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