Afternoon all
Well, I think its about time we all stood back and took a deep breath.......................... What a season that was. The wins over New York and DC seem so far away. I hope you all enjoyed the raffle in the members club after the New York win. Thank you all so much for being good sports and letting me lead the 'I believe that we will win' chant (even though I got it wrong!!).
I must admit heading into the play offs was a strange but exciting feeling. I'd been involved in play offs/promotion battles before whilst covering the lower reaches of football back in England. But this time it obviously had a much more different feel to it.
We got to Colorado full of hope and excitement. Chris (@ctwyche), Jake (@jakeyadrich), Dan (the_doubledown) and I flew into Denver as per usual, but the rest of the boys who came to help set up the studio for 'Off the Pitch' drove the full 7/8 hours from Kansas City! We'd obviously travelled all season together but it put a smile on my face to have some of the lads come to a road game who hadn't all season. It was good to see them as they pulled up in front of the hotel. Chad (@thechad_kc) seemed fine, Justin to, Abner (@abnerha) had that big old excited smile on his face as he usually does and then there was Spencer (@spencebott), who quite frankly looked like death and seemed to squirm and slide out of the opened door like a man with no muscles, actually very similar to a snake! I think it was obvious......... altitude sickness!
We had a couple of beers and enjoyed the halloween themed downtown Denver. Game day came and after a couple of technical problems which Chad helped sort out, Jake and I were underway and on the call on 810 Sports Radio. The 2-0 win was exactly what we needed. I'm sure i'm not the only 1 who didn't expect a 2-0 win away at the current MLS champions, infact i'd have taken a draw! Either way, what a win and then to do the exact same at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in the home leg was just fantastic! Its safe to say the celebrations went on into the night. However, I was also left feeling down after Brennan (@brennancass) and Corey left to return to Minnesota. 2 really good friends and i'm looking forward to seeing them both at some stage next year.
Amongst all this madness I signed a new 2 year contract to remain here (which was a bit of madness on its own par). Without blabbing on, i'd just once again like to say thanks to everyone at the club, all my friends and family back home, Mom and Dad for supporting me every single step of the way, my girlfriend Lauren for putting up with me and you the fans, for making me feel so welcome in my first year.
Approaching the Houston game, I think we were all slightly guilty of thinking 'we have already won this'. We'd beaten Houston comprehensively earlier in the year at LSP and I think many people thought it'd be the same. In actual fact, Houston were very well organized, kept tight and produced possibly 1 of the best defensively displays of the year to beat us 2-0 and advance on to the MLS Cup Final. I remember the sinking feeling that i'm sure many of you also felt when Carlo Costly's shot ripped the back of Jimmy's net so late in the game. We had to push forward though, we were desperate for that equalizer. In the end those gaps that were left open as we pushed forward were exploited and we fell in the Eastern Conference Final.
However, as James Starritt (@sporting_times) and I said on the final 610 Sports Radio show of the year. I think we need to simply celebrate the fact that its been such a fantastic year for Sporting Kansas City. Who would have thought we would have even been competing in the play offs at 1 stage. There is a real positive feeling and vibe amongst the front office staff. Everyone is talking about us in the city. Even now, i've just been introduced to another new employee who is so excited to be apart of this organization. Everything is so positive about this organization.
I'm heading back to England next week for the off season and already have a few things in the pipeline including a week in Spain to relax, friends birthdays, London (on more then 1 occasion), Christmas and New Year all to come. I simply can't wait to see my best friends, Mom, Dad, my Nan, family and of course Lauren. I'm coming home to you all....... and I can't wait :-)
In the meantime Kansas City, keep your eyes and ears pealed, you may be hearing me sooner then you think ;-)
I know 1 thing for sure.......... I'm incredibly excited about the future of Sporting KC and I can't wait for next year.
See you all in 2012!
Cheers
Cal
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
All your dreams are made with strawberry lemonade
Hello everyone
Hope this blog finds you in good health.
So the last time we spoke, we were on the eve of the most important stage of Sporting KC's season so far. A 1-1 tie with Philadelphia Union, a huge win over Columbus Crew, both at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park were enough to convince most that we are play off bound this season. However a rather muggy 1-1 tie away at San Jose Earthquakes would once again make people realize, this is anything but over.
So let me take you back to the beginning of last week. We were all very nervous about the upcoming game against Columbus Crew, who themselves had (and still have) play off ambitions. I was very excited to call the game and found myself bouncing around the office wishing Wednesday night was hurry up and be upon us. So to take our minds of things, after a couple of beers at Brennan (@BrennanCass) and Corey's (@cGodel86) place, we all went to the Sprint center for a the pre season NHL game that was in town. I was quite excited about watching my first ever hockey game. If I was going to get into any other sport in the USA I had a feeling this would be it; mainly due to the pace of the play. As far as i'm aware it was a decent game which was won on penalties (I think thats what they're called). Dan (@the_doubledown) got well into it. He's a big Phily Flyers fan and loves his hockey. Spencer (@spencebott), Abner (@abnerha) and I spent most of the evening trying to figure out what was going on, but either way it was an experience that I enjoyed. I've not done hockey and baseball here in the USA and i'd like to get to an NFL game before I go back to England in November. Whilst we're on that subject, i'm very very excited to see my family and friends in November. Really looking forward to spending christmas and new year in England.
So, anyway, the next day came as did kick off and finally lady luck shone on Sporting KC! A looping header from Columbus defender Julius James was directed into his own net and in the end it proved to be the winning goal. A HUGE win for Sporting KC at the top of the Eastern Conference. After speaking with a few fans after the game and stopping for a photo or 2, its clear everybody is Kansas City is desperate for a championship winning team and Sporting are the closest to that at the moment.
The week passed by and we had a lot of work to do in preparation for our trip to California. I had the relatively small matter of my 22nd birthday on the Thursday and to be honest, I just wanted to watch Phily - DC United with a few beers; but the others had plans................................. The reason for the line of nothing in the sentence above it because thats what my memory of the night consists of; nothing. Its safe to say the flight to San Jose was both painful and brutal, but either way we got there in the end. Thanks to everyone who came out for my birthday, really appreciate it.
San Jose was a nice little californian town, pretty much what I expected to be honest. The stadium itself, Buck Shaw stadium, was interesting. It kind of reminded me of an old school League 2 ground in England, but either way, it got the job done. Even if it meant Dan and Spence had to run cable through the scaffolding with Brian.
So we left San Jose with a point and still without any real answers. I still think we'll qualify for the play offs but I think we need 6 points from the last 2 games against New York Red Bulls and away at DC United. Very exciting end to the season in Major League Soccer and i'm very excited to call the action for the people of Kansas City.
See you all soon!
Cheers
Cal
Hope this blog finds you in good health.
So the last time we spoke, we were on the eve of the most important stage of Sporting KC's season so far. A 1-1 tie with Philadelphia Union, a huge win over Columbus Crew, both at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park were enough to convince most that we are play off bound this season. However a rather muggy 1-1 tie away at San Jose Earthquakes would once again make people realize, this is anything but over.
So let me take you back to the beginning of last week. We were all very nervous about the upcoming game against Columbus Crew, who themselves had (and still have) play off ambitions. I was very excited to call the game and found myself bouncing around the office wishing Wednesday night was hurry up and be upon us. So to take our minds of things, after a couple of beers at Brennan (@BrennanCass) and Corey's (@cGodel86) place, we all went to the Sprint center for a the pre season NHL game that was in town. I was quite excited about watching my first ever hockey game. If I was going to get into any other sport in the USA I had a feeling this would be it; mainly due to the pace of the play. As far as i'm aware it was a decent game which was won on penalties (I think thats what they're called). Dan (@the_doubledown) got well into it. He's a big Phily Flyers fan and loves his hockey. Spencer (@spencebott), Abner (@abnerha) and I spent most of the evening trying to figure out what was going on, but either way it was an experience that I enjoyed. I've not done hockey and baseball here in the USA and i'd like to get to an NFL game before I go back to England in November. Whilst we're on that subject, i'm very very excited to see my family and friends in November. Really looking forward to spending christmas and new year in England.
So, anyway, the next day came as did kick off and finally lady luck shone on Sporting KC! A looping header from Columbus defender Julius James was directed into his own net and in the end it proved to be the winning goal. A HUGE win for Sporting KC at the top of the Eastern Conference. After speaking with a few fans after the game and stopping for a photo or 2, its clear everybody is Kansas City is desperate for a championship winning team and Sporting are the closest to that at the moment.
The week passed by and we had a lot of work to do in preparation for our trip to California. I had the relatively small matter of my 22nd birthday on the Thursday and to be honest, I just wanted to watch Phily - DC United with a few beers; but the others had plans................................. The reason for the line of nothing in the sentence above it because thats what my memory of the night consists of; nothing. Its safe to say the flight to San Jose was both painful and brutal, but either way we got there in the end. Thanks to everyone who came out for my birthday, really appreciate it.
San Jose was a nice little californian town, pretty much what I expected to be honest. The stadium itself, Buck Shaw stadium, was interesting. It kind of reminded me of an old school League 2 ground in England, but either way, it got the job done. Even if it meant Dan and Spence had to run cable through the scaffolding with Brian.
So we left San Jose with a point and still without any real answers. I still think we'll qualify for the play offs but I think we need 6 points from the last 2 games against New York Red Bulls and away at DC United. Very exciting end to the season in Major League Soccer and i'm very excited to call the action for the people of Kansas City.
See you all soon!
Cheers
Cal
Monday, September 19, 2011
Come on feel the noise
Afternoon all
Once again, sorry for the delay in doing this, its been a busy few weeks.
So, lots has happened since we last spoke. Jake (@jakeyadrich) and I did our first radio call together when we hosted LA Galaxy. I completely forgot how much different a radio call is to a TV commentary. It had obviously been a while since i'd done a radio call and after 10 minutes or so I remembered I wasn't doing TV. I learnt a lot whilst I was back in England, working in radio. Paul Walker, George Andrews and Stu Haycock are just some of the names I need to thank for that and it all came back during the call. I think people assume that its the same, but actually with radio you have to be a lot more descriptive (for obvious reasons). Its almost as if you're painting a picture and unlike TV, you need to let to audience know where the ball is. For example, if Espinoza is on the ball in the center circle and plays it out to Sinovic, I can literally just say 'Espinoza....... Sinovic' or 'Espinoza for Sporting' but with radio it'd bensomething like 'Espinoza in the center circle, over to Seth Sinovic on the left hand side, just short of the half way line'. It was Jake's first time on radio and I know he enjoyed it as well, plus, it helped that it was an entertaining game with lots of action and a last minute penalty in the 2-2 tie.
After that we obviously had a wonderful result over Houston Dynamo which I thoroughly believe sent a message out to the rest of Major League Soccer. I have to say, it was one of my favorite shows we did, everything ran smoothly and of course we got a great result.
Last week was different and after playing rock, paper, scissors with Seth Sinovic it seemed as though it was my turn for the brilliantly put together stadium feature 'Across the Endline'. So there I was, set in the hot seat with Brad Mertell (@bmertell22) and Adam Zdroik (@rotozdroik) behind the camera, my room mate of course. I've seen many of the features these boys had done with the players and how they consistently made fun of them; so I expected the worst. However, they went easy on me and i'm told the finished product will be on the video board at half time on Friday night vs Philly. Those boys up in the production room really do a fantastic job and even Abner who you'll see wandering around LSP with a camera is absolutely brilliant. There's a real positive vibe about this place at the moment, the stadium is getting great crowds, we have the highest TV ratings in the history of the franchise and with Sporting KC flying high in the east and the Royals and Cheifs not doing very well i'm told. Its possible that Sporting KC could potentially be the most successful sports team in Kansas City. I think next year is a huge year for the club. We've gained a lot of new fans due to the stadium who came on board from June 9th. Next season we'll have them for the full season and that'll be the true test.
On we go to the most recent few days, the ones that are fresh in the memory.
I was very jealous of CJ Sapong after he got a kiss from Hope Solo! Watching the USWNT train was an honor and they were very very good after training, signing autographs and doing interviews. Even though some of the journalists there held on to them for to long in my opinion, they were very good to do the interviews either way.
Salt Lake City was an interesting place. The stadium itself was fantastic. The Rio Tinto stadium is another clear piece of evidence that MLS is on the up. The facilities were great, fans gave it a good atmosphere and it was a good game; despite the loss. Nick Rimando had a superb game to keep Sporting KC at bay, but I think there are plenty of positives to take from the game and now the game against Philadelphia Union on friday night is astonishingly big. Not sure what my duties for the evening will be as of yet. We're working on a few things, so i'll update you on twitter. I'm absolutely desperate to call the game!
Speak soon
Cheers
Cal
Once again, sorry for the delay in doing this, its been a busy few weeks.
So, lots has happened since we last spoke. Jake (@jakeyadrich) and I did our first radio call together when we hosted LA Galaxy. I completely forgot how much different a radio call is to a TV commentary. It had obviously been a while since i'd done a radio call and after 10 minutes or so I remembered I wasn't doing TV. I learnt a lot whilst I was back in England, working in radio. Paul Walker, George Andrews and Stu Haycock are just some of the names I need to thank for that and it all came back during the call. I think people assume that its the same, but actually with radio you have to be a lot more descriptive (for obvious reasons). Its almost as if you're painting a picture and unlike TV, you need to let to audience know where the ball is. For example, if Espinoza is on the ball in the center circle and plays it out to Sinovic, I can literally just say 'Espinoza....... Sinovic' or 'Espinoza for Sporting' but with radio it'd bensomething like 'Espinoza in the center circle, over to Seth Sinovic on the left hand side, just short of the half way line'. It was Jake's first time on radio and I know he enjoyed it as well, plus, it helped that it was an entertaining game with lots of action and a last minute penalty in the 2-2 tie.
After that we obviously had a wonderful result over Houston Dynamo which I thoroughly believe sent a message out to the rest of Major League Soccer. I have to say, it was one of my favorite shows we did, everything ran smoothly and of course we got a great result.
Last week was different and after playing rock, paper, scissors with Seth Sinovic it seemed as though it was my turn for the brilliantly put together stadium feature 'Across the Endline'. So there I was, set in the hot seat with Brad Mertell (@bmertell22) and Adam Zdroik (@rotozdroik) behind the camera, my room mate of course. I've seen many of the features these boys had done with the players and how they consistently made fun of them; so I expected the worst. However, they went easy on me and i'm told the finished product will be on the video board at half time on Friday night vs Philly. Those boys up in the production room really do a fantastic job and even Abner who you'll see wandering around LSP with a camera is absolutely brilliant. There's a real positive vibe about this place at the moment, the stadium is getting great crowds, we have the highest TV ratings in the history of the franchise and with Sporting KC flying high in the east and the Royals and Cheifs not doing very well i'm told. Its possible that Sporting KC could potentially be the most successful sports team in Kansas City. I think next year is a huge year for the club. We've gained a lot of new fans due to the stadium who came on board from June 9th. Next season we'll have them for the full season and that'll be the true test.
On we go to the most recent few days, the ones that are fresh in the memory.
I was very jealous of CJ Sapong after he got a kiss from Hope Solo! Watching the USWNT train was an honor and they were very very good after training, signing autographs and doing interviews. Even though some of the journalists there held on to them for to long in my opinion, they were very good to do the interviews either way.
Salt Lake City was an interesting place. The stadium itself was fantastic. The Rio Tinto stadium is another clear piece of evidence that MLS is on the up. The facilities were great, fans gave it a good atmosphere and it was a good game; despite the loss. Nick Rimando had a superb game to keep Sporting KC at bay, but I think there are plenty of positives to take from the game and now the game against Philadelphia Union on friday night is astonishingly big. Not sure what my duties for the evening will be as of yet. We're working on a few things, so i'll update you on twitter. I'm absolutely desperate to call the game!
Speak soon
Cheers
Cal
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Slip inside the eye of your mind
Hello everyone
Hope all is well
Sorry once again, only just noticed that i'd not updated the blog for 2 weeks.
So since we last spoke, lots has happened. Mainly, the most exciting part of the las 2 weeks was having my parents come to visit Kansas City for the first time. It was absolutely brilliant to see them for the first time in 5 months. They were staying just off the plaza and after speaking to Mom on the phone, we arranged to meet by the fountain on the plaza. I recognized them both straight away, basically because of Mom's huge handbag and Dad's usual attire of a tucked in white shirt (thankfully not 1 of his bad shirts). As I approached them I felt a huge sense of relief and comfort, but was then recognized by a Sporting fan who stood right in my vision of them both. It was like something from the movies, you know, the finally get to see something or someone after so long and then out of nowhere, 1 last obstacle arrives. I had no problem with him, had a quick chat and signed something for him, but in my mind it was like..... 'alright mate, jog on please'.
After finally welcoming Mom and Dad to the plaza, I took them to O'Dowds for a few drinks and a catch up. It was an early night for us all in the end, but good to see them.
