This weekend I went out to Kent State to see the Mid-American Conference Indoor Championships. I came at the request of a couple of gentlemen in order to help them out with a project.
I'm not at liberty to disclose their identities or the name of the project, but basically we were beta-testing a "new media" idea. We were (attempting) to live-blog the meet, using live results and live video recaps after each event. Internet connectivity issues kept us from making it work the way we wanted, but the two gentlemen learned the ropes of how to make it happen. I was the on-camera "talent" (and in the TV biz I hear "talent" translates to "idiots who don't know how anything works", which fits here).
These two gentlemen are not a fly-by-night operation. They have worked at the highest levels of sports coverage. The fact that they are investing significant time and money into their project gives me hope as I watch the same old crap on ESPN's coverage of the USATF Indoor Championships.
As for me, I'm looking to use the video we shot as a demo tape to send to my local cable company's amateur sports channel; their high school track & field announcers are atrocious and I know I can give the sport what it deserves. My partners are not based in the middle of the country, and I have no interest in moving elsewhere just to work their project...but I'll travel.
Political pundits have finally figured out that President Obama has a huge amount of "running room" open in front of him, meaning that in a time of great crisis there is opportunity to put into place a new vision of the nation and its government. Track & field has been in trouble in this country for a long time, but at this point the crisis is deeper than it has ever been before. With a new leader in place and a new vision being laid out by him, I hope USATF can chart out a new course. But it will be far more difficult for Logan than for Obama.
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