Hoops Tour Northwest Day 9: Finally Home

I'm finally home after an extra night on the road. I've never been so happy to see Sea-Tac Airport! I'll start with yesterday afternoon...
We had a terrific game at OSU. The Beavers came out and ran their offense the way it was meant to be run, and USC seemed to be completely confused by the way they moved the ball.
As Coach Craig Robinson spoke in his post-game press conference, I got a text from Heidi telling me that it was snowing in Seattle. I was planning a 9:45 flight from Portland, but was hoping to go earlier. My producer, who was not flying out, suggested that I get out of there and head to the airport. I left the truck by 5:30 and started driving in the rain.
By 6:45 I was in Wilsonville on I-205 and it was dumping snow. The road was fairly clear, but you could tell it was going to be bad for a little while. I got to the airport about 7:30, and saw that it was in total disarray. I went down to the Horizon area and found out that the 6:30 and 7:30 to SEA had been canceled, and that the 8:30 had been delayed to 9:05. I signed up for the standby list and hoped to move up my flight.
In the meantime, I called my parents in Vancouver and put them on standby to maybe come pick me up in case my flight was canceled. By 9:15 they offically canceled the 8:30 flight, and about 15 minutes later they announced that all flights to Seattle were officially off. I called my folks and my step-dad ventured out in his 4x4 to come get me. While I waited, I called Horizon to rebook for Monday morning. They told me that Sea-Tac was down to one working runway. Wow. So we made our way through the snow back to Vancouver for the night and I got a bonus visit with my parents and my brother and his new wife.
Monday morning rolled around and I got a ride back to the airport, and walked on to the 9:00 flight. Finally, a nice quiet trip home.
I'm taking today off, then back to the office tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to spending time with Charlotte and Heidi tonight! I'm back on the road next weekend to Pullman, so I'm really hoping the weather settles. I'm done blogging about work for a while, but it was a fun experiement to keep track of all the craziness this week. We now return this blog back to the usual programming consisting of cute pictures of the family. Thanks for reading!

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 8: Extended!

After an exciting last game of the tour (that OSU won in overtime over USC), tonight got even more exciting... my flight home got canceled at PDX. So, I'm at my parents house tonight in Vancouver, and I'm going to try to catch a flight in the morning. Looks like 8 days will turn into 9... I'll have the full story tomorrow when I get home.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 8: Back to Corvallis

Woke up too early in Corvallis to another cruddy weather day. The truck we're using today was here on Friday, so it was mostly set up for us. Our game is at 2:30, so we had to get to the truck at 8:30.
I had time to join my producer Curtis and his wife Amy for a Breakfast/Lunch at a Corvallis restaurant called "The Broken Yolk Cafe." I had a great breakfast burrito with sausage and bacon.

We didn't have any shots of the exterior of Gill during the day, so I had to send camera operator Andy Nelson out to get some shots. Andy was at the Olympics this summer, now he's on our crew! He's one of the best around.
After the game I drive to Portland to catch a flight home to Seattle. This is the last day of the Tour. I'll try to post a wrap up note later tonight.

Northwest Hoops Tour Day 7: Made It To Eugene

The Cougs lost to the Huskies for the first time in 8 outings tonight, which was a little disappointing but we had a prettty good broadcast. On to the next assignment.
I needed to get out of Pullman tonight and get to Seattle then Eugene for the OSU game on Sunday. We were watching the Alaska website and saw that our flight was going to be late, so we went and got a bite to eat. By the time we got to the airport, everyone was headed through security and we were off pretty quickly. The flight was 45 minutes late, but it didn't hurt my plans. As we got off the plane from Pullman in Seattle, we were joking that it would be funny if I was on the same plane to Eugene. Well, I was. This same plane started in Boise about 6:30, and ended up in Eugene about 11, even though it was two different flights. I had a good laugh with the flight attendant who thoghth maybe I was stalking her. Anyway, I got a rental car and drove the 35 miles to Corvallis through split-pea fog. I gotta get some sleep: crew call Sunday is 8am. Last day tomorrow!