Friday was an interesting day. For once we had a half day in the office as our HR lady, Christie had organized a 'family day' (perfect timing). Firstly I took them to Swope Park training facility to watch the press conference and after that, the office BBQ began outside. Despite the rain, lots of people came over to say hello to Mom and Dad and we stayed there to socialize for a couple of hours and once the weather took a turn for the better, I took them down to Power & Light (downtown). Brennan, a friend of mine who'd met Mom and Dad at Swope Park joined us at Johny's Tavern, McFadden's and another bar where my Dad rode 'the bull'. Corey, another friend, joined us as we made our way to Westport where lots of my good friends, Dan, Adam, Brian, Justin and lots more (you know who you are) got to meet 'the rents'. I'm afraid I can't tell you anymore about that night because I can't remember.............. I think they enjoyed their first night in KC.
Ouch, was all I could say the next day, which was basically a right off. I spent most of the day walking around the house feeling sorry for my hungover self, listening to the opening day of the EPL. I met Mom and Dad and took them to 1 of my favorite spots in KC, a cracking little bar called 'The Well' in the evening. After a short stop elsewhere, an early night was had. These guys were killing me!
Sunday was a lot more relaxed as Adam, Corey, Dad and I went to play golf at Swope Memorial. Its safe to say, I was bad as per usual, but really bad this time because the old man beat me! After golf, we went down to KONA on the plaza for a bite to eat.
Monday came and things started to get busy as we prepared for the visit of the Portland Timbers. Tuesday was much of the usual voice overs and research but then I met Mom and Dad down the plaza and found a few new bars which I didn't know about. I then took them to 'Jack Stacks' as I insisted they tried the local delicacy; which went down well.
Then came game day and the main attraction of Mom and Dad's visit. After the usual production meeting in the morning I continued to look up notes, stats and facts during the day before Mom and Dad arrived. Once they did I took them on a tour of the stadium, which was to their liking very much. It was very odd but strangely satisfying to see them both behind the camera I was in front of. During the call we had a special guest, Erik, who was a Sporting KC super fan (thankfully). We enjoyed having him on for the brief spell and hope he and his son had a great afternoon. Dad then joined Jake and I for the call. Once again it was very odd. I remember saying 'another great chance there Dad' and feeling very very strange. I know Dad enjoyed his time on the call and also got a bit of face time as well as a compliment or 2 on twitter.
Thursday was their last night in KC and we once again ended up at 'The Well' and then our new hangout 'Quintons'. We finally said our goodbyes late in the evening. It was sad to see them both leave, but I know they had a fantastic time and I can't wait to see them and the whole family in December back in the UK.
Friday was busy as the prep started for Sporting's biggest game of the season so far against DC United. What a fantastic result against the fellow Eastern Conference rival. Sporting now 2nd in the East and I see no reason why we can't finish top, but also, there are several banana skins coming their way as well.
Can I just once again take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for me in the MLS announcers poll. I had no idea this was even happening and was made aware via a tweet. Its nice to be considered amongst the best announcers in the league, but I must be honest. I'd like that number 1 spot next year haha. Thanks to everyone who voted once again, really appreciate it.
Cheers
Cal
Hope all is well
Sorry once again, only just noticed that i'd not updated the blog for 2 weeks.
So since we last spoke, lots has happened. Mainly, the most exciting part of the las 2 weeks was having my parents come to visit Kansas City for the first time. It was absolutely brilliant to see them for the first time in 5 months. They were staying just off the plaza and after speaking to Mom on the phone, we arranged to meet by the fountain on the plaza. I recognized them both straight away, basically because of Mom's huge handbag and Dad's usual attire of a tucked in white shirt (thankfully not 1 of his bad shirts). As I approached them I felt a huge sense of relief and comfort, but was then recognized by a Sporting fan who stood right in my vision of them both. It was like something from the movies, you know, the finally get to see something or someone after so long and then out of nowhere, 1 last obstacle arrives. I had no problem with him, had a quick chat and signed something for him, but in my mind it was like..... 'alright mate, jog on please'.
After finally welcoming Mom and Dad to the plaza, I took them to O'Dowds for a few drinks and a catch up. It was an early night for us all in the end, but good to see them.
Friday was an interesting day. For once we had a half day in the office as our HR lady, Christie had organized a 'family day' (perfect timing). Firstly I took them to Swope Park training facility to watch the press conference and after that, the office BBQ began outside. Despite the rain, lots of people came over to say hello to Mom and Dad and we stayed there to socialize for a couple of hours and once the weather took a turn for the better, I took them down to Power & Light (downtown). Brennan, a friend of mine who'd met Mom and Dad at Swope Park joined us at Johny's Tavern, McFadden's and another bar where my Dad rode 'the bull'. Corey, another friend, joined us as we made our way to Westport where lots of my good friends, Dan, Adam, Brian, Justin and lots more (you know who you are) got to meet 'the rents'. I'm afraid I can't tell you anymore about that night because I can't remember.............. I think they enjoyed their first night in KC.
Ouch, was all I could say the next day, which was basically a right off. I spent most of the day walking around the house feeling sorry for my hungover self, listening to the opening day of the EPL. I met Mom and Dad and took them to 1 of my favorite spots in KC, a cracking little bar called 'The Well' in the evening. After a short stop elsewhere, an early night was had. These guys were killing me!
Sunday was a lot more relaxed as Adam, Corey, Dad and I went to play golf at Swope Memorial. Its safe to say, I was bad as per usual, but really bad this time because the old man beat me! After golf, we went down to KONA on the plaza for a bite to eat.
Monday came and things started to get busy as we prepared for the visit of the Portland Timbers. Tuesday was much of the usual voice overs and research but then I met Mom and Dad down the plaza and found a few new bars which I didn't know about. I then took them to 'Jack Stacks' as I insisted they tried the local delicacy; which went down well.
Then came game day and the main attraction of Mom and Dad's visit. After the usual production meeting in the morning I continued to look up notes, stats and facts during the day before Mom and Dad arrived. Once they did I took them on a tour of the stadium, which was to their liking very much. It was very odd but strangely satisfying to see them both behind the camera I was in front of. During the call we had a special guest, Erik, who was a Sporting KC super fan (thankfully). We enjoyed having him on for the brief spell and hope he and his son had a great afternoon. Dad then joined Jake and I for the call. Once again it was very odd. I remember saying 'another great chance there Dad' and feeling very very strange. I know Dad enjoyed his time on the call and also got a bit of face time as well as a compliment or 2 on twitter.
Thursday was their last night in KC and we once again ended up at 'The Well' and then our new hangout 'Quintons'. We finally said our goodbyes late in the evening. It was sad to see them both leave, but I know they had a fantastic time and I can't wait to see them and the whole family in December back in the UK.
Friday was busy as the prep started for Sporting's biggest game of the season so far against DC United. What a fantastic result against the fellow Eastern Conference rival. Sporting now 2nd in the East and I see no reason why we can't finish top, but also, there are several banana skins coming their way as well.
Can I just once again take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for me in the MLS announcers poll. I had no idea this was even happening and was made aware via a tweet. Its nice to be considered amongst the best announcers in the league, but I must be honest. I'd like that number 1 spot next year haha. Thanks to everyone who voted once again, really appreciate it.
Cheers
Cal
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Songbird
Afternoon all
'Songbird', apparently thats my new nickname because I don't stop humming or singing. I can't help it, I like it; haha.
So after a 1-1 tie with New England Revolution, we took on a rather forceful Real Salt Lake side. The 1 thing which shocked me about the away side was their lack of width. I was familiar with their diamond formation style of play, but though head coach Jason Kreis would have maybe reverted to a different style of play after seeing how much we rely on our wing forwards and width. It also made me revert back to our 1-0 loss to Columbus a few months back and remember how Robery Warzycha changed the tactics of his side to counter act us. It obviously worked because from what I remember from that game, we had minimal opportunities and Columbus Crew ran out 1-0 winners and arguably should have had a 2nd had it not of been for another great save from Nielsen.
Sporting KC were making history and were now 14 games unbeaten in Major League Soccer. The longest stretch the club had ever gone on without loss. Next up was the Seattle Sounders. I always enjoy playing the Seattle Sounders for a couple of reasons.
1. They seem to be the team that everyone hates at the moment, which generates a great atmosphere at games.
2. They have a good team who play nice, flowing soccer.
3. I gives me the opportunity to once again indulge into conversation with another British play by play guy; Arlo White. I always enjoy having a chat with him and he was also 1 of the main reasons I was persuaded to come to MLS after seeing that using an English commentator in MLS works.
Arlo and I had a chat before and after the game and spoke of the continued progress of Major League Soccer. We also talked visa's, BBC and settling into life in the USA as a British broadcaster and the changes it has from working in the UK. I always used to listen to Arlo and Mark Clemmit's Football League show on BBC Radio 5Live when I was back home, so having Arlo come into the booth and utter the words 'ello mate, good to see you' always makes me laugh.
So we got under way eventually and everything seemed to go smoothly in the pre game show and Sporting took the lead through a Kei Kamara header. This was unbelievable, I remember thinking how far adrift we were just a few months ago and watching LIVESTRONG Sporting Park going crazy once again. Sporting eventually lost the game thanks to 2 very, very late goals from Rosales and Neagle, thus ending the unbeaten run. Omar Bravo's red card didn't help, the team were struggling with the intense heat and humidity and at 1 stage were down to 9 men with Luke Sassano getting on the receiving end of a bad tackle. That ultimately cost them. I don't think there can be any complaints about the Bravo red card. In today's day and age, especially after Seattle's Steve Zakuani had his leg broken from a similar tackle, you can't do that. I accept he got the ball, but his feet were together, a high, uncontrolled tackle got Bravo sent off and the Seattle Sounders would take full advantage.
After the broadcast I spoke with a few fans in the 'Members Club' about the red card and soccer in general. Afterwards a few drinks in Quintons in Waldo with some of the boys went down well.
With no game this weekend, things are quiet at the moment, but we expect it to pick up as we prepare to film 'Off the Pitch' at some stage later this week. Quite a lot of this has been in the back of my mind today as I continue to watch the rioting unfold in the UK. It started in London, but now seems to have spread across the whole country and in to my home town city Birmingham. Looking at pictures of places I have regularly shopped with Lauren, walked to the movies with friends absolutely trashed is sickening. I get the feeling it is only getting worse as well. Having spoken to my Mom, Nan and best friend Carl and have them share their experiences has been absolutely awful to hear. It seems like a war zone! The most annoying thing is, is that it seems most people don't even know what they are rioting about and are just there because its an opportunity to steal a TV.
On a lighter note, my parents are coming to KC on Thursday which i'm really looking forward to. I went from seeing my Mom and Dad every day to not seeing them for 5 months. I understand they want to see just about everything KC has to offer, so if you have any suggestions, by all means, let me know. I assure Mom that she'll love the Plaza for shopping whilst Dad is eager to get a game of golf in. Its come at the perfect time really, with me now having the weekend off (which is unheard of) and I can spend some time with them and i'm very excited to show them around.
So I sit here writing a few hours after getting back from Swope Park training facility. Don't forget despite not having a game this weekend, we still have a special edition of 'Off the Pitch' on Sunday evening, 9.30 KSMO - TV.
Cheers
Cal
'Songbird', apparently thats my new nickname because I don't stop humming or singing. I can't help it, I like it; haha.
So after a 1-1 tie with New England Revolution, we took on a rather forceful Real Salt Lake side. The 1 thing which shocked me about the away side was their lack of width. I was familiar with their diamond formation style of play, but though head coach Jason Kreis would have maybe reverted to a different style of play after seeing how much we rely on our wing forwards and width. It also made me revert back to our 1-0 loss to Columbus a few months back and remember how Robery Warzycha changed the tactics of his side to counter act us. It obviously worked because from what I remember from that game, we had minimal opportunities and Columbus Crew ran out 1-0 winners and arguably should have had a 2nd had it not of been for another great save from Nielsen.
Sporting KC were making history and were now 14 games unbeaten in Major League Soccer. The longest stretch the club had ever gone on without loss. Next up was the Seattle Sounders. I always enjoy playing the Seattle Sounders for a couple of reasons.
1. They seem to be the team that everyone hates at the moment, which generates a great atmosphere at games.
2. They have a good team who play nice, flowing soccer.
3. I gives me the opportunity to once again indulge into conversation with another British play by play guy; Arlo White. I always enjoy having a chat with him and he was also 1 of the main reasons I was persuaded to come to MLS after seeing that using an English commentator in MLS works.
Arlo and I had a chat before and after the game and spoke of the continued progress of Major League Soccer. We also talked visa's, BBC and settling into life in the USA as a British broadcaster and the changes it has from working in the UK. I always used to listen to Arlo and Mark Clemmit's Football League show on BBC Radio 5Live when I was back home, so having Arlo come into the booth and utter the words 'ello mate, good to see you' always makes me laugh.
So we got under way eventually and everything seemed to go smoothly in the pre game show and Sporting took the lead through a Kei Kamara header. This was unbelievable, I remember thinking how far adrift we were just a few months ago and watching LIVESTRONG Sporting Park going crazy once again. Sporting eventually lost the game thanks to 2 very, very late goals from Rosales and Neagle, thus ending the unbeaten run. Omar Bravo's red card didn't help, the team were struggling with the intense heat and humidity and at 1 stage were down to 9 men with Luke Sassano getting on the receiving end of a bad tackle. That ultimately cost them. I don't think there can be any complaints about the Bravo red card. In today's day and age, especially after Seattle's Steve Zakuani had his leg broken from a similar tackle, you can't do that. I accept he got the ball, but his feet were together, a high, uncontrolled tackle got Bravo sent off and the Seattle Sounders would take full advantage.
After the broadcast I spoke with a few fans in the 'Members Club' about the red card and soccer in general. Afterwards a few drinks in Quintons in Waldo with some of the boys went down well.
With no game this weekend, things are quiet at the moment, but we expect it to pick up as we prepare to film 'Off the Pitch' at some stage later this week. Quite a lot of this has been in the back of my mind today as I continue to watch the rioting unfold in the UK. It started in London, but now seems to have spread across the whole country and in to my home town city Birmingham. Looking at pictures of places I have regularly shopped with Lauren, walked to the movies with friends absolutely trashed is sickening. I get the feeling it is only getting worse as well. Having spoken to my Mom, Nan and best friend Carl and have them share their experiences has been absolutely awful to hear. It seems like a war zone! The most annoying thing is, is that it seems most people don't even know what they are rioting about and are just there because its an opportunity to steal a TV.
On a lighter note, my parents are coming to KC on Thursday which i'm really looking forward to. I went from seeing my Mom and Dad every day to not seeing them for 5 months. I understand they want to see just about everything KC has to offer, so if you have any suggestions, by all means, let me know. I assure Mom that she'll love the Plaza for shopping whilst Dad is eager to get a game of golf in. Its come at the perfect time really, with me now having the weekend off (which is unheard of) and I can spend some time with them and i'm very excited to show them around.
So I sit here writing a few hours after getting back from Swope Park training facility. Don't forget despite not having a game this weekend, we still have a special edition of 'Off the Pitch' on Sunday evening, 9.30 KSMO - TV.
Cheers
Cal
Monday, July 25, 2011
Who put the weight of the world on my shoulders....
Afternoon all
The last few weeks seem to have presented me with compliment after compliment. Can I just say, thank you to everyone who has spoken kind words about me an our broadcasting team, it really does make a huge difference when we know our work is appreciated. Its now got to the stage where a handful of people, including MLSsoccer.com writer Andy Weibe have said to me 'you are the best announcer the team has ever had', someone even said a few weeks ago 'we have the best announcer in MLS', I find that very hard to believe and know its not the case, but either way, thank you for your kinds words. I can certainly feel myself getting better and better and I thoroughly believe i'm a much better and stronger broadcaster now, then i've ever been before. I'd also like to say thanks to the KC Cauldron. Literally every time I walk past you guys after finishing my pre game show duties you always cheer me on, 'go get em cal' and 'we love you callum' are just some of the phrases shouted out that come to mind. Once again, thanks guys, it really does make a difference. Sorry I can't stop for a chat, but i've literally got 7 minutes to get up to the booth. If you want a chat, i'm usually in the members club after the game, so come and say hi. As I said though, i'd urge you guys to remember its a team effort and there wouldn't be a show without any of the guys in the back room. Once again, thank you guys so much for the support, we WILL continue to bring you one of the best broadcasts in MLS and strive to make it as best as possible. We hope you enjoy.
So another crazy week passes by. After working on some voice overs and research on Monday, I was given the opportunity to watch Newcastle Utd train at Swope Park on Tuesday. It was quite strange to be around so many english people again, but even stranger to be around an EPL side once again. Having watched the EPL and being involved in it for so many years, i'd always viewed these sort of games from a pre season perspective, but to now be on the other side and view them from an MLS perspective and see them as an 'important' game was very interesting. The press conference was very good and Alan Pardew spoke of how Sir Alex Ferguson had recommended he come to Kansas City for pre season. He also said, he could certainly see himself coming out to Major League Soccer one day and was very excited to be playing Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Park. Having said that, it wasn't that best game of soccer i'd ever seen but it once again proved that MLS teams can hold their own against an EPL side. I understand Newcastle weren't fully fit and the heat was an issue but I left Livestrong Sporting Park feeling very proud to be apart of the organization that remains unbeaten against EPL teams.
