler Tuesday through Thursday, Pacers Friday and then to New York on Saturday.
New York?
Yep, spring football has sprung.
It was a trip to Dallas last weekend for the first game of the season. I sure know my way back and forth there.
The USFL and XFL spring leagues combined into one body for this season, and I was in on the first game of the new league – the UFL.
It featured the champions of the two older leagues, and the game was pretty darn good. Birmingham, the USFL champs the last two years, beat Arlington, the XFL champs.
That sets me in motion for nine more weekends of that regular season. My play-by-play guy is based in New York, so I head east this year instead of a bunch of trips to LA. The games are being remotely covered, so this is how it works on Sunday for my game. My announcer is in New York, the rest of the production crew in still in California, and the game is being played in Houston.
Gotta love technology.
I will have a couple weekends in LA when Curt is on vacation, and at the end of the season and playoffs we will be back on-site to do games.
But, there will be a travel bag packed for all weekends til about the end of June.
The trip to Texas was pretty much routine last weekend, so I’m sure I will pay for that down the road. Flights pretty much on time, and my Saturday night flight back home only changed gates twice while I waited. I was watching Illinois get trounced, so I know I didn’t miss much (sorry Illini fans).
This weekend will prove more interesting, as it doesn’t matter which airport I fly into, there will be lots of traffic. My hotel is near Central Park, and the production studio we are working at is in another direction. More stop and go in Manhattan.
It makes the drive to Hinkle for a couple days just so much nicer.
So the end of most of my basketball work is close at hand. I know there are baseball and softball games already scheduled, weather permitting of course.
It has been a fun last few weeks. I got to spend my birthday covering a game, which is very normal, and have been able to watch some awfully good games, at a bunch of levels.
These notes are being typed before the Sycamores play on Tuesday night, so I hope there is a win for the Trees as you read this on Wednesday morning.
And of course, best wishes and good luck to Purdue.
Safe travels.
Jeff Nelson is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review and works professionally for Fox Sports assisting with NFL broadcasts and the Indiana Pacers.
