Random Thoughts: Filler

I arrived back home at 11:30, and instead of staying up to write long blog entries from the six broadcasts today, I decided to blog with filler material.  I will have a game-by-game blog recap on Sunday.

After today, through 13 weeks of the 18-week high school basketball season I have broadcasted 134 games.  I need to broadcast 16 games in the next five weeks.  I think I can handle that!



Broadcasting 134 games to this point seems routine.  What I am stunned about, is the fact that I have not become sick once.  Not even a sore throat.  Last year, I got sick one time and I completely lost my voice for two days which cost me a doubleheader (fortunately one of those two days was a Sunday).  That was the only time I was sick last basketball season.  I joked that it was because of my intense work schedule that I didn't even have time to think about getting sick.  Now, I am beginning to wonder if that's not the case.  I am working much, much....much harder this basketball season than last basketball season.

There have been some close calls with scratchy throats, but nothing came about.  The times I thought I would come down with an illness was during the Thanksgiving Tournaments, due to the fact of the crazy amount of broadcasts and poor diet, along with my trip to southern Illinois that relegated me to just 2-3 hours of sleep at times over a period of one week.  The biggest non-sickness surprise was during last week's blizzard.  It just seems that when I have a period of downtime, that's when I get sick. 

Now, of course, that I just brought this up, the sickness Gods have doomed me to become sicker than I have been in years because I have mocked them.  I have been knocking on wood the past three paragraphs!

Numbers
In broadcasting 134 games, I have been wondering how many games I have actually watched this season.  Many times, I catch games during tournament play that I am not broadcasting, and most notably the sophomore games that precede the varsity broadcasts.  In counting up the games, after today I have watched 305 basketball games this season!

Next Week
Plans for next week....
Monday:  Class 1A Girl's Basketball Sectional (@ Midland).  Doubleheader features Annawan vs. Stark County and Brimfield vs. Knoxville.  Ridgewood coach Bryan Brooks will join me on the broadcast.

Tuesday:  Class 3A Girl's Basketball Regional (@ Geneseo).  There are two games, but just one broadcast since Galesburg is playing the second game (vs. Geneseo). 

Wednesday:  Off Day (I had actually considered driving up to Morris to cover their 3A Regional, but I have Thursday off at the radio station which means I wouldn't be able to get out Wednesday afternoon in time to make the drive to Morris).

Thursday:  Class 3A Geneseo Regional.  This could change depending on how Galesburg does on Tuesday.  If Galesburg loses, I will most likely do a Sectional championship at the 1A/2A level.

Friday:  Alleman @ Galesburg boy's basketball.  Senior Night at GHS.  This will be the 2nd in a string of 4 consecutive Senior Night's we will run into.

Saturday:  TBA.  We have our live radio auction until early afternoon.  I am keeping my options open, at least for now.  I will take a look at the schedule on Sunday to see what's available within a reasonable driving distance.

The Quest: Forecast
As I drove home from Riverton tonight, I began to do the math in forecasting the final count in the Quest 2: 150.  It appears as though my final count will reach between 160-165 broadcasts.