Thursday saw me back on the airwaves on 610 Sports Radio (rather surprisingly) after i'd been told I had no show for 6 weeks. Andy Edwards joined me for the show, which I enjoyed. Not sure I had enough callers to warrant getting Peter Vermes on the show, but never the less I thought it was good. Maybe if you guys ring in, in good numbers over the next few shows, we could get Pete in on a later date.
So on to Toronto FC and Saturday, Sporting had a chance to make it 12 games unbeaten in MLS and my goodness did they deliver! A fantastic performance saw them run out 4-2 winners over Toronto FC. I have to say, it was certainly one of the easier games to call because there was so much happening. I was excited to see Frings and Koevermans, the 2 new DP's for Toronto, but I have to say, our DP's Bravo and Jeferson stole the show! I'm very much looking forward to watching Jeferson blend into this side, he already looks like a very handy acquisition. The ball he played through for Bravo for goal number 3 was so delicate. I honestly believe none of our other midfielders could have pulled of that kind of pass the way he did.
We host New England Revolution on Saturday at Livestrong Sporting Park, we'll be live on KSMO - TV once again from 7pm. See you there!
Cheers
Cal
The last few weeks seem to have presented me with compliment after compliment. Can I just say, thank you to everyone who has spoken kind words about me an our broadcasting team, it really does make a huge difference when we know our work is appreciated. Its now got to the stage where a handful of people, including MLSsoccer.com writer Andy Weibe have said to me 'you are the best announcer the team has ever had', someone even said a few weeks ago 'we have the best announcer in MLS', I find that very hard to believe and know its not the case, but either way, thank you for your kinds words. I can certainly feel myself getting better and better and I thoroughly believe i'm a much better and stronger broadcaster now, then i've ever been before. I'd also like to say thanks to the KC Cauldron. Literally every time I walk past you guys after finishing my pre game show duties you always cheer me on, 'go get em cal' and 'we love you callum' are just some of the phrases shouted out that come to mind. Once again, thanks guys, it really does make a difference. Sorry I can't stop for a chat, but i've literally got 7 minutes to get up to the booth. If you want a chat, i'm usually in the members club after the game, so come and say hi. As I said though, i'd urge you guys to remember its a team effort and there wouldn't be a show without any of the guys in the back room. Once again, thank you guys so much for the support, we WILL continue to bring you one of the best broadcasts in MLS and strive to make it as best as possible. We hope you enjoy.
So another crazy week passes by. After working on some voice overs and research on Monday, I was given the opportunity to watch Newcastle Utd train at Swope Park on Tuesday. It was quite strange to be around so many english people again, but even stranger to be around an EPL side once again. Having watched the EPL and being involved in it for so many years, i'd always viewed these sort of games from a pre season perspective, but to now be on the other side and view them from an MLS perspective and see them as an 'important' game was very interesting. The press conference was very good and Alan Pardew spoke of how Sir Alex Ferguson had recommended he come to Kansas City for pre season. He also said, he could certainly see himself coming out to Major League Soccer one day and was very excited to be playing Sporting KC at Livestrong Sporting Park. Having said that, it wasn't that best game of soccer i'd ever seen but it once again proved that MLS teams can hold their own against an EPL side. I understand Newcastle weren't fully fit and the heat was an issue but I left Livestrong Sporting Park feeling very proud to be apart of the organization that remains unbeaten against EPL teams.
Thursday saw me back on the airwaves on 610 Sports Radio (rather surprisingly) after i'd been told I had no show for 6 weeks. Andy Edwards joined me for the show, which I enjoyed. Not sure I had enough callers to warrant getting Peter Vermes on the show, but never the less I thought it was good. Maybe if you guys ring in, in good numbers over the next few shows, we could get Pete in on a later date.
So on to Toronto FC and Saturday, Sporting had a chance to make it 12 games unbeaten in MLS and my goodness did they deliver! A fantastic performance saw them run out 4-2 winners over Toronto FC. I have to say, it was certainly one of the easier games to call because there was so much happening. I was excited to see Frings and Koevermans, the 2 new DP's for Toronto, but I have to say, our DP's Bravo and Jeferson stole the show! I'm very much looking forward to watching Jeferson blend into this side, he already looks like a very handy acquisition. The ball he played through for Bravo for goal number 3 was so delicate. I honestly believe none of our other midfielders could have pulled of that kind of pass the way he did.
We host New England Revolution on Saturday at Livestrong Sporting Park, we'll be live on KSMO - TV once again from 7pm. See you there!
Cheers
Cal
Monday, July 18, 2011
Lord don't slow me down
Hello there
Sorry, i'd noticed a few days ago i'd not updated the blog for over a month! Apologies, the last month or so has been ridiculously busy.
So, lets rewind a little and go back to our first TV broadcast at Livestrong Sporting Park. After a production meeting with Chris Wyche and the two new guys i'd be working with for the home broadcasts (Rudy and Brad) we finally got under way. I sat alongside Sasha Victorine at our brand new outside studio with several camera's at the ready, it was clear we were going big for the first broadcast, which is exactly how I wanted to approach it. I really enjoyed hosting the show from the booth as well as our new outside area that day, with Sasha down on the field, but I also really enjoyed calling the game on my own; something I hadn't done for a long time. I think it went well and we all left the the stadium reasonably happy with what we'd produced.
A few days before this, i'd one again been given a new partner in the booth and little did I know, this one was here to stay. Jake Yadrich, our cameraman and the guy who is key to making everything work together in the show was given the opportunity, to which he impressed. He was therefore given another shot in Portland. We traveled to another destination i'd never have thought I would visit, I certainly didn't ever vision myself calling a soccer game there. I have to say, Portland was fantastic! One of my favorite city's without a shadow of a doubt. The amount of Portland Timbers merchandise, logo's and jersey's was fantastic and its probably the closest soccer city to a place with an EPL team; I see no reason why we can't do this in Kansas City. The atmosphere was once again, fantastic. It seems Seattle and Portland love their soccer. The recently renovated Jeld-Wen Field was brilliant, they really have done a great job making that place a soccer venue. Anyway, despite the fabulous atmosphere from the fans who I have no doubt bleed green blood, Sporting KC got a 2-1 win on the road; arguably their best yet.
After a few more interviews with local media plus a Skype interview from London, the week had arrived when 2 friends of mine were in town. Hannah, a very good friend of mine who i'd grown up through high school with and her boyfriend TJ are currently traveling through the USA from the western coast across to Florida via Kansas City and New York City before taking a cruise down to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It was great to see them both as it was the first physical contact i'd had with someone from back home in over 4 months. The first night Spencer and I took them down to the plaza for a few drinks and a catch up. We were soon to be joined by Dan as well. The guys in the stadium managed to sort out some credentials for both Han and TJ for the games against Colorado Rapids and Chivas USA. I must admit, as we were broadcasting the Colorado Rapids pre game show, I spotted Hannah and TJ out of the corner of my eye taking a picture as I lead into asking Sasha a question. It was quite surreal seeing them both there at Livestrong Sporting Park, but never the less it was an experience they both enjoyed. Several more evenings passed with Han and TJ. They saw the likes of Westport, Brookside, Power and Light and much more during their time in KC. As we broadcast the Chivas USA game on the Saturday, Han and TJ continued to follow me and enjoy the sights of LSP. We walked past the KC Cauldron to several shouts of 'go get em cal' and 'callum we love you', which I have to say made me smile. Just a quick shout out to those guys in the Cauldron, as long as you guys, my producer and the owners are happy with my work, then thats all that matters. I had a great week with Han and TJ and it was topped off by getting TJ on my 610 radio show to talk about the EPL for a little while. He was nervous, but said to me after he really enjoyed it and I have to say, for his first time on the radio, I thought he did very well. They're in New York now and due to fly to Florida within the next few days.
Last week was interesting, we obviously crashed out of the Open Cup to the Richmond Kickers, which for me had to be the most disappointing result of the season. I genuinely believe there was a huge opportunity to win that trophy this year, especially now with New York going out as well. Either way, we had a game in Houston to worry about next...
So, eventually we got going in Houston. I'd been told of the vast humidity and heat down south and once again with my naive british way of thinking thought, 'surely not'. Goodness me it was absolutely boiling! I don't think i've ever experienced a heat like it. It was very uncomfortable actually. We also laughed when we realized that our broadcasting 'booth' hadn't got air conditioning anywhere near as good as the Houston press had. With the heat from Houston and the lighting, the broadcast became quite uncomfortable at certain times. I also think playing against 9 men, you have to capitalize. With the signing of Jefferson confirmed, I have no doubt he'll add a certain spark to our midfield and provide much more creativity, however, I still think Sporting KC could do with a dirty, nasty, horrible goal scorer. Whether we have that already remains to be seen, but I think its something Sporting needs.
We host Newcastle Utd at Livestrong Sporting Park on Wednesday evening. No TV broadcast unfortunately. We were due to be live on Fox Soccer Channel with me doing the call, but for several reasons that was dropped a week or so ago. We can't do it on KSMO because they don't have the rights to show games that aren't MLS and a livestream is to expensive. So, we'll wait and see what happens, i'm currently working on another option, but I think its safe to say the best thing to do would be to actually go to the game. There are still tickets left, not many, so hurry up if you are going - 888 4KC GOAL the number to call.
We host Toronto FC next saturday, I shall try and update the blog a few days after. Let the madness continue......
Cheers
Cal
Sorry, i'd noticed a few days ago i'd not updated the blog for over a month! Apologies, the last month or so has been ridiculously busy.
So, lets rewind a little and go back to our first TV broadcast at Livestrong Sporting Park. After a production meeting with Chris Wyche and the two new guys i'd be working with for the home broadcasts (Rudy and Brad) we finally got under way. I sat alongside Sasha Victorine at our brand new outside studio with several camera's at the ready, it was clear we were going big for the first broadcast, which is exactly how I wanted to approach it. I really enjoyed hosting the show from the booth as well as our new outside area that day, with Sasha down on the field, but I also really enjoyed calling the game on my own; something I hadn't done for a long time. I think it went well and we all left the the stadium reasonably happy with what we'd produced.
A few days before this, i'd one again been given a new partner in the booth and little did I know, this one was here to stay. Jake Yadrich, our cameraman and the guy who is key to making everything work together in the show was given the opportunity, to which he impressed. He was therefore given another shot in Portland. We traveled to another destination i'd never have thought I would visit, I certainly didn't ever vision myself calling a soccer game there. I have to say, Portland was fantastic! One of my favorite city's without a shadow of a doubt. The amount of Portland Timbers merchandise, logo's and jersey's was fantastic and its probably the closest soccer city to a place with an EPL team; I see no reason why we can't do this in Kansas City. The atmosphere was once again, fantastic. It seems Seattle and Portland love their soccer. The recently renovated Jeld-Wen Field was brilliant, they really have done a great job making that place a soccer venue. Anyway, despite the fabulous atmosphere from the fans who I have no doubt bleed green blood, Sporting KC got a 2-1 win on the road; arguably their best yet.
After a few more interviews with local media plus a Skype interview from London, the week had arrived when 2 friends of mine were in town. Hannah, a very good friend of mine who i'd grown up through high school with and her boyfriend TJ are currently traveling through the USA from the western coast across to Florida via Kansas City and New York City before taking a cruise down to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It was great to see them both as it was the first physical contact i'd had with someone from back home in over 4 months. The first night Spencer and I took them down to the plaza for a few drinks and a catch up. We were soon to be joined by Dan as well. The guys in the stadium managed to sort out some credentials for both Han and TJ for the games against Colorado Rapids and Chivas USA. I must admit, as we were broadcasting the Colorado Rapids pre game show, I spotted Hannah and TJ out of the corner of my eye taking a picture as I lead into asking Sasha a question. It was quite surreal seeing them both there at Livestrong Sporting Park, but never the less it was an experience they both enjoyed. Several more evenings passed with Han and TJ. They saw the likes of Westport, Brookside, Power and Light and much more during their time in KC. As we broadcast the Chivas USA game on the Saturday, Han and TJ continued to follow me and enjoy the sights of LSP. We walked past the KC Cauldron to several shouts of 'go get em cal' and 'callum we love you', which I have to say made me smile. Just a quick shout out to those guys in the Cauldron, as long as you guys, my producer and the owners are happy with my work, then thats all that matters. I had a great week with Han and TJ and it was topped off by getting TJ on my 610 radio show to talk about the EPL for a little while. He was nervous, but said to me after he really enjoyed it and I have to say, for his first time on the radio, I thought he did very well. They're in New York now and due to fly to Florida within the next few days.
Last week was interesting, we obviously crashed out of the Open Cup to the Richmond Kickers, which for me had to be the most disappointing result of the season. I genuinely believe there was a huge opportunity to win that trophy this year, especially now with New York going out as well. Either way, we had a game in Houston to worry about next...
So, eventually we got going in Houston. I'd been told of the vast humidity and heat down south and once again with my naive british way of thinking thought, 'surely not'. Goodness me it was absolutely boiling! I don't think i've ever experienced a heat like it. It was very uncomfortable actually. We also laughed when we realized that our broadcasting 'booth' hadn't got air conditioning anywhere near as good as the Houston press had. With the heat from Houston and the lighting, the broadcast became quite uncomfortable at certain times. I also think playing against 9 men, you have to capitalize. With the signing of Jefferson confirmed, I have no doubt he'll add a certain spark to our midfield and provide much more creativity, however, I still think Sporting KC could do with a dirty, nasty, horrible goal scorer. Whether we have that already remains to be seen, but I think its something Sporting needs.
We host Newcastle Utd at Livestrong Sporting Park on Wednesday evening. No TV broadcast unfortunately. We were due to be live on Fox Soccer Channel with me doing the call, but for several reasons that was dropped a week or so ago. We can't do it on KSMO because they don't have the rights to show games that aren't MLS and a livestream is to expensive. So, we'll wait and see what happens, i'm currently working on another option, but I think its safe to say the best thing to do would be to actually go to the game. There are still tickets left, not many, so hurry up if you are going - 888 4KC GOAL the number to call.
We host Toronto FC next saturday, I shall try and update the blog a few days after. Let the madness continue......
Cheers
Cal
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Master Plan
Afternoon everyone
Well, well, well, what a crazy few days this has been and it'll only continue in recent light of the new stadium opening.
So lets jump straight into it shall we. Thursday June 9th 2011 will be a date that'll live long in the memory of soccer fans in Kansas City. The opening of Sporing KC's brand new state of the art stadium 'Livestrong Sporting Park' was finally upon us. For me, it was months of waiting, for many fans, it was an absolute lifetime. The opening ceremony was spectacular, with fire works, promotional video's, build up songs, the national anthem and much more. Anything you could have wished for in the opening of a new stadium was there and i'd just like to take this opportunity in saying well done to everyone single person involved in game day operations, you were spectacular. I spent most of the week at the stadium with these guys until 2/3am, never had I been more prepared for a broadcast!
It was an absolute honour to be there and to be apart of such a historic event. ESPN were there covering the game, so no TV appearance for me that evening, instead, I did the game on 810 Sports Radio (which I thoroughly enjoyed). The game was full of thrills and spills and in my opinion, Sporting were denied the perfect opening night in the new stadium when Omar Bravo was mauled to the ground by Ristic of Chicago Fire inside the penalty area. Ristic went through the back of Bravo, taking down the mexican, only for the ref to wave play on. I really do hope Major League Soccer take a look at this. I accept the fact that we are all human being and we are going to make mistakes, but I still have absolutely no idea how or why the ref did not call a penalty kick. I remember going absolutely barmy on the radio alongside Jake Gutierez, we were both absolutely astonished as to how there was nothing given. I also came very close to dropping the 'f word' as well, I was absolutely disgusted.
Either way, it was a momentous and historic day for soccer in Kansas City, a day which I was very proud to be apart of and a day that'll live long in the memory. The one memory I have of the whole evening was watching the teams come out and watching Davy Arnaud fight back the tears as Ida Mcbeth sang the national anthem. I remember having a huge lump in my throat and thinking 'wow, i've only been here 11 weeks' but already I feel so attached to this club. I felt so happy for Davy because I knew this was the moment he'd waited his whole career for and just looking around at the fans singing the national anthem with such passion and pride. I get it guys, I really do get it and i'm absolutely honored and privileged to have been apart of it. Thank you.
So after the game (which tied 0 - 0 for those in the UK) I made my way down to the press conference and then gave an interview myself to KCTV 5. After that I met up with a few people from the front office and had a couple of beers whilst signing autographs and sharing thoughts of the evening with several Sporting KC fans.
Friday, after 5 hours sleep, Dan and I headed into the office once again to concentrate on putting together the TV show for the upcoming road game in Dallas. However as the clock came to 4pm, we were all so tired, we left early and I finally spent a friday night in KC doing absolutely nothing; but it was so nice!
The next day we flew to Dallas (still quite tired) but settled into the hotel quite nicely before finishing the script and research, then going out for a quick beer. I woke up on the Sunday morning with a strange feeling. This was the first broadcast we'd done on the Sunday, it felt very odd, but either way, we got on with it. So came the game, I must admit I did enjoy doing the game with David Dir, the guy seemed knowledgeable about MLS and comfortable on screen (which is always helpful).
