Here at Taylor Field on the East Texas Baptist University campus, Texas-Tyler has just beaten Redlands 2-1 in a very well played and tight contest. That means Linfield will face their old foe Redlands in the 6 o’clock game. The Bulldogs will be fighting for their playoff lives.
The team spent the morning hours packing up from our base camp at the Comfort Inn and moving to the EconoLodge. The reason: All the rooms at the Comfort were booked this weekend for a big cowboy event at the Josey Championship School of Calf Roping and Barrel Racing. Young women gather to compete in various rodeo events. No problem for the Wildcats, who are used to adapting on the fly.
A minor mishap to report: The van piloted by Wildcats assistant coach Ben Blosser sustained about $2,000 worth of damage when a local woman bashed the back end of the van while it was safely parked at the Sonic Drive-In last night. No one was injured and a police report was issued.
Just met a woman named Dora Vaughn, whose son, Robert, is a member of the Linfield baseball team. She’s following this week’s regional softball tournament because her daughter, Jessica, is a senior on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Small world.
7 Comments
May 8, 2009 at 1:10 am
Keep up the great reports Kelly. I’ll be listening in a few short hours.
Go ‘Cats!
-11
May 8, 2009 at 6:33 am
Kelly, you have some good stats and information, but you are not a good commentator at all. You should have someone else do that for you because you make the game way too hard to follow. You should stick to taking pictures.
May 8, 2009 at 11:04 am
Mark,
You obviously haven’t done your homework. If you had you read my bio would know I majored in radio broadcasting in college. You would also know that I was born and half raised in Calgary, Canada. Which means that I am more hockey-centric than baseball/softball centric.
Does a broadcasting degree make me a great play-by-play announcer? Does the fact that I never played baseball make me a poor choice to call Linfield games on the air? The answer is to both questions is obviously no.
I’m the first to admit I’ve got some mechanical shortcomings when it comes to baseball/softball play-by-play. That’s due entirely to never having played the game.
I try to make up for that shortfall by relying on the basics; Give the score at least twice an inning, accentuate the positives for both teams, and keep the energy level high throughout the broadcast, regardless of the score. On those three levels, I believe I succeed.
I have three great advantages over most any other announcer: I understand the fundamentals of broadcasting; I have an acute knowledge of Linfield athletics that stretches back the last 20 years; and I know the players, their families, and the coaches on a personal level.
I really only work on this craft for one or two weeks a year. Last spring, I called games at the NCAA softball regionals and baseball regionals and finals. This is my sixth year of following the Linfield softball team to the regional playoffs.
One more thing: We used to hire broadcasters for these regional games at about $100 a game. They understood baseball/softball mechanics, alright, but they didn’t know Linfield from Limestone University. They were unable to relate to the listeners on any kind of personal level. Which is what broadcasting is all about.
Oh, one more thing: I announce the games without pay. I do it because I know people such as yourself are interested in knowing who wins and loses these playoff games.
If you want Vin Scully, he works for the Dodgers.
May 8, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Kelly,
You didn’t even need to respond to the garbage post by Mark. That was bunk and the Wildcat family appreciates you doing far more than the typical small college SID.
For those that don’t know we have probably if not the best one of the BEST SID’s in the country in small college athletics. Kelly is basically a one man army is a “pro’s pro”. Next time you bump into Kelly please do yourself a favor and thank the man for always putting Linfield’s best foot forward and for always putting out a top rate product.
Go ‘Cats!
Wildcats 11
May 8, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Kelly,
You didn’t even need to respond to the garbage post by Mark. That was bunk and the Wildcat family appreciates you doing far more than the typical small college SID.
For those that don’t know we have probably one of the VERY BEST SID’s in the country in small college athletics. Kelly is basically a one man army and is a “pro’s pro”. Next time you bump into Kelly please do yourself a favor and thank the man for always putting Linfield’s best foot forward and for always putting out a top rate product.
Go ‘Cats!
Wildcats 11
May 8, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Kelly-
Don’t have a clue what Mark is talking about. You did a fabulous job of broadcasting the game. It was clear and we especially appreciated hearing background information on the girls. We only know what’s in their bio and what Emilee tells us, but she doesn’t know most of what you said either. It is awesome hearing about the talent that Linfield has drawn to its softball program. We feel blessed to be a small part of the program as fans from afar. Since this is the only way we can partake of these games we GREATLY appreciate you being there and had a pizza party with grandma at the computer so we could “watch” the game. THANKS SOOOO MUCH!!!!! Lepps
May 9, 2009 at 1:22 am
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Mrs. L. That’s neat to know and I appreciate your comments. You and other parents and steady supporters are really the ones we are doing this for. Happy we can bring it home to you. I hope the pizza wasn’t too cold after the 1 1/4-hour delay to last night’s game.