Friday night in a TV sports department is a challenge on any night. Especially at FOX23 where we not only put together a half hour high school sports show, but also our regular 10:52 slot on FOX23 News at 10. Fortunately, our team works well together and everything usually turns out fine.
Usually.
Last night was not one of those nights, Astute FOX23/Times Union High School show viewers noticed a distinct lack of action in the girls basketball section of the show. Talk about a logistics mess.
First, when we went to Cohoes for the Colonial showdown between the Tigers and Knights...the boys were playing. Wait a minute, weren't the girls supposed to be up on the hill tonight was the question. The answer.. yup they were, at 6pm. Yes folks the old mid-season boys and girls double header. Now I would advocate that we play boys and girls varsity doubleheaders every game. I also understand why it would be very difficult to do that. In any event, I never checked with the schools to see what was up, so that one got messed up as the did our planned coverage of Guilderland-Ballston Spa boys, which was not at Guilderland, but part of a b-g DH at B Spa.(like those abbreviations?)
Then we had a crew in Ravena for a news story. That crew was to go to Maginn to catch the boys playing the Falcons, then over to AHS to see the girls play. Only one problem, the girls started at 7pm instead of 7:30, meaning by the time we got there...no game. Our photographer on the scene, Joseph Mahar, hightailed it (at the speed limit of course) over to Colonie where he caught the last 1:43 of the Raiders matchup with Niskayuna. Fortunately, it was a close game, so there was a bit of a story still to tell.
Not done yet. The boys got a taste of Murphy's Law too. We made a stop at St. Mary's in Amsterdam to get the Harlem Knights basketball team in action. Those guys are great and very entertaining. Had a full house at St. Mary's too, so that ended up being a very good call. From there, Gloversville for the Knights/Dragons (never can remember which nickname to use) played a rivalry game with Glens Falls. Our crew had a little bit of difficulty getting from point a to point b. So, by the time they got done at Gloversville and hustled down 30a and 5 to get to Fonda.. whoops.. that game was over already.
We fought the law and this time the law won. Hope you still enjoyed all the great action from a Friday night.
One other quick note - checked out Rensselaer's new gym at a wrestling match the other night. The Rams should be very proud of their new home. Very bright with a large set of bleachers on one side, a smaller set on the other. The blue on the floor and in the air ducts really jumps out at you. Also the table and chairs seating above the large bleachers is a very nice touch. We'll see the Rams basketball team play Cairo-Durham there this Friday night. Could be the headliner on the show. Go from here to the high school sports show page and vote on the You Make the Call FOX BOX question.
Stay warm!
RB