What a performace! Sporting played with so much confidence in the 2nd half, we desperately needed that result! Great performance from Zusi and a wonderful goal. Speaking of wonderful goal, how about that from Eric Hassli against Seattle! Josh Whisenhunt, Dan and I all screamed when we saw it live in a bar in Dallas. Unbelievable strike, i'll say it now, that is the MLS goal of the season.
So my alarm went off at 3.30am this morning in Dallas, we eventually got to the airport and on our flight after some minor difficulties and caught our 6am flight to Kansas City. So here I am, 4.20pm in the afternoon, eating and drinking as many sugar products as possible in the office having spent all day working on voice overs for TV and prepping the radio show. On that note, i'm on 610 Sports Radio tonight from 7-8pm with Kansas City Star writer Charles Gooch. We'll be talking about the opening of LSP and the result at FC Dallas, speaking with Graham Zusi about THE goal and taking your phone calls as well. The number to get on air ........ 913-576-7610.
See you there!
Cheers
Cal
@calwilliams2011
Well, well, well, what a crazy few days this has been and it'll only continue in recent light of the new stadium opening.
So lets jump straight into it shall we. Thursday June 9th 2011 will be a date that'll live long in the memory of soccer fans in Kansas City. The opening of Sporing KC's brand new state of the art stadium 'Livestrong Sporting Park' was finally upon us. For me, it was months of waiting, for many fans, it was an absolute lifetime. The opening ceremony was spectacular, with fire works, promotional video's, build up songs, the national anthem and much more. Anything you could have wished for in the opening of a new stadium was there and i'd just like to take this opportunity in saying well done to everyone single person involved in game day operations, you were spectacular. I spent most of the week at the stadium with these guys until 2/3am, never had I been more prepared for a broadcast!
It was an absolute honour to be there and to be apart of such a historic event. ESPN were there covering the game, so no TV appearance for me that evening, instead, I did the game on 810 Sports Radio (which I thoroughly enjoyed). The game was full of thrills and spills and in my opinion, Sporting were denied the perfect opening night in the new stadium when Omar Bravo was mauled to the ground by Ristic of Chicago Fire inside the penalty area. Ristic went through the back of Bravo, taking down the mexican, only for the ref to wave play on. I really do hope Major League Soccer take a look at this. I accept the fact that we are all human being and we are going to make mistakes, but I still have absolutely no idea how or why the ref did not call a penalty kick. I remember going absolutely barmy on the radio alongside Jake Gutierez, we were both absolutely astonished as to how there was nothing given. I also came very close to dropping the 'f word' as well, I was absolutely disgusted.
Either way, it was a momentous and historic day for soccer in Kansas City, a day which I was very proud to be apart of and a day that'll live long in the memory. The one memory I have of the whole evening was watching the teams come out and watching Davy Arnaud fight back the tears as Ida Mcbeth sang the national anthem. I remember having a huge lump in my throat and thinking 'wow, i've only been here 11 weeks' but already I feel so attached to this club. I felt so happy for Davy because I knew this was the moment he'd waited his whole career for and just looking around at the fans singing the national anthem with such passion and pride. I get it guys, I really do get it and i'm absolutely honored and privileged to have been apart of it. Thank you.
So after the game (which tied 0 - 0 for those in the UK) I made my way down to the press conference and then gave an interview myself to KCTV 5. After that I met up with a few people from the front office and had a couple of beers whilst signing autographs and sharing thoughts of the evening with several Sporting KC fans.
Friday, after 5 hours sleep, Dan and I headed into the office once again to concentrate on putting together the TV show for the upcoming road game in Dallas. However as the clock came to 4pm, we were all so tired, we left early and I finally spent a friday night in KC doing absolutely nothing; but it was so nice!
The next day we flew to Dallas (still quite tired) but settled into the hotel quite nicely before finishing the script and research, then going out for a quick beer. I woke up on the Sunday morning with a strange feeling. This was the first broadcast we'd done on the Sunday, it felt very odd, but either way, we got on with it. So came the game, I must admit I did enjoy doing the game with David Dir, the guy seemed knowledgeable about MLS and comfortable on screen (which is always helpful).
What a performace! Sporting played with so much confidence in the 2nd half, we desperately needed that result! Great performance from Zusi and a wonderful goal. Speaking of wonderful goal, how about that from Eric Hassli against Seattle! Josh Whisenhunt, Dan and I all screamed when we saw it live in a bar in Dallas. Unbelievable strike, i'll say it now, that is the MLS goal of the season.
So my alarm went off at 3.30am this morning in Dallas, we eventually got to the airport and on our flight after some minor difficulties and caught our 6am flight to Kansas City. So here I am, 4.20pm in the afternoon, eating and drinking as many sugar products as possible in the office having spent all day working on voice overs for TV and prepping the radio show. On that note, i'm on 610 Sports Radio tonight from 7-8pm with Kansas City Star writer Charles Gooch. We'll be talking about the opening of LSP and the result at FC Dallas, speaking with Graham Zusi about THE goal and taking your phone calls as well. The number to get on air ........ 913-576-7610.
See you there!
Cheers
Cal
@calwilliams2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday Morning Call
Afternoon all
I sit here writing this to you from my new TV booth overlooking the glorious view of Livestrong Sporting Park. Just 2 days away! I can't quite believe its come around as quickly as it has. Only a few more tickets remain for the home opener, so if you haven't got yours yet, make sure you do asap!
So, the last time we spoke, we'd not long come back from Colorado. Well, the week after was an interesting one as we ventured into June. Once again the week was filled up with voice overs, TV interviews, research and more. We rather surprisingly had Monday off, so I made the most of the lie in (ish) and got up at 9.30 to watch the Championship play off final and see Swansea City secure promotion to the EPL.
Then after a bit of a chill out, Dan, Spence and I rather randomly ended up at the KC Royals baseball game. If i'm totally honest, I didn't really have a clue as to what was going on, but I understand they lost to the LA Angles. Our housemate Brian (B-Rob) joined us before the game, as I tailgated for the first time. For those in the UK, tailgating means parking up the car in the car park, opening the boot, sitting there and drinking beer (very good). So anyway, we proceeded to watch the game and perhaps drank a bit to much during the day as we met up with Adam (our other housemate), Blake (who works in the front office) and his wife in Westport. Never the less the week was busy as per usual as we prepped for our trip to Toronto, another city i'd never thought i've ever visit, I certainly didn't think i'd be calling a soccer game there!
The main highlight of the mid week prep for me was the phone in show on Wednesday evening. It was brilliant to have so many callers, for me, that is exactly how phone in's should be; it gives fans an opportunity to have their say. So thank you for making it such a great show guys, I really enjoyed it. The next show will be on Monday, June 13th, 7-8pm, Charles Gooch from the KC Star will be my co-host.
So we took off from KCI on Friday afternoon, sharing a small 80 man plane with the players and coaches. The flight was just under 2 hours and I have to say, it went very quickly for me as I spent the whole journey watching 'Long Way Down', my favorite documentary of all time. If you haven't had a chance to see it, i'd highly recommend it.
Toronto was a very cool place, very metropolitan (much like Kansas City) and very lively. The broadcasting team and I went out for a few beers that friday night before I met up with them at BMO field the next day. We'd taken one of our interns along for the trip, Spencer, who i've mentioned in these blogs before. His second road game of the season, he's very handy with a camera and lighting and he seemed to have a great time. So we got to the game, lets be honest, it was awful wasn't it. Not a great advertisement for MLS but a shut out was vital for confidence. I enjoyed working with Kristian Jack, a fellow englishman, who's enjoying life in Toronto, I look forward to seeing him when they come to Livestrong Sporting Park. Now some of you may have noticed the rather odd looking man behind my head in the final segment; let me explain. Basically, we had technical problems thanks to that guy you all saw behind my head. As Kristian and I came back on camera, we both couldn't here Chris (executive producer) at all, so after I asked Kristian the 4th question, I knew something was wrong because I'd not heard anything from Chris. So I basically guessed saying something along the lines of 'I wonder if we can look at the Sprint save of the game'. So up came the clip, i'm then off camera making it clear I can't hear anything. So this guy decides the fiddle with a few wires, then comes behind me and starts to mess with my earpiece. I remember saying to him 'you do know we are back on screen in 5 seconds' to which he didn't reply. Then, all of a sudden, BANG, we're on screen and I have some long haired guy bahind my head. After he left the shot, he then realized he hadn't plugged us in properly, so in actual fact, didn't need to come into view! Thanks mate!
Anyway, after another few beers in the evening to celebrate the end of the road trip, the Sunday morning call from hell came! After eventually getting to the airport after the highway had been shut down in Toronto, we were told to go to terminal 1, so, naturally thats where we parked. Only to find out that customs was at the other end of the airport! So Spence, Chris, Eric and I were lugging all this heavy TV equipment back and forth to get the carney signed. Then we had to carry it to another terminal because we were told we were in the wrong terminal. Eventually we got to check the bags and after filling in details and convincing them that I had a work visa, we eventually carried the bags through security and then got ourselves and our carry on's through security. We just about made the gate in time only to find out the flight was delayed! One of those days eh.
And so the madness begins. I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon because I had a bit of spare time, but surrounding this has been absolute chaos with the new stadium opening! With that in mind, we have to film, cut, edit and produce the whole of our TV show on friday because we fly to Dallas on Saturday for the broadcast on Sunday, plus we have 'Off the Pitch' to record as well! Its been Ok for me, I just feel sorry for the guys who are actually opening the stadium, this week will be hell.
Anyway, if you do find yourself for some strange reason, not attending the game, i'll be live from 8.55pm on 810 Sports Radio with Jake Gutierez to bring you the whole game live.
See you all Thursday evening :-)
Cal
I sit here writing this to you from my new TV booth overlooking the glorious view of Livestrong Sporting Park. Just 2 days away! I can't quite believe its come around as quickly as it has. Only a few more tickets remain for the home opener, so if you haven't got yours yet, make sure you do asap!
So, the last time we spoke, we'd not long come back from Colorado. Well, the week after was an interesting one as we ventured into June. Once again the week was filled up with voice overs, TV interviews, research and more. We rather surprisingly had Monday off, so I made the most of the lie in (ish) and got up at 9.30 to watch the Championship play off final and see Swansea City secure promotion to the EPL.
Then after a bit of a chill out, Dan, Spence and I rather randomly ended up at the KC Royals baseball game. If i'm totally honest, I didn't really have a clue as to what was going on, but I understand they lost to the LA Angles. Our housemate Brian (B-Rob) joined us before the game, as I tailgated for the first time. For those in the UK, tailgating means parking up the car in the car park, opening the boot, sitting there and drinking beer (very good). So anyway, we proceeded to watch the game and perhaps drank a bit to much during the day as we met up with Adam (our other housemate), Blake (who works in the front office) and his wife in Westport. Never the less the week was busy as per usual as we prepped for our trip to Toronto, another city i'd never thought i've ever visit, I certainly didn't think i'd be calling a soccer game there!
The main highlight of the mid week prep for me was the phone in show on Wednesday evening. It was brilliant to have so many callers, for me, that is exactly how phone in's should be; it gives fans an opportunity to have their say. So thank you for making it such a great show guys, I really enjoyed it. The next show will be on Monday, June 13th, 7-8pm, Charles Gooch from the KC Star will be my co-host.
So we took off from KCI on Friday afternoon, sharing a small 80 man plane with the players and coaches. The flight was just under 2 hours and I have to say, it went very quickly for me as I spent the whole journey watching 'Long Way Down', my favorite documentary of all time. If you haven't had a chance to see it, i'd highly recommend it.
Toronto was a very cool place, very metropolitan (much like Kansas City) and very lively. The broadcasting team and I went out for a few beers that friday night before I met up with them at BMO field the next day. We'd taken one of our interns along for the trip, Spencer, who i've mentioned in these blogs before. His second road game of the season, he's very handy with a camera and lighting and he seemed to have a great time. So we got to the game, lets be honest, it was awful wasn't it. Not a great advertisement for MLS but a shut out was vital for confidence. I enjoyed working with Kristian Jack, a fellow englishman, who's enjoying life in Toronto, I look forward to seeing him when they come to Livestrong Sporting Park. Now some of you may have noticed the rather odd looking man behind my head in the final segment; let me explain. Basically, we had technical problems thanks to that guy you all saw behind my head. As Kristian and I came back on camera, we both couldn't here Chris (executive producer) at all, so after I asked Kristian the 4th question, I knew something was wrong because I'd not heard anything from Chris. So I basically guessed saying something along the lines of 'I wonder if we can look at the Sprint save of the game'. So up came the clip, i'm then off camera making it clear I can't hear anything. So this guy decides the fiddle with a few wires, then comes behind me and starts to mess with my earpiece. I remember saying to him 'you do know we are back on screen in 5 seconds' to which he didn't reply. Then, all of a sudden, BANG, we're on screen and I have some long haired guy bahind my head. After he left the shot, he then realized he hadn't plugged us in properly, so in actual fact, didn't need to come into view! Thanks mate!
Anyway, after another few beers in the evening to celebrate the end of the road trip, the Sunday morning call from hell came! After eventually getting to the airport after the highway had been shut down in Toronto, we were told to go to terminal 1, so, naturally thats where we parked. Only to find out that customs was at the other end of the airport! So Spence, Chris, Eric and I were lugging all this heavy TV equipment back and forth to get the carney signed. Then we had to carry it to another terminal because we were told we were in the wrong terminal. Eventually we got to check the bags and after filling in details and convincing them that I had a work visa, we eventually carried the bags through security and then got ourselves and our carry on's through security. We just about made the gate in time only to find out the flight was delayed! One of those days eh.
And so the madness begins. I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon because I had a bit of spare time, but surrounding this has been absolute chaos with the new stadium opening! With that in mind, we have to film, cut, edit and produce the whole of our TV show on friday because we fly to Dallas on Saturday for the broadcast on Sunday, plus we have 'Off the Pitch' to record as well! Its been Ok for me, I just feel sorry for the guys who are actually opening the stadium, this week will be hell.
Anyway, if you do find yourself for some strange reason, not attending the game, i'll be live from 8.55pm on 810 Sports Radio with Jake Gutierez to bring you the whole game live.
See you all Thursday evening :-)
Cal
Sunday, May 29, 2011
LITTLE BY LITTLE
HELLO ALL
SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING THE BLOG FOR A WHILE, ITS JUST BEEN SO BUSY! I’VE HAD TO HOST 2 TV SHOWS A WEBSTREAM AND A RADIO SHOW IN 1 WEEK AS WELL AS HELP THE TEAM PREPARE FOR THE TRIPS TO SEATTLE AND COLORADO
ITS BEEN AN INTERESTING FEW WEEKS FOR SPORTING KC, WHO’VE IMPROVED FANTASTICALLY AND LOOK A LOT MORE CONFIDENT.
LET ME TAKE YOU BACK TO LAST WEEK, WE HAD THE USUAL RESEARCH OF THE OPPONENTS, PRESS CONFERENCES, TV PACKAGES AND INTERVIEWS TO PREPARE, WHICH WAS FINE, AS WELL AS OUR INDOOR PLAY OFF GAME WHICH WE WON TO FINISH 3RD IN OUR LEAGUE! SO AFTER A BUSY WEEK WE SPREAD OUR WINGS ONCE AGAIN AND FLEW TO SEATTLE. ONCE AGAIN, A CITY THAT I KNEW VERY LITTLE ABOUT. INFACT THE ONLY THING I KNEW ABOUT IT, WAS THE TV SHOW ‘FRAISER’ WAS BASED THERE. I SPENT MANY DAYS WATCHING THAT SHOW IN THE UK WITH MY MOTHER WATCHING NILES AND FRAISER DRINKING CHERRY. ANYWAY, I WAS PARTICULARLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEATTLE, FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS REALLY. NUMBER ONE, IT WAS ANOTHER CITY I’D NEVER BEEN TO, TWO, I’D HEARD MUCH OF ABOUT THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE CROWD AT QWEST FIELD AND PROBABLY MORE BECAUSE I WOULD FINALLY GET TO MEET THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS ANNOUNCER, FORMER BBC MAN ARLO WHITE. I WAS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN MEETING ARLO, BECAUSE HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE I SPOKE TO WHEN IT FIRST BECAME APARANT THAT I COULD BE MOVING TO MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER. HE SPOKE VERY HIGHLY OF THE LEAGUE AND RECOMMENDED THAT I GET OVER TO THE STATES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SO EVENTUALLY I DID MEET HIM, WE SPOKE ABOUT THE POTENTIAL THE GAME HAD IN THE USA, THE RAPID FROWTH OF MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER, WORKING FOR THE BBC AND OF COURSE, BEING A BRIT AND MOVING ACROSS THE POND. HE WAS A TOP LAD, ASKING ME HOW THE GIRLFRIEND WAS, MY CAREER PATH, ETC AND I’M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING A BEER WITH HIM IN KANSAS CITY.
