It was an interesting look into the production of big-time sporting events. The broadcast I appeared on was the Kansas vs. Missouri game on Monday night. I shot a quick video on David Francis' lucky nose on campus and sent that in via the ESPNU FTP the Tuesday before. They took it from there and decided to run it with about 12 minutes to go in the first half of the game. Now, they had two fact errors just before pitching to my package. First of all, Brent Musberger pronounced my name "Mates-old." Then he said "University of Mizzou." But, you can't fault him too much for my name. I never did send in an official pronouncer.
It seemed like everything went fine with my video. Bob Knight even had fun with it and joked I "should study more." That was pretty fun. I was very thankful they were able to use my piece.
On Saturday, I again taped a short segment to run during the Oklahoma State-Missouri game. I went to the production truck Saturday morning to give them my video file and meet the crew. The producer had called me the Friday before and we had been discussing options for the topic of my segment for much of the week. The producer said they would likely run my piece in the first half and then use me for a live shot in the second half in the student section.
I got back to the arena in the afternoon and met the camera man who I was going to be working with for the live shot. When the second half started, I stayed by the camera man, waiting for his cue. They didn't have an IFB for me. The game kept going by and the camera man never cued me. Apparently, there was not enough time or there was never the right situation to have me go live.
I also found out my short piece didn't run either. It's understandable. Time and schedules can change so quickly in TV.
I can't complain at all about these experiences, though. It was great getting to work with ESPN crews and have your work on display for a national audience.