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 7: Brrrrrrr

We woke up to a cold and sunny Pullman this morning. I turned on the KHQ Saturday Morning news and they told me it was 1 degree here. All I know is that when I walked out of the hotel my nostril hairs froze.
We got to the truck about 9. Typically the truck will have been here about an hour before we're supposed to get here, so they have it all opened up and powered on. Today when we arrived the engineers were battling the cold and nothing was open. The pop-out unit was frozen shut, along with some of the locks on the side of the truck. It took them another half-hour or so just to get everything opened up, so our crew got way behind on setup.

Then the little surprises started popping up. Like the mult-cable that had water frozen into the end. One computer wouldn't come on at all because it was too cold. The slo-mo tape controllers needed to be warmed up with a hair dryer before they would work. And don't even ask me about how my toes feel!


Crew memebers like Krister Persing here have done a great job of working quickly to get caught up on setting up. Our audio crew is a little behind, but so far we're looking good and most of the crew has left for lunch.
Now we're just a few hours before tipoff in the Pac-10 opener for both the Huskies and the Cougars. This is always a great matchup, and today the Cougars are looking to extend a seven game winning streak against the Huskies.
Right after the game we go to the airport and fly to Seattle. I'll then get on a flight to Eugene and drive to Corvallis, where I'll connect with another producer for tomorrow's USC/OSU game. If I get a few minutes at the airport tonight I'll try to post something about today's game.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 6: More Trouble On The Horizon

There are two problems with the photo above. First, this flight was supposed to leave at 10:30. Second, this flight never got to Pullman.
Welcome to Day 6 of Hoops Tour Northwest, and I'm back on the road, finally heading to a place I truly love: Pullman, Washington. After an uneventful morning, we got to the airport and found out pretty quickly that our pilots weren't going to even try to land in Pullman. Because of "white-out snow and frozen fog" we were going to be diverted to Lewiston, Idaho. That's typically not a big deal, as Lewiston is only 26 miles from Pullman, but today it was a challenge. Since we found out early we were going to be diverted, we were able to call and get our car rental changed so we could pick it up in Lewiston. We also got upgraded to a 4-wheel drive, which turned out to be a good idea.
The flight finally took off about 11:10, and once we got across the cascades, it was clear and sunny for the first time in weeks. The rolling hills of central Washington were beautiful under the a thick layer of snow. Things got interesting shortly after this photo was taken though. we hit a cloud bank that made everything white outside, and lasted almost all the way until we landed.

The final approach to LWS was really bumpy, and we had a very heavy headwind that really blew the plane around. Our captain brought us in for a great landing, and I was grateful to be on the ground. After picking up our car, we were off for Pullman. The Lewiston/Clarkston valley had very little snow on the ground, but that changed as we worked our way up highway 95, otherwise known as the Lewiston Grade. Two-thirds of the way up the hill conditions degraded to the point where you almost couldn't see the car in front of you.
When we got to the top, we found that highway 195 to Pullman was completely closed, so we ended up having to go to Moscow, Idaho, on 95, then over to Pullman. Fortunately for us we had famed basketball producer Jon Bradford at the wheel of the car, and he did a great job of navigating the icy roads.
We eventually got to Pullman about 1:40, only 2 hours later then we would have if we had left Seattle on time and flown to Pullman! We were pretty hungry by then, so we ran over to Basilio's for lunch. After that it was over to Beasley Coliseum for Cougar basketball practice, and finally to the hotel.
Today I'm finishing up some paperwork for tomorrow, and then we're going to have a production meeting/dinner tonight. I hope to get some good sleep tonight before what is sure to be a L-O-N-G day tomorrow.
(Ok, I probably need to retire the whole "Trouble on the Horizon" thing, but I think it's funny. I'll try not to use it tomorrow. Or Sunday.)