THE GAME ITSELF WAS DESPREATELY DISSAPOINTING IN TERMS OF THE RESULT. SPORTING MATCH THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS THROUGHOUT THE GAME AND DESERVED A POINT AND TO BE DENIED AT THE LAST MINUTE WAS BOTH PAINFUL AND DEPRESSING. WORKING WITH CLIFF MCGRATH WAS ENJOYABLE AND INTERESTING, WHAT A LOVELY MAN, I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING HIM AT LIVESTRONG SPORTING PARK IN THE REVERSE FIXTURE. AFTER THE GAME, CRAIG (ONE OF THE ASSISTANT PRODUCERS ON THE SHOW) LEAD THE BROADCASTING TEAM AND I TO A LITTLE IRISH BAR ON THE DOCKS IN SEATTLE, WHERE WE ENJOYED THE DELIGHTS IT HAD TO OFFER.
THE NEXT WEEK LEADING UP TO THE COLORADO GAME WAS HYPED UP TO BE OUR BUSIEST YET, IT CERTAINLY LIVED UP TO EXPECTATIONS! MONDAY SAW ME HOST MY FIRST RADIO SHOW ON ‘610 SPORTS RADIO’ WHICH FROM MY POINT OF VIEW DIDN’T GO EXACTLY HOW I WANTED DUE TO THE LACK OF PHONE CALLS WE HAD. THANKS GOODNESS FOR THE PRE ARRANGED INTERVIEWS! TUESDAY WE HAD ANOTHER ALL STAFF MEETING AT 8AM AND SOON AFTER THAT’D FINISHED, JAKE AND I LEFT FOR TRAINING TO GET SOME FOOTAGE FOR THE TV SHOW. WEDNESDAY WAS POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING DAYS I’D HAD SINCE MY ARRIVAL OVER 2 MONTHS AGO (CAN’T BELIEVE ITS BEEN THAT LONG). I HAD MY FIRST TORNADO EXPERIENCE IN THE MID WEST. I REMEMBER ROB HENIEHMAN TELLING EVERYONE TO GET TO THE BASEMENT AS THE SIRENS WERE GOING OFF. AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME I HAD MY EARPHONES IN AND WAS EDITING SOME AUDIO SO I ACTUALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON. I STAYED UPSTAIRS WITH A COUPLE OF THE SALES GUYS. I SOON REALIZED WHAT WAS HAPPENING WHEN I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND SAW WHAT KCTV 5 WHERE REPORTING, BUT TO BE HONEST, I HAD SO MUCH WORK TO DO IN PREPERATION FOR OUR WEBCAST IN THE EVENING, I JUST STAYED UP STAIRS. SO ANYWAY, WE EVENTUALLY GOT TO THE LIVESTREAM OF OUR US OPEN CUP GAME (SIMILAR TO THE FA CUP IF YOU ARE READING FROM THE UK). I HAVE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SAY WELL DONE TO THE GUYS IN THE BACKROOM. THEY DID EXTREMELY WELL, BATTLING WITH ALL SORTS OF WEATHER AND WE WERE FORTUNATE TO HAVE A BROADCAST AT ALL. I ENJOYED WORKING WITH THE NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION PLAY BY PLAY ANNOUNCER, BRAD AND I SEEMED TO CLASH A FEW TIMES IN TERMS OF LEADING THE BROADCAST, BUT I EXPECTED THAT, HE’S USED TO LEADING BECAUSE HE’S AN ANNOUNCER. ANYWAY, IT WAS WONDERFUL TO FINALLY COMMENTATE ON A SPORTING KC WIN, A 5-0 THRASHING OF THE NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION AT BLUE VALLEY SPORTS COMPLEX. IT WAS ALSO VERY GOOD TO HERE A HOME CROWD CHEER!
THURSDAY SAW ME GIVE AN INTERVIEW FOR ONE OF THE LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS HERE IN KANSAS CITY ‘THE PITCH’ AND I HAVE SEVERAL MORE PEOPLE ASKING FOR MY THOUGHTS ON MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER AND SPORTING KC, WHICH I BELIEVE THEY WILL HERE NEXT WEEK AT SOME STAGE.
FRIDAY, WE FLEW TO COLORADO FOR THE SHORTEST FLIGHT OF THE SEASON, JUST 1 HOUR AND 20 IT TOOK. I HAVE TO SAY DENVER WAS REALLY NICE. THE ROCKY’S LOOKED SUPERB AND DOWNTOWN WAS VERY LIVELY AND SEEMED LIKE A FRIENDLY PLACE.
AS FOR THE GAME ITSELF, I THINK WE MAY HAVE USED THE WORD ‘PROGRESSION’ MORE THEN ANY OTHER TOWARDS THE END OF THE GAME. GREAT GOAL FROM SMITHY WHO’S NOT LET ANY OF US FORGET ABOUT IT AND I NOW REALLY BELIEVE WE CAN END THE ROAD TRIP WITH AN AWAY WIN AT TORONTO. ALL OF A SUDDEN, THE ROAD TRIP DOESN’T BECOME A DISASTER DOES IT? WE HAVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF AWAY POINTS AS NEW YORK WHO LIE 2ND IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE, THE DIFFERENCE IS, THEY’VE PLAYED HOME GAMES, SO LITTLE BY LITTLE, SPORTING SEEM TO BE GATHERING MOMENTUM AND SEEM TO HAVE FOUND THAT CONFIDENCE THEY’VE DESPERATELY LACKED IN RECENT WEEKS.
DAY OFF FOR ME ON MONDAY, I THINK VIEWING AN APARTMENT OR 2 SHALL BE THE DEED OF THE DAY.
CHEERS
CAL
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Don't look back in anger
Good afternoon
Hope everyone is Ok....
Well, well, well, what a few weeks its been since I last wrote here. Its been as busy as ever as per usual. I obviously got my hair cut (finally) and it seems as thought I may have finally found myself an apartment! During the week after the New York game, we prepped for our recording of 'Off the Pitch' with the stallion that is Josh Whisenhunt. I must say, I do enjoy working with Josh on the odd occasions we do, its obvious that soccer is his passion and i'm sure we could talk for hours if the directors/producers let us!
So, our 2nd weekend off was really good. After my very first 'first friday' and sharing a few beers with a couple of fans and finally meeting the guy who sorted out my visa, Leon, I called it an early night due to not feeling very well. Saturday was a beautiful day in Kansas City and Spence and I went down to 'the plaza' (my first real time down there) to take a look around. Instantly I fell in love with the place and after a bit of shopping we felt it only right that we should man up. So, we picked up Dan (who was struggling from the night before) and proceeded to drink 'a bit' of beer. Firstly going down to Cameron's house (one of our colleagues at Sporting KC and the place I was staying for a few days) and met up with a few people from the front office and quite a few random people that we didn't know. Then we took to the plaza and once again had 'a bit' of beer and enjoyed the evening. Sunday I helped Cameron move out of his house, it hurt.
Monday, I had a meeting with a few people about expanding Sporting's coverage within the sports media world, can't say anything at the moment, but will let you know very soon. Tuesday was another scorcher, a beautiful day and a perfect day to head down to Swope Park training facility and watch the players train as well as grab a few interviews with Jake ahead of the game in LA. The rest of the week was spent researching LA Galaxy and providing voice overs for the broadcast as well as attending the press conference before flying on the friday.
So, we got to LA and were in the same hotel we'd stopped at for our previous visit when we played Chivas USA. Really nice hotel, just a shame there isn't a lot around other then a few restaurants. So came the day of the broadcast. During the day I spoke with Lauren and my Mom and Dad via Skype. It was really good to speak to them all again. Lauren comes out in a little over 2 weeks to live here with me and I can't wait to get her over here. Mom and Dad are coming over in August and should get to see the Wednesday night game against Portland Timbers, which I know they are both looking forward to. I'm one of these guys who loves what I do, but the 1 thing I want to do more then anything is make my Mom and Dad proud, so i'm extremely excited about them coming over and watching me host the TV show. Also, my Dad is a big EPL fan and despite me taking him to a few games outside the EPL during my time with the BBC, he still remains firmly stubborn about the EPL and i'm looking forward to showing him the MLS. I must admit, everyone at home seems to be paying attention to the MLS since I got here, so hopefully Mom and Dad will enjoy their break here and embrace soccer in the USA.
Anyway, i've gone thoroughly off subject there. To the broadcast we go. I have to say I think it was probably the best broadcast we've done so far. I really enjoyed working with Warren Barton. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's english, I just felt a lot more comfortable knowing that he knows the game inside out and knowing that he's comfortable in front of the camera due to his work with FOX Soccer. He was a top lad to be fair. He told me many stories of his time in the EPL and several stories of ex players whilst we were off camera. The one thing which made me smile as well was the fact that he actually took an interest in me and how I ended up in the USA and more importantly, he took a real interest in the broadcast and I know he enjoyed his experience.
Now, as I mentioned on twitter yesterday, i'm now going to break the rules of my blog. When I first started this blog I made it clear to myself and you lot that I wouldn't talk about my feeling and thoughts on the team and this would be a blog about my personal feelings and adapting to life in the USA. However, I think there are a few things I need to say. I just need to stress, these are not the views of Sporting Kansas City or anyone else associated with the club.
Here it goes -
I think its obvious that its not been the start to the season that everyone wanted, in fact, it couldn't have started any worse really could it. However, I think people need to remember this is a long road trip and having so many games on the road on a consistent basis is going to take its tole. Its obvious there have been a few problems at the back, maybe its fair enough to say individual errors have cost us more then anything. I think the one thing that i've noticed and I may have pointed out on the broadcast before; there is a massive gap in midfield between the holding role and the back line which is being exposed SO much this year already. A prime example, though it didn't lead to a goal on Saturday was Beckham playing a ball over to Donavan from the center of midfield. Beckham had so much time on the ball it was ridiculous and I really do think another player is needed in that department. As for people calling for Pete Vermes to be sacked, I understand that people are annoyed that we've only won once this season, but we've been on the road for a very very long time. I think Pete knows he's got some tactical decisions wrong this season and he'd be the first to admit it, but as a coach there is only so much you can do until you have to look at the players. Even if you were to sack Pete, who could you possibly bring in at this stage of the season that knows the players and club as well as he does, especially now the transfer market is closed. The only reason I would get rid of the current coaching staff is if you know for a fact you have someone lined up to replace them who is a much better coach. I don't think that coach is out there right now. You can tell in training that these players are desperate for a win and I think we are only 1 win away from regaining confidence and climbing up the table.
Patience is needed i'm afraid guys
Let me know your thoughts either on here or via twitter. See you in Seattle!
Cheers
Cal
Hope everyone is Ok....
Well, well, well, what a few weeks its been since I last wrote here. Its been as busy as ever as per usual. I obviously got my hair cut (finally) and it seems as thought I may have finally found myself an apartment! During the week after the New York game, we prepped for our recording of 'Off the Pitch' with the stallion that is Josh Whisenhunt. I must say, I do enjoy working with Josh on the odd occasions we do, its obvious that soccer is his passion and i'm sure we could talk for hours if the directors/producers let us!
So, our 2nd weekend off was really good. After my very first 'first friday' and sharing a few beers with a couple of fans and finally meeting the guy who sorted out my visa, Leon, I called it an early night due to not feeling very well. Saturday was a beautiful day in Kansas City and Spence and I went down to 'the plaza' (my first real time down there) to take a look around. Instantly I fell in love with the place and after a bit of shopping we felt it only right that we should man up. So, we picked up Dan (who was struggling from the night before) and proceeded to drink 'a bit' of beer. Firstly going down to Cameron's house (one of our colleagues at Sporting KC and the place I was staying for a few days) and met up with a few people from the front office and quite a few random people that we didn't know. Then we took to the plaza and once again had 'a bit' of beer and enjoyed the evening. Sunday I helped Cameron move out of his house, it hurt.
Monday, I had a meeting with a few people about expanding Sporting's coverage within the sports media world, can't say anything at the moment, but will let you know very soon. Tuesday was another scorcher, a beautiful day and a perfect day to head down to Swope Park training facility and watch the players train as well as grab a few interviews with Jake ahead of the game in LA. The rest of the week was spent researching LA Galaxy and providing voice overs for the broadcast as well as attending the press conference before flying on the friday.
So, we got to LA and were in the same hotel we'd stopped at for our previous visit when we played Chivas USA. Really nice hotel, just a shame there isn't a lot around other then a few restaurants. So came the day of the broadcast. During the day I spoke with Lauren and my Mom and Dad via Skype. It was really good to speak to them all again. Lauren comes out in a little over 2 weeks to live here with me and I can't wait to get her over here. Mom and Dad are coming over in August and should get to see the Wednesday night game against Portland Timbers, which I know they are both looking forward to. I'm one of these guys who loves what I do, but the 1 thing I want to do more then anything is make my Mom and Dad proud, so i'm extremely excited about them coming over and watching me host the TV show. Also, my Dad is a big EPL fan and despite me taking him to a few games outside the EPL during my time with the BBC, he still remains firmly stubborn about the EPL and i'm looking forward to showing him the MLS. I must admit, everyone at home seems to be paying attention to the MLS since I got here, so hopefully Mom and Dad will enjoy their break here and embrace soccer in the USA.
Anyway, i've gone thoroughly off subject there. To the broadcast we go. I have to say I think it was probably the best broadcast we've done so far. I really enjoyed working with Warren Barton. It has nothing to do with the fact that he's english, I just felt a lot more comfortable knowing that he knows the game inside out and knowing that he's comfortable in front of the camera due to his work with FOX Soccer. He was a top lad to be fair. He told me many stories of his time in the EPL and several stories of ex players whilst we were off camera. The one thing which made me smile as well was the fact that he actually took an interest in me and how I ended up in the USA and more importantly, he took a real interest in the broadcast and I know he enjoyed his experience.
Now, as I mentioned on twitter yesterday, i'm now going to break the rules of my blog. When I first started this blog I made it clear to myself and you lot that I wouldn't talk about my feeling and thoughts on the team and this would be a blog about my personal feelings and adapting to life in the USA. However, I think there are a few things I need to say. I just need to stress, these are not the views of Sporting Kansas City or anyone else associated with the club.
Here it goes -
I think its obvious that its not been the start to the season that everyone wanted, in fact, it couldn't have started any worse really could it. However, I think people need to remember this is a long road trip and having so many games on the road on a consistent basis is going to take its tole. Its obvious there have been a few problems at the back, maybe its fair enough to say individual errors have cost us more then anything. I think the one thing that i've noticed and I may have pointed out on the broadcast before; there is a massive gap in midfield between the holding role and the back line which is being exposed SO much this year already. A prime example, though it didn't lead to a goal on Saturday was Beckham playing a ball over to Donavan from the center of midfield. Beckham had so much time on the ball it was ridiculous and I really do think another player is needed in that department. As for people calling for Pete Vermes to be sacked, I understand that people are annoyed that we've only won once this season, but we've been on the road for a very very long time. I think Pete knows he's got some tactical decisions wrong this season and he'd be the first to admit it, but as a coach there is only so much you can do until you have to look at the players. Even if you were to sack Pete, who could you possibly bring in at this stage of the season that knows the players and club as well as he does, especially now the transfer market is closed. The only reason I would get rid of the current coaching staff is if you know for a fact you have someone lined up to replace them who is a much better coach. I don't think that coach is out there right now. You can tell in training that these players are desperate for a win and I think we are only 1 win away from regaining confidence and climbing up the table.
Patience is needed i'm afraid guys
Let me know your thoughts either on here or via twitter. See you in Seattle!
Cheers
Cal
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Hey Now
Morning/Afternoon
Hope all is well
What a mad few days its been. Once again I was having trouble finding an apartment and having two viewings were cancelled because apparently I earn just over the limit you are allowed to, to live in these places. I was gutted, these places were right in the 'Power and Light district' as well, right where I want to be. It looks as if i'll have to find somewhere else outside the city now. Gutted.
Anyway, on a brighter note, we traveled to New York on the Friday. As a Brit, we see NYC on the TV all the time and i've always wanted to go (having never been the NYC) and when we flew over New Jersey with Manhattan on our left, it was like a sea of lights, it was beautiful. We landed at Newark airport and Dan, Jake and I set off in our car to find the hotel, which took us a while to find due to being diverted around the Holland Tunnel due to a shooting; Dan said 'welcome to New York!' We arrived at the hotel (The W, which was lovely) and I was hoping for a nice view and my goodness I got it. Pulling back those curtains to see an almost perfect view of the city, bright lights and commercials as far as the eye could see; perfect. I'll never ever forget that moment. I've seen a lot of cities in my life but i've never seen anything so majestic as that city.
During the evening we went out in the town we were staying in (Hoboken), which to my surprise was quite a cool place. I was always lead to believe that the area outside and on the outskirts of NYC wasn't that great. Anyway we grabbed a bite to eat at 'Johny Rockets', a stereotypical old style burger place. Then we went on to 'The Dubliner' which was a cracking place in the middle of the town. Jake (director of photography) and his girlfriend Whitney, Dan (assistant producer), John (our merchandise guy who joined us for the trip to gather ideas), Mike (the kit man and honorary mad man), Andy (Mike's assistant) and I all had a great night sharing stories, laughs and of course alcohol.
