I learned a couple of months ago that this year’s selection show would be different; instead of sitting in a ESPN Zone restaurant in Washington, D.C., my home area, I would be in the studio in Bristol, Conn.
Saturday’s portion of the trip went well, saw a great game between Union and RPI for the Dutchman Shoes. Good wi-fi access at the hotel so I could get work done. And Sunday started off pretty well. I got a call from Mark Simon, one of our columnists who also works in research for Baseball Tonight and college basketball at ESPN. He told me that we had gotten the last key projected team correctly, Cortland State in and Cal Lutheran out.
We spent a good hour or two going over the bracket, picking out what games to key on, bantering over what to say. Dari Nowkhah, the anchor, took it very seriously, as did producer Pete Tredwell. We’ve had a different anchor every year but Tredwell has been the guy all three years. They’ve got a good routine down and I had commentary planned out, some of which I would get to use. More on that later.
So we plan out the show, Dari is writing his script, I’m fact-checking the info the NCAA sent (two key pieces were wrong, of course), then posting info on the site, getting ready for the show. About 45 minutes before air I change into my coat and tie, then head upstairs for makeup. Scott Reiss, who anchored last year’s show, is in the chair before me. Tredwell gives me a dry run on the stage direction, which camera to look in. Wish it would be a full rehearsal, with cameras and all, but oh well.
The previous crew clears the studio and we have three minutes of commercial to get set up. I thread my mic through my shirt so I can tack it onto my tie, plug in my earpiece.
Opening highlights roll, which was fun to see. Two minutes or so into the show, my first chance to talk … and I forgot what I was going to say. I see my name come up on the teleprompter, Dari nods to me regarding St. John’s and Monmouth and I blank. It seems like forever in retrospect but on viewing the tape, it was only a second. They were supposed to remain on the graphic but came to me on camera instead, which was another distraction.
All told, in my breakdown of the west bracket, I think I said “uh,” like, uh, 10 times. My dad, watching with my aunt and uncle in the Minneapolis suburbs (ESPNews is not on the Minneapolis basic package, apparently), later said he knew I was off to a bad start. Mom just told me I did a good job.
Dad also nitpicked my tie knot. Taking fashion tips from my dad is like taking competitive balance suggestions from Indianapolis, however.
Alright, on to the south bracket. We pause on Ferrum/Wesley, and I knew I had something to say there, but couldn’t remember what it was. If I hadn’t seen Wesley play like, uh, three weeks ago I would have been SOL, so I stammered something about the Wesley offense. Thankfully the Washington and Jefferson/Bridgewater game came up next and I nailed what I meant to say there. And at the end of the bracket, I’m trying hard to talk about Trinity/Mary Hardin-Baylor without expressing my outrage, especially since Tredwell and I had a talk before the show about where the line was. Plus, I was able to backtrack and say what I had planned to get in about Ferrum, at the expense of noting Thiel’s triple-overtime win — sorry, guys.
Went to commercial break and I had a chance to collect myself, look ahead at the bracket, remember what I was planning to say, etc. Worked great on the North bracket, no problems. On the East bracket, I apologize, I skipped the Union blurb on the last game and went straight to the bracket overview. I meant to say that Union has three good offensive weapons that opposing defenses will be hard-pressed to contain.
Again, sorry, guys.
And yes, I said if Mary Hardin-Baylor beats Trinity, Wesley had a good shot in its second game because I’d ‘have to think it would be a second-round home game.’ That’s wrong, as the seedings now show.
As close as I get to my real feelings about that South bracket I say later, regarding the Trinity/Mary Hardin-Baylor game: ‘that’s going to be a regional final-quality bracket in the first round’
We get to the end of the teleprompter and haven’t been told by the control room to wrap it up yet, so Dari throws me the extra question regarding the Linfield/Mount Union matchup. I was stalling to try to recall Pierre Garcon’s name, so it went a little longer than I intended.
And the show ended up 45 seconds over budget. Lessons learned: Focus on the camera. Focus on some camera, and they’ll follow you. Next year I’ll also make sure what I want to say gets noted in the teleprompter instead of in my head.
Best part was afterwards, however, stopped by the room where the Sunday NFL shows’ anchors and commentators hang out to watch the games. Now that’s a show that should be televised, though I expect some of what was said in there was not for public consuption. Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Chris Mortenson, etc., sitting in rows of chairs, watching about eight TV screens.
Now, remember, my “day” job is at a national weekly publication that covers the NFL as well, so we have a similar setup on Sunday afternoons, with people watching a bank of TVs with as many games as possible. But Sports Weekly doesn’t hold a candle to ESPN in this regard. The reaction in the room as Nathan Vasher returns the missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown defies description. Imagine 20 people watching the play develop, shouting out Chris Bermanesque sound effects as blocks get set downfield.
Good food, too.
Thanks to ESPN for the opportunity to promote Division III. I hope the players enjoy the opportunity to see their school on the big screen. This has been a fun gig for me for three years, too, although it’s a little disorienting when people know me by name already at games before I introduce myself.
But like, uh, that’s not so bad. 