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 5: Happy New Year!

After managing to only stay up long enough to see the ball drop in New York, I got a good night's sleep last night. I'm back to the tour today, and another new venue. KeyArena, former home of the Seattle Supersonics, now home to the newest Division I team, Seattle University. I did a couple of Seattle Storm WNBA games here over the summer, but it seems wierd to be here again in basketball season.
This is a big game for Seattle U. This will be their first home game as a Division I team since 1980. They have a long history of good baskebtall here, and it will be fun to watch as they become a full fledged big-time basketball school over the next few years.
Anyway, tonight's game is at 6:30, with a big pre-game show at 6. Tomorrow is a travel day to Pullman. If anything interesting happens today I'll pop something up tonight, otherwise I'll try to post something from Pullman tomorrow. Happy New Year everyone!

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 4: Conference Call

All I had to do today was participate in a 67-minute conference call at 11 AM this morning, so not much to report. I do have some pictures from yesterday though.
Huskies on the floor before the game at their "shootaround".


One of our Utilities, Max Wilson, wires a backboard for a microphone.


My third TD of the week, Doug Wetz. Doug likes to buy me off by bringing me home made liquor, and it works every time.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 3: I'm Golden

Just finished buttoning up after the long day at UW. Overall the productions went well, but we had one camera that kept blinking out on us, so that kept us hopping a little. The big news is that while the crew was on lunch I took the opportunity to call my friends at Alaska Airlines to explain my challenge with my MVP Gold status. Amazingly, the nice lady I talked to was able to take care of my concerns quickly. She warned me that this would only work once and that next year, I'd have to get there for real, but for some reason I don't think I'll have any problem doing that. Later on I checked my account online and saw that I had already been upgraded!

Thanks Alaska, you made a happy customer.
Tomorrow is my first off day, so I'll try to post some of the other pictures I took today. For now, I'm going to bed!

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 3: Smoother Sailing

Back to Seattle this morning on a nice Horizon jet. Smooth through security, and an on time departure. I'm at the UW now getting ready for our big double header. Things are going well, we're in a different truck today but the one I'm most familiar with: M1.
Oh yeah, the second game between Morgan State and UW. If you had Baltimore as the town Morgan State is from, you can pat yourself on the back. I have a feeling it's not going to be a great game, but with the Huskes being so shaky, you never know.
I'm going to try calling Alaska later about my MVP status; I'll let you know if I get an answer.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 2: Overnight at PDX

I realized I should try to put a picture of myself at some point on this journey, so here I am, on the right, staging a photo with one of the great TD's of the northwest, Scott Pelot. We're not actually on the air here, but it looks like we're really working, huh?
Famed basketball producer Jon Bradford and I reached the Sheraton at PDX tonight about midnight, after a nice easy drive from Corvallis. The game was more exciting then we predicted it would be, Seattle U really hung in with OSU. They should do better in our game Thursday at KeyArena against Loyola Marymount. For now though, it's off to bed. I'm on another airplane in the morning at 9, then hopefully we're on time so we can get to the UW by 11 for our Tuesday crew call.
Before we left the truck in Corvallis we attempted to check in for our flight Tuesday using Alaska's website, but there was a message saying there was a problem with our reservation and that we'd need to call in. A quick call to the MVP desk and all was sorted out. Since we didn't make our plane earlier from Portland to Eugene, they had continued to put us on the standby list for later flights in case we eventually showed up. That was nice of them, but unneccesary. We got it all straightened out on the phone, and we were able to get checked in.
Our first game Tuesday is a women's matchup between Kansas State and the Huskies at 5, then at 7:30 the Husky men take on a team from somewhere called Morgan State. Hopefully by then I can figure out what state Morgan is. See you then.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 2: Trouble On The Horizon