I got up the next morning bright and early to meet up with John and head down to New York City. Eventually we got there after figuring out how to use 'the path' and get tickets. Its not to dissimilar to 'the tube' in London, so we found our way around eventually. So there I was, local lad from Great Barr walking around New York City. I couldn't quite believe I was there and even though I was only there for a few hours I urge anyone to go if you have a chance; it blew me away. We met up with one of John's old friends and had a bite to eat in an irish pub, which was great because I got to see the last ten minutes of Villa loosing to West Brom (so not so great) and then Chelsea - Spurs and THAT goal from Sandro. After that I got to see the madness of Times Square which was just mind blowing. I had spotted similarities to London in New York but once I saw Times Square, I was stunned. Commercials, bright lights, thousands of people, Hard Rock Cafe, all the sights i'd heard so much about and this was only mid day! I had the opportunity to get my haircut before we left for the hotel but I chose not to, I chose to go to NYC for the first time in my life instead; hence why no haircut yet. I think the funniest moment of that afternoon was when we were walking under a huge building. I glared up at it and said to John, 'man alive, thats a tall building' to which he responded 'thats because its the Empire State', I then said 'oh ye' and felt like a proper tourist.
So after the glamour of NYC we headed back and got ready for the broadcast. I did some more work on my reads before John and I headed over to the stadium using the 'the path' which we were much more familiar with this time.
I met my color commentator about two hours before the broadcast, FOX News' Brian Kilmeade joined me this week. I thought we worked well together. He's obviously done TV so he knows about timings and didn't seem nervous (why would he). On the call, again, he seemed fine, he's a soccer coach in his spare time and he used to do play by play on the Red Bulls when they were the MetroStars so he knows the game well. Despite the odd slip up from myself I think it was a good broadcast and once we got back to Kansas City it seemed the broadcast went down very well and by all means, let me know you're thoughts.
Anyway, my thoughts on the game - I thought the first half was awful and once again we were exploited in the middle of the park. The goal, despite protests IS onside. I think I said on the broadcast, i'm surprised at how well Luke Rodgers has adapted to Major League Soccer. I thought Aurelien Collin marked Thiery Henry superbly well. We improved in the second half but didn't test Coundoul nearly as much as we should have. Another disappointing end to a game, loosing 1-0.
We got back to the hotel after saying our goodbyes to the guys that helped out on the broadcast and Dan, Craig (one of our assistant producers) and Eric (another camera man/assistant). They both travel with us on every broadcast and have become good friends. We left the hotel and headed for 'The Dubliner' again. The night was going rather smoothly, we had a few bottles of beer and it was a nice relaxing evening, until, (and I take full responsibility for this) I uttered the sentence 'f***k it lets get jaegerbombs' and thats when it went downhill from then on. We went down to the second floor (the dance floor) and proceeded in having a lot more to drink. We regretted it the next day.
We eventually got home after the two flights back home. Sunday, I did nothing, I was hungover. It hurt. Very much.
Monday, I felt great but must admit it was the first day I thought 'going home would be quite nice'. I guess that makes me home sick. After we'd finished for the day Adam (one of my housemates) and I went to the golf range. Having not played for two months its safe to say i've lost it, well, in fact, I don't think I ever had it but smashing balls up to Ohio certainly helped put my mind off things. We were gutted we'd just ran out of golf balls when 4/5 dears decided to run across the driving range. Inevitably, everyone tried to hit them, but failed.
So today, i've obviously been working on this, but i'm off to Swope Park soon as our reserves take on Real Salt Lake reserves. Looking forward to it. Before I go, i've not long tweeted this and i'd like to get people's thoughts. I certainly don't think this is the case anymore but do people and players in Europe see the MLS as a 'retirement' league....... Lets talk.
Cheers
Cal
Hope all is well
What a mad few days its been. Once again I was having trouble finding an apartment and having two viewings were cancelled because apparently I earn just over the limit you are allowed to, to live in these places. I was gutted, these places were right in the 'Power and Light district' as well, right where I want to be. It looks as if i'll have to find somewhere else outside the city now. Gutted.
Anyway, on a brighter note, we traveled to New York on the Friday. As a Brit, we see NYC on the TV all the time and i've always wanted to go (having never been the NYC) and when we flew over New Jersey with Manhattan on our left, it was like a sea of lights, it was beautiful. We landed at Newark airport and Dan, Jake and I set off in our car to find the hotel, which took us a while to find due to being diverted around the Holland Tunnel due to a shooting; Dan said 'welcome to New York!' We arrived at the hotel (The W, which was lovely) and I was hoping for a nice view and my goodness I got it. Pulling back those curtains to see an almost perfect view of the city, bright lights and commercials as far as the eye could see; perfect. I'll never ever forget that moment. I've seen a lot of cities in my life but i've never seen anything so majestic as that city.
During the evening we went out in the town we were staying in (Hoboken), which to my surprise was quite a cool place. I was always lead to believe that the area outside and on the outskirts of NYC wasn't that great. Anyway we grabbed a bite to eat at 'Johny Rockets', a stereotypical old style burger place. Then we went on to 'The Dubliner' which was a cracking place in the middle of the town. Jake (director of photography) and his girlfriend Whitney, Dan (assistant producer), John (our merchandise guy who joined us for the trip to gather ideas), Mike (the kit man and honorary mad man), Andy (Mike's assistant) and I all had a great night sharing stories, laughs and of course alcohol.
I got up the next morning bright and early to meet up with John and head down to New York City. Eventually we got there after figuring out how to use 'the path' and get tickets. Its not to dissimilar to 'the tube' in London, so we found our way around eventually. So there I was, local lad from Great Barr walking around New York City. I couldn't quite believe I was there and even though I was only there for a few hours I urge anyone to go if you have a chance; it blew me away. We met up with one of John's old friends and had a bite to eat in an irish pub, which was great because I got to see the last ten minutes of Villa loosing to West Brom (so not so great) and then Chelsea - Spurs and THAT goal from Sandro. After that I got to see the madness of Times Square which was just mind blowing. I had spotted similarities to London in New York but once I saw Times Square, I was stunned. Commercials, bright lights, thousands of people, Hard Rock Cafe, all the sights i'd heard so much about and this was only mid day! I had the opportunity to get my haircut before we left for the hotel but I chose not to, I chose to go to NYC for the first time in my life instead; hence why no haircut yet. I think the funniest moment of that afternoon was when we were walking under a huge building. I glared up at it and said to John, 'man alive, thats a tall building' to which he responded 'thats because its the Empire State', I then said 'oh ye' and felt like a proper tourist.
So after the glamour of NYC we headed back and got ready for the broadcast. I did some more work on my reads before John and I headed over to the stadium using the 'the path' which we were much more familiar with this time.
I met my color commentator about two hours before the broadcast, FOX News' Brian Kilmeade joined me this week. I thought we worked well together. He's obviously done TV so he knows about timings and didn't seem nervous (why would he). On the call, again, he seemed fine, he's a soccer coach in his spare time and he used to do play by play on the Red Bulls when they were the MetroStars so he knows the game well. Despite the odd slip up from myself I think it was a good broadcast and once we got back to Kansas City it seemed the broadcast went down very well and by all means, let me know you're thoughts.
Anyway, my thoughts on the game - I thought the first half was awful and once again we were exploited in the middle of the park. The goal, despite protests IS onside. I think I said on the broadcast, i'm surprised at how well Luke Rodgers has adapted to Major League Soccer. I thought Aurelien Collin marked Thiery Henry superbly well. We improved in the second half but didn't test Coundoul nearly as much as we should have. Another disappointing end to a game, loosing 1-0.
We got back to the hotel after saying our goodbyes to the guys that helped out on the broadcast and Dan, Craig (one of our assistant producers) and Eric (another camera man/assistant). They both travel with us on every broadcast and have become good friends. We left the hotel and headed for 'The Dubliner' again. The night was going rather smoothly, we had a few bottles of beer and it was a nice relaxing evening, until, (and I take full responsibility for this) I uttered the sentence 'f***k it lets get jaegerbombs' and thats when it went downhill from then on. We went down to the second floor (the dance floor) and proceeded in having a lot more to drink. We regretted it the next day.
We eventually got home after the two flights back home. Sunday, I did nothing, I was hungover. It hurt. Very much.
Monday, I felt great but must admit it was the first day I thought 'going home would be quite nice'. I guess that makes me home sick. After we'd finished for the day Adam (one of my housemates) and I went to the golf range. Having not played for two months its safe to say i've lost it, well, in fact, I don't think I ever had it but smashing balls up to Ohio certainly helped put my mind off things. We were gutted we'd just ran out of golf balls when 4/5 dears decided to run across the driving range. Inevitably, everyone tried to hit them, but failed.
So today, i've obviously been working on this, but i'm off to Swope Park soon as our reserves take on Real Salt Lake reserves. Looking forward to it. Before I go, i've not long tweeted this and i'd like to get people's thoughts. I certainly don't think this is the case anymore but do people and players in Europe see the MLS as a 'retirement' league....... Lets talk.
Cheers
Cal
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Roll with it
Awwwwwwwite (thats what i've been teaching the american's this week, if you are from the UK, please help me explain this)
Hope everyone is well
Its safe to say, i'm absolutely shattered. Last week was another good week leading up to the broadcast. I finally managed to get my credit card sorted so I can now start to properly live and spend some money. Once again, the amount of research I did for the New England Revolution game was more then was probably needed, but as an announcer i'd rather have to much then to little. Major League Soccer provide us with 'game notes' a day or two before the broadcast, which includes some brilliant stats and facts, but I always like to do my own research as an add on to that so I know what I have in front of me. I suppose its down to the different, more personal style all announcers have whilst researching. You put certain things in certain places and you feel more comfortable knowing its written in you're own terminology.
Wednesday saw me travel down to Swope Park Training Facilities to once again watch the team train and make notes of formations, style of play of certain players etc. I was particularly interested in watching new french defender Aurelien Collin who'd now joined the club from Portugal after a lengthy dispute with his club. I'd had a tip off that he was going to start the game in New England, so watching him and his movement came as a particular interest to me. After training I interviewed Collin, who being from europe also, seems to have struggled with coming to terms with the word 'soccer'. I asked him what he thought of the 'soccer' here in the USA. He looked at me with a confused face and said 'i'm sorry, what?' He got it in the end and we soon realized had I of said 'football' he would have got it straight away. After that I spoke with goalkeeper Jimmy Neilsen and I have to say, he, along with Davy Arnua, Ryan Smith (and i'd probably put Kei Kamara, Eric Kronberg, Chance Myers and Matt Besler in this bracket) have made me feel the most welcome out of all of the players. All of them have been great with me, but I feel as though I could actually sit down at a bar with these guys and talk all night. I believe my interview with Jimmy Neilsen is on www.sportingkc.com somewhere.
We flew to New England via Chicago (just for a change) and got to the hotel on the friday evening. We stayed literally over the road from the giant 'Gillette Stadium' which meant a lie in for me in the morning. So, on we went to sample a few of the local bars and grab something to eat.
The next morning I woke up and once again seem to have developed this habit of listening to TalkSPORT or watching Final Score to see how the season in the UK is going at arguably its most crucial stage. So after doing that and working on the script and adding more extra bits to my notes during the day, Sasha (who'd arrived earlier in the afternoon) and I went over to the stadium.
I think the broadcast was the best we've done yet. The guys in the truck were sharp as per usual and I certainly felt Sasha and I delivered a good service on the broadcast. Everything went relatively smoothly at my end until the final part of the show. I'd asked Sasha perhaps a question to many and hadn't heard anything from Chris in my earpiece. I noticed Sasha's face getting whiter and whiter, so I reached into my pocket to find my connecter (that connects to my earpiece so I can here Chris in the production truck) had fallen out by half an inch. I quickly pushed it back in to hear cry's of 'get out, get out, we have to finish now!' So, we did, just about. We had a giggle about it after whilst supping a few beers.
Sunday was once again spent traveling with 3/4 hours sleep due to the early wake up call, but Dan and I had the rest of the day to chill out. Monday was spent working on the broadcast once again, coming up with ideas for future shows, recording voice overs amongst other things.
Tuesday started bright and early for everyone associated with the front office. We had an all staff meeting at 8.00am to discuss several things, find out what's going on in other departments and introduce 2 or 3 new faces. Once again work on the broadcast continued before I went to view 4/5 apartments. Some were nicer then others but I can honestly say I only have 1 real option out of the apartments I saw. I believe I have a few more to view next week. Its getting very frustrating at the moment, I seem to find something promising and then it dies down at the end because of several issues.
Wednesday night is out 'soccer night' so our team are off to play after a 7-3 win and 5-5 tie last week. Looking forward to the press conference tomorrow to see what Peter Vermes has to say looking ahead to the game in New York. Really looking forward to my first ever visit to the 'big apple' but i'm told we're actually staying in New Jersey and nowhere near the likes of 'times square'........ gutted. However, looking forward to a game which I think will be entertaining, both teams scoring plenty of goals at the moment and looking forward to watching the New York frontline. I saw Luke Rodgers for Notts County last season, he's taken really well to Major League Soccer (much to my surprise). We obviously get to watch mr va va voom himself, Thierry Henry, but i'm mostly looking forward to watching the teenage sensation, Juan Agudelo, only 18, he's taken the league by storm. We obviously don't have Sasha for the away games now, no idea who my color commentator is, but hey, we'll just roll with it.
Thanks for reading again guys, you're thoughts are always welcome. Don't forget we're on KSMO TV at 6pm CT on Saturday and 9.30 CT on Sunday evening for 'Off the Pitch'
Cheers
Cal
Hope everyone is well
Its safe to say, i'm absolutely shattered. Last week was another good week leading up to the broadcast. I finally managed to get my credit card sorted so I can now start to properly live and spend some money. Once again, the amount of research I did for the New England Revolution game was more then was probably needed, but as an announcer i'd rather have to much then to little. Major League Soccer provide us with 'game notes' a day or two before the broadcast, which includes some brilliant stats and facts, but I always like to do my own research as an add on to that so I know what I have in front of me. I suppose its down to the different, more personal style all announcers have whilst researching. You put certain things in certain places and you feel more comfortable knowing its written in you're own terminology.
Wednesday saw me travel down to Swope Park Training Facilities to once again watch the team train and make notes of formations, style of play of certain players etc. I was particularly interested in watching new french defender Aurelien Collin who'd now joined the club from Portugal after a lengthy dispute with his club. I'd had a tip off that he was going to start the game in New England, so watching him and his movement came as a particular interest to me. After training I interviewed Collin, who being from europe also, seems to have struggled with coming to terms with the word 'soccer'. I asked him what he thought of the 'soccer' here in the USA. He looked at me with a confused face and said 'i'm sorry, what?' He got it in the end and we soon realized had I of said 'football' he would have got it straight away. After that I spoke with goalkeeper Jimmy Neilsen and I have to say, he, along with Davy Arnua, Ryan Smith (and i'd probably put Kei Kamara, Eric Kronberg, Chance Myers and Matt Besler in this bracket) have made me feel the most welcome out of all of the players. All of them have been great with me, but I feel as though I could actually sit down at a bar with these guys and talk all night. I believe my interview with Jimmy Neilsen is on www.sportingkc.com somewhere.
We flew to New England via Chicago (just for a change) and got to the hotel on the friday evening. We stayed literally over the road from the giant 'Gillette Stadium' which meant a lie in for me in the morning. So, on we went to sample a few of the local bars and grab something to eat.
The next morning I woke up and once again seem to have developed this habit of listening to TalkSPORT or watching Final Score to see how the season in the UK is going at arguably its most crucial stage. So after doing that and working on the script and adding more extra bits to my notes during the day, Sasha (who'd arrived earlier in the afternoon) and I went over to the stadium.
I think the broadcast was the best we've done yet. The guys in the truck were sharp as per usual and I certainly felt Sasha and I delivered a good service on the broadcast. Everything went relatively smoothly at my end until the final part of the show. I'd asked Sasha perhaps a question to many and hadn't heard anything from Chris in my earpiece. I noticed Sasha's face getting whiter and whiter, so I reached into my pocket to find my connecter (that connects to my earpiece so I can here Chris in the production truck) had fallen out by half an inch. I quickly pushed it back in to hear cry's of 'get out, get out, we have to finish now!' So, we did, just about. We had a giggle about it after whilst supping a few beers.
Sunday was once again spent traveling with 3/4 hours sleep due to the early wake up call, but Dan and I had the rest of the day to chill out. Monday was spent working on the broadcast once again, coming up with ideas for future shows, recording voice overs amongst other things.
Tuesday started bright and early for everyone associated with the front office. We had an all staff meeting at 8.00am to discuss several things, find out what's going on in other departments and introduce 2 or 3 new faces. Once again work on the broadcast continued before I went to view 4/5 apartments. Some were nicer then others but I can honestly say I only have 1 real option out of the apartments I saw. I believe I have a few more to view next week. Its getting very frustrating at the moment, I seem to find something promising and then it dies down at the end because of several issues.
Wednesday night is out 'soccer night' so our team are off to play after a 7-3 win and 5-5 tie last week. Looking forward to the press conference tomorrow to see what Peter Vermes has to say looking ahead to the game in New York. Really looking forward to my first ever visit to the 'big apple' but i'm told we're actually staying in New Jersey and nowhere near the likes of 'times square'........ gutted. However, looking forward to a game which I think will be entertaining, both teams scoring plenty of goals at the moment and looking forward to watching the New York frontline. I saw Luke Rodgers for Notts County last season, he's taken really well to Major League Soccer (much to my surprise). We obviously get to watch mr va va voom himself, Thierry Henry, but i'm mostly looking forward to watching the teenage sensation, Juan Agudelo, only 18, he's taken the league by storm. We obviously don't have Sasha for the away games now, no idea who my color commentator is, but hey, we'll just roll with it.
