I have always been a sports fan. It was something I shared with my dad. I have very clear memories of watching games on TV with him and he took me to many a live sporting event. Each summer we would visit Kansas City and he would take me to a Royals game and he even took me to a preseason Chiefs game the very first year of Arrowhead Stadium (which he didn't fully enjoy because people stayed standing like the whole damn game - a preseason game - they stayed standing). We also went to bunches of basketball games because Hutchinson hosted the NJCAA championship tournament every year.
He was in his recliner and I was at the end of the couch in 1988 when the Jayhawks with Danny Manning won the NCAA championship. That was way fun.
Flash forward a bunch of years and I have gotten the opportunity to work in sports in a few different ways. I have taken it too seriously but I also know how to just play.
The too seriously can be illustrated by how I behaved as the general manager for the Dodge City Legend during the championship game in 2005. We had lost the second game in the tournament in 2004 even though we had the best team in the league that year. One of the reasons we lost is more than half the team, including the head coach, got a wicked case of food poisoning just before the tournament started. I still have suspicions that the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs slipped something into the baked beans at the end of the season celebration dinner.
Anyway, in 2005 I REALLY wanted to win. I am a superstitious sports fan and I started pacing in the hallway of the arena and then I started to believe we were only playing well when I was pacing. This was proven to be scientifically accurate when I stepped into the arena as the best free throw shooter on the team stepped to the line. This guy had not missed a free throw in five games. He bricked it like a guy building the foundation of the new library. So, I spent far too much time in the hallway as we won the league championship. Even with the indisputable scientific evidence of the free throw data point, that was stupid. I took it all too seriously and I missed what could have been a fantastically fun afternoon.
I just started helping with the new minor league basketball team in Kansas City, the Tornado's.
I am the PA announcer during the game. I had done just a little of this with the Legend but not much. The first game I was a little tight. The second game I was much more relaxed.
I decided I should not take it too seriously. I allowed myself to just be a fan and say stuff that came to mind. The fans don't need me to treat this like it's rocket surgery.
There was a questionable call that went against us. Followed closely by a questionable call that went our way. I simply said "basketball karma".
The point guard for KC is named Charlton Jones. He stole the ball and dashed to the goal for a lay-up. I half sang "and along came Jones". Which was probably not a reference many, if any, of the fans present understood but I liked it.
I was reading one of the ads for a sponsor and messed up. Most the time people are told not to call attention to a mistake but to just keep moving. Not me. I said "That wasn't right. I'm gonna try it again. This isn't my day job."
These games should be entertainment and I am going to have fun and I really think the fans will have more fun if I allow myself the freedom to say what occurs to me.
This is a line I am keeping handy for just the right moment. One player is named Jacob French. I can't wait for him to hit a big three pointer so I can say, "French for three. Parlez-vous jumpshot." Lori thinks that may not be my best choice.
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