It's been a rough start to the day. The alarm went off a full hour later today then yesterday, at 5:45. I was out the door by 7, but it wasn't the last time I saw my house. I ran over to Starbucks to pick up famed basketball producer Jon Bradford, and realized that I had forgotten my wallet. It turns out that you need ID to travel on airplanes these days, so we had to run back to the house. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that I had paid for pizza delivery last night, and my wallet was by the front door. After a frantic search of the couch and the laundry, Heidi remembered, and I found my wallet right where I left it.
We finally were off for the airport. Sea-Tac was still a little like a refuge camp after last week's storms, but we breezed through security with little hassle. Our travel plans for today were to include a flight to Portland, then another flight to Eugene, then a rental car to Corvallis. There was a good reason for not taking a direct flight to Eugene, but I'll explain that later.
Anyway, we were supposed to take the 9 AM flight to PDX, but when we got to the gate we found out it was going to be delayed. Fortunately we were there early enough that we could move up to the 8:30 am flight and get to Portland a little early. I figured I could do some work on the laptop then have plenty of time to catch the flight to Eugene at 10:30.
Well, no reason to think things would go right in Portland. When we got to PDX we found that our flight to Eugene wouldn't be leaving until at least 11:30 because it was in the maintenance hanger. That wouldn't get us to Eugene until 12:30, which would put us in Corvallis too late to make our crew call, so we had to abandon the second leg of the flight and drive from Portland.
A quick trip the PDX Hertz Gold counter and we had our car. This sweet Mercury Grand Marquis was ours for the day. It's a surprisingly spry car, considering that it feels like it's about 3 times bigger than the car I normally drive.
An uneventful trip down I-205 and I-5 led us to Corvallis by noon, letting us have a great meal at McMenamin's on Monroe. I say great, because as much as I love all things McMenamin, they've never been particularly impressive in the service department. Today they took our order quickly, brought our food in record time, and got us out the door in 40 minutes. Impressive!
So now we're at Gill Coliseum, back in M2, and the game between the upstart Seattle Universty and Pac-10 rising star Oregon State is four hours away. Tonight we drive back to Portland, and tomorrow we'll be on an early flight back to Seattle so we can do the big double-header day at Washington.
I'm also going to have to try to find some time on Wednesday to make a call to my friends at Alaska Airlines. You see, before this trip I was 3 flight segments away from the 60 total flights in one year they require in order to qualify as an MVP Gold, their highest level of frequent flyer. MVP Gold status gets me free upgrades to first class, along with access to high-speed security lines at the airport, among other perks. My plan to fly to Portland then Eugene would have gotten me two segments, then tomorrow's flight home would have gotten me number 60, and Gold status. Now I'm going to be stuck at 59, unless I can convice a nice Alaska/Horizon customer service rep to help me out and give me credit for a flight I booked but didn't actually fly.
I'll update this story if I hear more later this week. In the meantime, I may post tonight when I get to Portland, or it may be tomorrow at UW.

Hoops Tour Northwest Day 1: Kickoff

It's 5:22 AM on Sunday December 28th, and I'm about to leave my house begin a crazy stretch of basketball games. Today's game between the University of Montana and the University of Washington kicks off a stretch of seven games in eight days. Today I drove from home to the UW, where I'm working in a truck called Mira M2. I'll be in this truck today and tomorrow, but in two different cities and with two completely different crews. In fact, I'll going to Corvallis twice this week, and Pullman once while working several games in Seattle at UW and KeyArena. I'll see a total of 10 different teams.
Most of the games I'll be working with famed basketball producer Jon Bradford. I'll be spending a lot more time with him then with my family this week, so hopefully we'll get along well (we usually do, Heidi calls him my "boyfriend").

Anyway, back to today's game, tipoff is in just over an hour. I'll be trying to update the blog with lots of fun stories of travelling around the Great Northwest this week. Tomorrow I'll be up early for a flight to Eugene, then driving to Corvallis for an OSU game. Stay Tuned!