Thanks for reading again guys, you're thoughts are always welcome. Don't forget we're on KSMO TV at 6pm CT on Saturday and 9.30 CT on Sunday evening for 'Off the Pitch'
Cheers
Cal
Monday, April 18, 2011
Supersonic
Afternoon all
'Plenty to talk about' - as there always is when it comes to Sporting Kansas City. Lets tell you a little about my week.......
So, last week was quite mad. Monday saw Spence and I nip across to the 'Kansas City Star' to participate in a podcast with 'Star' soccer writer, Charles Gooch. We discussed many things and I believe it went down well. Having started on Monday, Tuesday saw me continue to prep for the show in Columbus as well as sit down and talk to some of the owners and executives about the broadcast and things that they maybe would like to see. Wednesday and Thursday saw me spend quite a lot of time at 'Swope Park' training facility, to interview some of the players for our 2 TV shows. In this time I also sat down with a few other people in the front office to discuss the progression of broadcasting within the team. We have one or two announcements which will come up sooner rather then later. Its nothing major, don't get too excited, but it'll certainly increase the output of the team. During the week I also saw my interview with KCTV 5 go to air, which I once again, believe went down well, especially with the guys back in the UK. However, the famous 'theres only so much you can do on Skype' didn't!
If you haven't seen it, here it is - http://www.kctv5.com/news/27550671/detail.html
Also another post that came up on the web, was my last interview with the club (Chesterfield) I spent most of my time covering for the BBC. Once again, if you haven't seen it, here it is -
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=209915062371651
Friday saw us fly to St.Louis. Here, Dan and I were stuck in the air for an extra half an our before the storms in St.Louis passed over. I'm usually Ok with flying, never been a great flyer, but i'm Ok. I have to say, that was the worst flight ever and I genuinely thought we were going to die. So anyway, we then fly to Columbus and end up going for a few beers with Mike Flaherty. It was so cold and wet in Columbus, we turned one corner and it was like a 'rain tornado', so we decided to grab a cab to travel up a couple of blocks. How lazy is that!
After a morning of relaxing and going through the scripts for the show, Sasha and I made our way to 'The Crew Stadium' the first stadium, specifically built for soccer in the USA. The broadcast went well, however I was slightly annoyed with my delivery. The timing of the whole thing went well but in sacrifice, I think my delivery was poor. I also need to add - what a terrible game that was. An absolutely awful advert for Major League Soccer. My dad text me the day after and said he managed to watch our feed online. I said to him 'of all the games you chose to introduce yourself to MLS too', lets be honest it was awful. Sasha, Dan and I met up with one of Dan's old housemates on the evening and I got sample the night life of Ohio............ interesting. Never the less in true 'Rock n Roll' style, Dan and I crept back into the hotel at 2am and got up for a 6.15am wake up call.
Instead of heading on home, Chris, Dan and I flew to Chicago. Chris and Dan were there to take a look at how Chicago use their field boards amongst other stadium things. We met Justin up there who is there for the week, learning how to use and operate several things within the stadium for when we open ours up in June. We stayed there for the game and watch LA Galaxy defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1. I was glad we got to see the game, I must admit, I really do like Chicago. It was also good to see an old Aston Villa legend, Juan Pablo Angel take to the field for the final 15 minutes, just like the old days. I must say, even without their 3 DP's, Beckham, Donavan and Angel, LA look a very strong side.
We have plenty to work on again this week, I believe we have a very good and different feature for 'Off the Pitch' this weekend, so make sure you check that out.
So, it appears, we still have plenty to talk about. Same again this week I imagine.
Cal
'Plenty to talk about' - as there always is when it comes to Sporting Kansas City. Lets tell you a little about my week.......
So, last week was quite mad. Monday saw Spence and I nip across to the 'Kansas City Star' to participate in a podcast with 'Star' soccer writer, Charles Gooch. We discussed many things and I believe it went down well. Having started on Monday, Tuesday saw me continue to prep for the show in Columbus as well as sit down and talk to some of the owners and executives about the broadcast and things that they maybe would like to see. Wednesday and Thursday saw me spend quite a lot of time at 'Swope Park' training facility, to interview some of the players for our 2 TV shows. In this time I also sat down with a few other people in the front office to discuss the progression of broadcasting within the team. We have one or two announcements which will come up sooner rather then later. Its nothing major, don't get too excited, but it'll certainly increase the output of the team. During the week I also saw my interview with KCTV 5 go to air, which I once again, believe went down well, especially with the guys back in the UK. However, the famous 'theres only so much you can do on Skype' didn't!
If you haven't seen it, here it is - http://www.kctv5.com/news/27550671/detail.html
Also another post that came up on the web, was my last interview with the club (Chesterfield) I spent most of my time covering for the BBC. Once again, if you haven't seen it, here it is -
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=209915062371651
Friday saw us fly to St.Louis. Here, Dan and I were stuck in the air for an extra half an our before the storms in St.Louis passed over. I'm usually Ok with flying, never been a great flyer, but i'm Ok. I have to say, that was the worst flight ever and I genuinely thought we were going to die. So anyway, we then fly to Columbus and end up going for a few beers with Mike Flaherty. It was so cold and wet in Columbus, we turned one corner and it was like a 'rain tornado', so we decided to grab a cab to travel up a couple of blocks. How lazy is that!
After a morning of relaxing and going through the scripts for the show, Sasha and I made our way to 'The Crew Stadium' the first stadium, specifically built for soccer in the USA. The broadcast went well, however I was slightly annoyed with my delivery. The timing of the whole thing went well but in sacrifice, I think my delivery was poor. I also need to add - what a terrible game that was. An absolutely awful advert for Major League Soccer. My dad text me the day after and said he managed to watch our feed online. I said to him 'of all the games you chose to introduce yourself to MLS too', lets be honest it was awful. Sasha, Dan and I met up with one of Dan's old housemates on the evening and I got sample the night life of Ohio............ interesting. Never the less in true 'Rock n Roll' style, Dan and I crept back into the hotel at 2am and got up for a 6.15am wake up call.
Instead of heading on home, Chris, Dan and I flew to Chicago. Chris and Dan were there to take a look at how Chicago use their field boards amongst other stadium things. We met Justin up there who is there for the week, learning how to use and operate several things within the stadium for when we open ours up in June. We stayed there for the game and watch LA Galaxy defeat the Chicago Fire 2-1. I was glad we got to see the game, I must admit, I really do like Chicago. It was also good to see an old Aston Villa legend, Juan Pablo Angel take to the field for the final 15 minutes, just like the old days. I must say, even without their 3 DP's, Beckham, Donavan and Angel, LA look a very strong side.
We have plenty to work on again this week, I believe we have a very good and different feature for 'Off the Pitch' this weekend, so make sure you check that out.
So, it appears, we still have plenty to talk about. Same again this week I imagine.
Cal
Friday, April 8, 2011
Work hard, play hard
Hey guys
Hope everyone is well
Right then, having not long finished lunch after filming the final part of our Sunday night show 'Off the Pitch' I thought i'd better do another one of these for you lot.
Week 4 - Another packed week passes by despite not having a game at the end of it. Monday and Tuesday was spent answering e-mail and dealing with the publicity side of this whole move to the USA. I've already done quite a few interviews but believe I am still wanted by the local newspaper 'The Kansas City Star' to appear on a podcast and one of the magazines here 'INK' I think its called wants to do a photo shoot. Tuesday, I saw Tottenham get crushed by Real Madrid whilst dealing with an MLS reporter who seemed to have a problem with me being british and working over here. He even had to audacity to more or less put me in the same bracket and lay some sort of blame on me for Stuart Holden's injury. I'm sure you all saw my response, so the less we talk about that, the better. That evening, Dan and I left the office at the slightly earlier time of 5.30pm and straight away went to grab some pizza. It was a really lovely evening, it was warm out despite it being dark outside, so we sat out with a few beers whilst enjoying the pizza. Brian joined us eventually and as Adam came in from one of his 10,000 mile runs it of course gave us the ammunition to throw things and abuse him. We eventually went to bed and I rather shamefully woke up that Wednesday morning with a bit of a sore head, which I may add, quickly vanished after a strong coffee from Mildreds coffee shop, across the road from our offices. Wednesday we had planned to film part of 'Off the Pitch' but a rather random and late invite to my very first baseball game with one of the owner's son's Mike, could not be turned down. So there I was, my first baseball game in the USA. I'd never even watched a game in my life and there I was, firstly sitting in with the fans with the traditional hot dog and beer before Mike took me up to the broadcasting booth to meet up with some of the guys he knew from Chicago. We sat and talked about broadcasting for a while and then watched the guys call the game on the radio as the Kansas City Royals lost 10-7 to the Chicago White Sox (hope thats right). I later returned to the office to find out that Man Utd had gained the upper hand on Chelsea in the Champions League.
Dan and I once again left at around 5.30pm (this was becoming a regularity!) but we proceeded in driving for miles to find some soccer gear for our game in the evening. It was a good laugh playing indoor soccer with some of the guys from the front office and at times we looked decent, but its safe to say, we were thoroughly smashed (9-3)! Guess who had to pick the ball out of the net! We did this whilst keeping an eye on Sporting Kansas City's game down in Houston in the Open Cup, which we now know they won 1-0 thanks to a great strike from Superdraft pick up CJ Sapong.
Thursday saw us begin to shoot some of the show, after recording voice overs and teases for next weeks show in Columbus we began to film Sunday's which this week, due to having no game, would have a little bit of a twist. Our MLS reviewer Josh Whisenhunt (who you will have seen on our show doing the goal round ups) would step in for part of the show as the two of us gave our tactical analysis on the season so far; eventually. With Chris away at the Masters golf tournament and with no real experts around to advise us on how to use the equipment properly, Jake, Justin, Dan, Spence and Emmanuel tried to get their head around how to use the 'Tri Caster'. After several takes and Jake shouting 'F**k' on several occasions due to the equipment malfunctions we eventually got the segment with Josh done. At one stage I completely forgot what I was saying which meant another take and Dan who was talking to us via our earpieces didn't switch his radio on! That meant that Josh and I couldn't here anything he was saying, so we completely guessed our way through the part of the show and had no idea on timings or cues! So, now that you all know that, let us know what you think!
Friday, we got in early as per usual and after a while of going through the scripts and the broadcasting genius that is Jake Yadrich sorted out more technical problems, Sasha and I filmed the rest of the show with a little help from Betsy's dog, who at one stage was chasing Rob Heineman (one of the owners) down one of the isles! That seemed to take up most of the day and after shooting under the heat of the lights wearing a Sporting KC parker jacket I sent out an e-mail to the office begging for deodorant, which I eventually got and literally just this minute, i've had another thrown at me. I believe this evening Dan and I, along with Spencer, Adam and who knows who else are planning on a few beers, just for a chance.
My first proper day off since I got here beckons, no game for Sporting KC this weekend, so, who knows what the weekend will bring, but I suspect i'll be saying that for the rest of the year.
Cal
Hope everyone is well
Right then, having not long finished lunch after filming the final part of our Sunday night show 'Off the Pitch' I thought i'd better do another one of these for you lot.
Week 4 - Another packed week passes by despite not having a game at the end of it. Monday and Tuesday was spent answering e-mail and dealing with the publicity side of this whole move to the USA. I've already done quite a few interviews but believe I am still wanted by the local newspaper 'The Kansas City Star' to appear on a podcast and one of the magazines here 'INK' I think its called wants to do a photo shoot. Tuesday, I saw Tottenham get crushed by Real Madrid whilst dealing with an MLS reporter who seemed to have a problem with me being british and working over here. He even had to audacity to more or less put me in the same bracket and lay some sort of blame on me for Stuart Holden's injury. I'm sure you all saw my response, so the less we talk about that, the better. That evening, Dan and I left the office at the slightly earlier time of 5.30pm and straight away went to grab some pizza. It was a really lovely evening, it was warm out despite it being dark outside, so we sat out with a few beers whilst enjoying the pizza. Brian joined us eventually and as Adam came in from one of his 10,000 mile runs it of course gave us the ammunition to throw things and abuse him. We eventually went to bed and I rather shamefully woke up that Wednesday morning with a bit of a sore head, which I may add, quickly vanished after a strong coffee from Mildreds coffee shop, across the road from our offices. Wednesday we had planned to film part of 'Off the Pitch' but a rather random and late invite to my very first baseball game with one of the owner's son's Mike, could not be turned down. So there I was, my first baseball game in the USA. I'd never even watched a game in my life and there I was, firstly sitting in with the fans with the traditional hot dog and beer before Mike took me up to the broadcasting booth to meet up with some of the guys he knew from Chicago. We sat and talked about broadcasting for a while and then watched the guys call the game on the radio as the Kansas City Royals lost 10-7 to the Chicago White Sox (hope thats right). I later returned to the office to find out that Man Utd had gained the upper hand on Chelsea in the Champions League.
Dan and I once again left at around 5.30pm (this was becoming a regularity!) but we proceeded in driving for miles to find some soccer gear for our game in the evening. It was a good laugh playing indoor soccer with some of the guys from the front office and at times we looked decent, but its safe to say, we were thoroughly smashed (9-3)! Guess who had to pick the ball out of the net! We did this whilst keeping an eye on Sporting Kansas City's game down in Houston in the Open Cup, which we now know they won 1-0 thanks to a great strike from Superdraft pick up CJ Sapong.
Thursday saw us begin to shoot some of the show, after recording voice overs and teases for next weeks show in Columbus we began to film Sunday's which this week, due to having no game, would have a little bit of a twist. Our MLS reviewer Josh Whisenhunt (who you will have seen on our show doing the goal round ups) would step in for part of the show as the two of us gave our tactical analysis on the season so far; eventually. With Chris away at the Masters golf tournament and with no real experts around to advise us on how to use the equipment properly, Jake, Justin, Dan, Spence and Emmanuel tried to get their head around how to use the 'Tri Caster'. After several takes and Jake shouting 'F**k' on several occasions due to the equipment malfunctions we eventually got the segment with Josh done. At one stage I completely forgot what I was saying which meant another take and Dan who was talking to us via our earpieces didn't switch his radio on! That meant that Josh and I couldn't here anything he was saying, so we completely guessed our way through the part of the show and had no idea on timings or cues! So, now that you all know that, let us know what you think!
Friday, we got in early as per usual and after a while of going through the scripts and the broadcasting genius that is Jake Yadrich sorted out more technical problems, Sasha and I filmed the rest of the show with a little help from Betsy's dog, who at one stage was chasing Rob Heineman (one of the owners) down one of the isles! That seemed to take up most of the day and after shooting under the heat of the lights wearing a Sporting KC parker jacket I sent out an e-mail to the office begging for deodorant, which I eventually got and literally just this minute, i've had another thrown at me. I believe this evening Dan and I, along with Spencer, Adam and who knows who else are planning on a few beers, just for a chance.
My first proper day off since I got here beckons, no game for Sporting KC this weekend, so, who knows what the weekend will bring, but I suspect i'll be saying that for the rest of the year.
Cal
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
It's all my fault
Afternoon all
I didn't intend on writing another one of these until after the Houston game or at least until the end of the week. However I feel the need to write about a few things on a professional level.
I ask you to take a look at this article written by Paul Gardner -
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/41713/bombs-away-lads.html
So, first things first, it made me laugh but also slightly aggravated me because of the amount I was misquoted. Lets break this down shall we -
Yes, covering Major League Soccer is something i've always wanted to do, I don't know why, I really don't, but Paul Gardner, you have to accept the fact that I have a passion for this league and I want to help it grown. So yes, always? yes, that is right; mate. I wanted to inject some british passion into this league because lets face it, soccer is not the number 1 sport in this country, I want to help change that by using my knowledge of broadcasting and of the beautiful game.
I have no idea why Paul has put me in the same paragraph when describing Jonny Evans' horror tackle on Stuart Holden. Yep, it was a horrid tackle by Evans who I think said the wrong thing when he said it was 'passionate'; it was just a clumsy.
I believe Mr Gardner has misquoted me by saying - (here we have Williams telling us that he is going to “improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer.” Maybe he is, but that sort of boasting, from a 21-year-old, comes over as something rather more obnoxious than passion) Well, Paul, you are wrong here, i actually said 'I want to be nothing more then a benefit to MLS and help it grow'. Apparently i've also said something else - Williams has also let us know that we’re just not good enough when it comes to TV. Really? I'd love to see this evidence of me actually saying that. Once again, this from Paul -here we have Williams telling us that he is going to “improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer.” Maybe he is, but that sort of boasting, from a 21-year-old, comes over as something rather more obnoxious than passion. I can tell you now I have never said I want to 'improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer' what I did say was ' I want to help make Sporting KC the most viewed club in Major League Soccer' simply because I think with the re-brand, I think we can do it this year.
To some of the comments -
Ric Fonseca - Ho-hum! PG, has a point, especially when he focuses on Callum Williams' attempt to instill some of the brit soccer passion on to the supporters/veiwers of Sporting KC: I agree with him, however, what can a mere kid of 21 years of age really know about football-soccer iether on iether side of the big pond? What are his soccer playing pedigrees? And where does he come off by stating that "covering MLS is something he's always wanted to do...(sic)" after all JUST WJHAT has he done in his very short lifepsan, at least since his teenager years??? Interestin
Ric, i've been involved in the broadcasting industry for the last 6 years and i've been calling games for the last 4! I've also worked in TV over in the UK for local TV stations and a worldwide broadcast TV station, so yes, yes indeed Ric, what have I done.
I'm not obnoxious, what so ever, i'm a 21 year old, who is fully aware that this is a fantastic opportunity, but i've worked incredibly hard so far in my life for not a lot of money, got a good gig at the BBC but when this came about, I couldn't turn it down.
To all who read this, just know, I absolutely love soccer, its my absolute passion in life, I eat, breath and sleep soccer, if you have a problem with this, then so be it, but please, do not misquote me.
Cheers
Cal
I didn't intend on writing another one of these until after the Houston game or at least until the end of the week. However I feel the need to write about a few things on a professional level.
I ask you to take a look at this article written by Paul Gardner -
http://www.socceramerica.com/article/41713/bombs-away-lads.html
So, first things first, it made me laugh but also slightly aggravated me because of the amount I was misquoted. Lets break this down shall we -
Yes, covering Major League Soccer is something i've always wanted to do, I don't know why, I really don't, but Paul Gardner, you have to accept the fact that I have a passion for this league and I want to help it grown. So yes, always? yes, that is right; mate. I wanted to inject some british passion into this league because lets face it, soccer is not the number 1 sport in this country, I want to help change that by using my knowledge of broadcasting and of the beautiful game.
I have no idea why Paul has put me in the same paragraph when describing Jonny Evans' horror tackle on Stuart Holden. Yep, it was a horrid tackle by Evans who I think said the wrong thing when he said it was 'passionate'; it was just a clumsy.
I believe Mr Gardner has misquoted me by saying - (here we have Williams telling us that he is going to “improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer.” Maybe he is, but that sort of boasting, from a 21-year-old, comes over as something rather more obnoxious than passion) Well, Paul, you are wrong here, i actually said 'I want to be nothing more then a benefit to MLS and help it grow'. Apparently i've also said something else - Williams has also let us know that we’re just not good enough when it comes to TV. Really? I'd love to see this evidence of me actually saying that. Once again, this from Paul -here we have Williams telling us that he is going to “improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer.” Maybe he is, but that sort of boasting, from a 21-year-old, comes over as something rather more obnoxious than passion. I can tell you now I have never said I want to 'improve the viewing experience of MLS soccer' what I did say was ' I want to help make Sporting KC the most viewed club in Major League Soccer' simply because I think with the re-brand, I think we can do it this year.
To some of the comments -
Ric Fonseca - Ho-hum! PG, has a point, especially when he focuses on Callum Williams' attempt to instill some of the brit soccer passion on to the supporters/veiwers of Sporting KC: I agree with him, however, what can a mere kid of 21 years of age really know about football-soccer iether on iether side of the big pond? What are his soccer playing pedigrees? And where does he come off by stating that "covering MLS is something he's always wanted to do...(sic)" after all JUST WJHAT has he done in his very short lifepsan, at least since his teenager years??? Interestin
Ric, i've been involved in the broadcasting industry for the last 6 years and i've been calling games for the last 4! I've also worked in TV over in the UK for local TV stations and a worldwide broadcast TV station, so yes, yes indeed Ric, what have I done.
I'm not obnoxious, what so ever, i'm a 21 year old, who is fully aware that this is a fantastic opportunity, but i've worked incredibly hard so far in my life for not a lot of money, got a good gig at the BBC but when this came about, I couldn't turn it down.
To all who read this, just know, I absolutely love soccer, its my absolute passion in life, I eat, breath and sleep soccer, if you have a problem with this, then so be it, but please, do not misquote me.
Cheers
Cal
Monday, April 4, 2011
A new beginning
Morning all in the USA; afternoon to all in the UK
I haven't blogged for about 3 years now because I didn't really see the need to, but after countless requests to start up a blog, I have finally admitted defeat.
I guess I should start by first telling you all about my first few weeks in the USA. So, here it goes -
Week 1 -
After a HUGE traveling time of 19 hours, 4 airports (Birmingham, Dublin, Chicago O'Hare and Kansas City) and leaving my loved ones behind, I finally arrived in my new home. I was greeted by Chris (Chris Wyche - Executive producer and the guy who hired me) and Dan Drelich (honorary button presser, all round good guy and my new housemate). It was late, from memory I think it was about 9pm CT, but never the less I was aware that there was some sort of 'meet and greet' with the fans and players in the city center in the evening, so, fresh off the plane we drove down to Johny's Tavern where I was introduced to what seemed about 50,000 people. I was soon greeted with a pint (which went down very nicely) and a humungous piece of pizza. After a couple of hours of chat with Sporting KC fans, I went back to the house for the first time with Dan and met up with my other 2 new house mates, Adam and Brian. Its safe to say, I slept like a baby.
My first day in the office came after an early wake up call, I was suited and booted (which i'd later regret after receiving lots of abuse) and ready for action. The week progressed fast and I spent most of that time at Swope Park training ground (Sporting KC's training facility) and back in the downstairs studio doing voice overs for the show and commercials. I was taken around the new stadium as well, which is gorgeous! I also managed to fit in a shopping trip to the local super market where I managed to buy food, a razor and a hair dryer....... exciting times. I also fitted in a night out on St.Patrick's day with my housemates and one of our interns (who's turned out to be a good mate); Spencer.
I must admit, that whole week was a struggle to stay awake and adjusting to the time change really did knock me about. So what did we do to make it better....... we traveled to another time zone. We landed in LA on Friday afternoon and I was immediately eating an 'in n out' burger (another healthy option). I must admit, I really didn't feel good on that evening, during rehearsals I was very quite and very, very tired. However, we went to get a bite to eat and had some sort of wrap which was nice, that made me feel better and rehearsals were Ok after that. So I woke up on Saturday morning feeling by no means 100%. Sasha and I arrived at the Home Depot Center around 3ish and Sasha took me on a tour of the stadium. We got to the broadcast eventually, I think it was obvious I was very tired and hosting a show was new to me. In the UK, i'd done TV before, but it was stuff like, attending press conferences and asking questions and doing features, but i'd never hosted a show before. So anyway, we got through the pre game show with a lot of technical issues, then came the call of the game, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think Sasha and my call of the game came down very well with people and I believe a certain piece of 'mexican magic' pleased people. Traveling back to KC was tiring, we left at 6am but got back mid afternoon where Dan and I proceeded to play FIFA.
Week 2 -
Much of the same during the week, lots of voice overs were done, bits and bobs of research, the attending of practice at Swope Park. We also live streamed the first practice of Chad Ochocinco (NFL wideman), who was on trial with the club. We did a short interview with him after which was the subject of international interest, I believe we had over 8,000 viewers on that Monday morning. I gave about 3/4 interviews during the week to local press who were eager to here my story, very strange being interviewed when its usually you asking the questions. We traveled up to Chicago on the Friday leaving Spencer to catch the bus and endure a 10 hour journey...... ouch! I really liked Chicago, very cool city, just the kind of atmosphere I like. We got to the stadium, which was nice, were then treated to some lunch by the very tired Spence. Sasha and I pre recorded some of the Sunday evening show whilst Chris Wyche's daughter, Tasha, (who'd joined us for the trip) watched on. We got to the broadcast and I have to say, I felt a lot more comfortable in front of camera. We did the show and after Sporting's first loss of the season occurred, thanks to a 'moment of individual brilliance' from Marco Pappa we went back to the hotel but soon went out to sample the night life in Chicago. We'd had a couple of beers but soon we all felt very tired and went to bed at about 1AM. We believe our other assistant producers Eric and Craig (who will be starting up their own blog soon) stayed out and we had to laugh at Craig the following morning who looked like a lost puppy.
Week 3 -
Once again the week started with the word 'Ochocinco' on the edge of everyone's lips. We live streamed his first reserve game for the club and had several guests on the broadcast. The likes of defender Matt Besler, forward C.J. Sapong and youth team blogger (and my housemate) Adam Zydroik. Another 14/15 hour day passed by and it was made clear that Chad Ochocinco wasn't good enough to make the cut. Fair play to the guy, he had a dream and tried to follow it, but he just wasn't good enough. The rest of the week saw me mostly read up on notes and research the Vancouver Whitecaps (the weekends opponents). Some more voice overs followed as well as another press conference and training session at Swope Park. I also seemed to be receiving a huge amount of abuse for my accent during the week as well. Everyone in the office has been great, very welcoming and helpful, but they don't hold back when abusing a Brit! Thursday saw me travel over to the new stadium 'Livestrong Sporting Park' as the local TV station KCTV 5 wanted to interview me. I was interviewed by the local news anchor Bradley Stephens, who was a really nice guy. I think it airs on Thursday or Friday in KC. Dan, Adam and I went out for a few beers on the evening as Adam's brother was visiting. Friday morning we loaded the equipment into the cars with the help of Justin (one of our team members), Spence and our other intern Emmanuel (the candy man).
We flew down to Dallas, then up to Vancouver, what a long flight that was, but football manager, music, a Charley Boorman documentary and my iPhone kept me entertained. Vancouver was a really cool place, lots of action. It was my first time in Canada, we went for a bite to eat and a few beers around the city and met up with our camera man Jake and the kit man Mike, who had rather randomly bumped into a group of people from Kazakhstan. Anyway, we got to the stadium the day after and I have to say, for a temporary facility, it was very nice. We got in front of the camera and started the show, once again, I felt so much more comfortable then I did in the first week, I was also a lot more well rested! We think the show was our best yet and we really enjoyed our time up in Vancouver, its just a long 5 hour flight! I think the less I talk about the game, the better. We'll leave that for when we're on air. We managed to squeeze in a beer or two in the evening. Dan, Jake, Mike, Sasha and I hit the town before a 4.30AM wake up call and a long flight home. Dan and I finally got home, late in the afternoon, we went for BBQ ribs, I had burnt ends for the first time. Its safe to say, they went down very, very well.
Week 4 -
So today, week 4 starts, didn't go to training today because I believe there is a press conference tomorrow which I always enjoy. Plus, i've been working on this for you lot! Hope its lived up to expectations, not sure what i'm going to do yet, maybe a weekly blog, or I mat blog once every couple of days. I believe you can let me know your thoughts on this website, so if you can, please feel free, if not, i'm on @calwilliams2011 on Twitter.
Cheers
Cal
I haven't blogged for about 3 years now because I didn't really see the need to, but after countless requests to start up a blog, I have finally admitted defeat.
I guess I should start by first telling you all about my first few weeks in the USA. So, here it goes -
Week 1 -
After a HUGE traveling time of 19 hours, 4 airports (Birmingham, Dublin, Chicago O'Hare and Kansas City) and leaving my loved ones behind, I finally arrived in my new home. I was greeted by Chris (Chris Wyche - Executive producer and the guy who hired me) and Dan Drelich (honorary button presser, all round good guy and my new housemate). It was late, from memory I think it was about 9pm CT, but never the less I was aware that there was some sort of 'meet and greet' with the fans and players in the city center in the evening, so, fresh off the plane we drove down to Johny's Tavern where I was introduced to what seemed about 50,000 people. I was soon greeted with a pint (which went down very nicely) and a humungous piece of pizza. After a couple of hours of chat with Sporting KC fans, I went back to the house for the first time with Dan and met up with my other 2 new house mates, Adam and Brian. Its safe to say, I slept like a baby.
My first day in the office came after an early wake up call, I was suited and booted (which i'd later regret after receiving lots of abuse) and ready for action. The week progressed fast and I spent most of that time at Swope Park training ground (Sporting KC's training facility) and back in the downstairs studio doing voice overs for the show and commercials. I was taken around the new stadium as well, which is gorgeous! I also managed to fit in a shopping trip to the local super market where I managed to buy food, a razor and a hair dryer....... exciting times. I also fitted in a night out on St.Patrick's day with my housemates and one of our interns (who's turned out to be a good mate); Spencer.
I must admit, that whole week was a struggle to stay awake and adjusting to the time change really did knock me about. So what did we do to make it better....... we traveled to another time zone. We landed in LA on Friday afternoon and I was immediately eating an 'in n out' burger (another healthy option). I must admit, I really didn't feel good on that evening, during rehearsals I was very quite and very, very tired. However, we went to get a bite to eat and had some sort of wrap which was nice, that made me feel better and rehearsals were Ok after that. So I woke up on Saturday morning feeling by no means 100%. Sasha and I arrived at the Home Depot Center around 3ish and Sasha took me on a tour of the stadium. We got to the broadcast eventually, I think it was obvious I was very tired and hosting a show was new to me. In the UK, i'd done TV before, but it was stuff like, attending press conferences and asking questions and doing features, but i'd never hosted a show before. So anyway, we got through the pre game show with a lot of technical issues, then came the call of the game, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I think Sasha and my call of the game came down very well with people and I believe a certain piece of 'mexican magic' pleased people. Traveling back to KC was tiring, we left at 6am but got back mid afternoon where Dan and I proceeded to play FIFA.
Week 2 -
Much of the same during the week, lots of voice overs were done, bits and bobs of research, the attending of practice at Swope Park. We also live streamed the first practice of Chad Ochocinco (NFL wideman), who was on trial with the club. We did a short interview with him after which was the subject of international interest, I believe we had over 8,000 viewers on that Monday morning. I gave about 3/4 interviews during the week to local press who were eager to here my story, very strange being interviewed when its usually you asking the questions. We traveled up to Chicago on the Friday leaving Spencer to catch the bus and endure a 10 hour journey...... ouch! I really liked Chicago, very cool city, just the kind of atmosphere I like. We got to the stadium, which was nice, were then treated to some lunch by the very tired Spence. Sasha and I pre recorded some of the Sunday evening show whilst Chris Wyche's daughter, Tasha, (who'd joined us for the trip) watched on. We got to the broadcast and I have to say, I felt a lot more comfortable in front of camera. We did the show and after Sporting's first loss of the season occurred, thanks to a 'moment of individual brilliance' from Marco Pappa we went back to the hotel but soon went out to sample the night life in Chicago. We'd had a couple of beers but soon we all felt very tired and went to bed at about 1AM. We believe our other assistant producers Eric and Craig (who will be starting up their own blog soon) stayed out and we had to laugh at Craig the following morning who looked like a lost puppy.
Week 3 -
Once again the week started with the word 'Ochocinco' on the edge of everyone's lips. We live streamed his first reserve game for the club and had several guests on the broadcast. The likes of defender Matt Besler, forward C.J. Sapong and youth team blogger (and my housemate) Adam Zydroik. Another 14/15 hour day passed by and it was made clear that Chad Ochocinco wasn't good enough to make the cut. Fair play to the guy, he had a dream and tried to follow it, but he just wasn't good enough. The rest of the week saw me mostly read up on notes and research the Vancouver Whitecaps (the weekends opponents). Some more voice overs followed as well as another press conference and training session at Swope Park. I also seemed to be receiving a huge amount of abuse for my accent during the week as well. Everyone in the office has been great, very welcoming and helpful, but they don't hold back when abusing a Brit! Thursday saw me travel over to the new stadium 'Livestrong Sporting Park' as the local TV station KCTV 5 wanted to interview me. I was interviewed by the local news anchor Bradley Stephens, who was a really nice guy. I think it airs on Thursday or Friday in KC. Dan, Adam and I went out for a few beers on the evening as Adam's brother was visiting. Friday morning we loaded the equipment into the cars with the help of Justin (one of our team members), Spence and our other intern Emmanuel (the candy man).
We flew down to Dallas, then up to Vancouver, what a long flight that was, but football manager, music, a Charley Boorman documentary and my iPhone kept me entertained. Vancouver was a really cool place, lots of action. It was my first time in Canada, we went for a bite to eat and a few beers around the city and met up with our camera man Jake and the kit man Mike, who had rather randomly bumped into a group of people from Kazakhstan. Anyway, we got to the stadium the day after and I have to say, for a temporary facility, it was very nice. We got in front of the camera and started the show, once again, I felt so much more comfortable then I did in the first week, I was also a lot more well rested! We think the show was our best yet and we really enjoyed our time up in Vancouver, its just a long 5 hour flight! I think the less I talk about the game, the better. We'll leave that for when we're on air. We managed to squeeze in a beer or two in the evening. Dan, Jake, Mike, Sasha and I hit the town before a 4.30AM wake up call and a long flight home. Dan and I finally got home, late in the afternoon, we went for BBQ ribs, I had burnt ends for the first time. Its safe to say, they went down very, very well.
Week 4 -
So today, week 4 starts, didn't go to training today because I believe there is a press conference tomorrow which I always enjoy. Plus, i've been working on this for you lot! Hope its lived up to expectations, not sure what i'm going to do yet, maybe a weekly blog, or I mat blog once every couple of days. I believe you can let me know your thoughts on this website, so if you can, please feel free, if not, i'm on @calwilliams2011 on Twitter.
Cheers
Cal
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