A year ago … wow.
On March 11, 2020, I was on the call of what ended up being my last play-by-play gig before things shut down. It was McDaniel women’s lacrosse and during the game the news in the NBA was breaking. At the same time, I was getting wind that the school was likely going to take a “pause,” but it felt more significant. So while calling the game, I also talked about the NBA news and other sports. You had to have your head in the sand to not see what was likely coming and I realized I very well could be calling the last game of the season – or at least one for a long time.
And that set up March 12, though the set-up really started on March 5. While doing my Hoopsville show that night, news broke that Yeshiva men’s basketball had been kicked out of their Baltimore County hotel. We got their head coach, Elliot Steinmetz, on the show to talk about it and the interview even ran on at least one local news show that night. (Those who know me well can guess which station; they still love me even if they don’t admit it LOL.)
Then as I was about to log off my devices for the night, Johns Hopkins announced they were not going to allow fans to the games. I dealt with that news until the very early hours of the morning, which led to another school making the same decision the next day, which led into two days of basketball tournament games, into hosting decisions for the next weekend, the decisions to allow or not allow fans … it was a full week of full on “GO” from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed. (And as many know, this isn’t really a paying “gig” or hobby.)
And it all set up March 12 … all day I was dealing with bad news after bad news. Gigs I had lined up for the spring were being canceled left and right. I was also working on my show for that night and knew at any point tournament games that weekend or in the future could (would) be canceled.
Emails, texts, phone calls. None-stop from around the country as I probed what was going on and when a decision might be coming, and others asked me what I knew.
I was wrapping up a pre-taped interview with Baldwin Wallace women’s basketball coach Cheri Harrer when the NCAA news hit my email – a little after 4:00 PM ET. As we had planned, I got her reaction to the news as part of the interview (which obviously changed directions quickly) and then started working on what was going to be the hardest show I have ever had to do in Division III.
We went on the air that night and that interview ran as it had been recorded so one could hear the change in perspective and tone. We had other guests as well pre-arranged. I had another coach, Hope women’s basketball’s Brian Morehouse, contact me while we were on air and offer to come on and talk about the day and hearing the news. I even had former DIII basketball player and current ESPN anchor Kevin Connors provide the perspective of seeing the entire sporting world as we knew it come to a crashing halt.
In the meantime, I had kept my emotions bottled up. Maybe a small cry in the morning as MLB announced a delay to the season (being about the fourth body blow of the day), but I had to focus on the job at hand.
I logged off after a long show and sat there for a moment. Drained. Seven-plus days of “GO” and I really hadn’t processed what had happened.
That’s the thing in the world of journalism or media. When you are in the thick of it you don’t have time to think about how it impacts you or what it means personally. You just focus on the job at hand and spend all of your energy there.
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I spent the rest of the night on March 12, which at the time meant until 3 or 4 am, on social media or D3boards chatting with people, sharing other stories of athletes, teams, coaches getting the unfortunate news. And then I logged off and watched something on TV that was unrelated. That’s how I cope usually in the immediate moment. I turn my brain off and watch or read something completely unrelated.
I woke up March 13, Friday to beat all ironies, got my breakfast and sat down on the couch. It was quiet. Eerily similar to September 11, 2001 when I sat in my apartment at the time unaware what was going on in New York City and Washington, DC and noticed how peaceful and quiet it was on such a gorgeous day. March 13 was similar, though I remember it being cloudy and cool.
I didn’t have the TV on because I didn’t want to hear any more about the news at hand. Another thing about being fully immersed in the breaking news, I, for one, don’t necessarily want to be reminded about it especially if I haven’t had the chance to deal with it personally.
And then it hit me like a freight train.
Everything slammed into me. Not only what I had been working on for more than a week, but what I didn’t have in front of me.
I had nothing.
No Division III basketball games to consider. Plans that had included going to Mount Union that weekend or Randolph-Macon as a back-up were gone. Plans to head to Fort Wayne for the men’s elite eight vanished. Plans to be in Atlanta (and be at USBWA Board Meetings for the first time) for the Final Four and DIII championships … disappeared.
But there was also the personal side.
The spring was lining up to be very busy (and in hind-sight one of my most productive and successful years was ahead of me). Every single broadcasting and public address announcing gig I had from then through the end of May was gone. Major League Baseball’s delay to Spring Training and the start of the season just felt like it would last much longer, so I didn’t know when that job would be starting. And who knew about any other gigs I had in the summer and beyond.
For the first time maybe forever, I didn’t know when I was going to work next and I didn’t know how long that would be a theme.
What I didn’t realize on March 12 as everything dissolved nor on March 13 as I sat, honestly crying for a long time, was I would be out of work for the next four months – to the date. In the last year, I’ve actually been out of work completely for 10 of the 12 months. I also didn’t realize that I wouldn’t even see an unemployment check for exactly four months, either, no matter what I tried to do to get into the system.
I have to thank those at World TeamTennis who insisted on having me be on board for the July season at The Greenbrier. Jim Townsend, Corey Arnold, and, very likely, Carlos Silva made sure I had work even if my body only allowed me to survive two and a half weeks of the grind (I so wish I could have been there to the last day).
I also must thank my bosses at Major League Baseball, Kenny Hellman and Matt Gephart, who made sure I had work during the brief two-month season (starting on Opening Night amazingly!) until my back surgery brought my season to a premature end.
And I need to thank those who contributed to the Hoopsville Fundraiser near the end of last season. The fundraiser’s purpose was to upgrade equipment, set-up some travel in future seasons, and even do some other cool things. That money ended up getting us through at least the first four months where unemployment had failed. And even to this point now a year later … but the future is still unknown.
As I sit here a year later, hopes that the spring would improve have been a bit disappointing. It has been great to see spring sports return to the fields and courts, but I have now missed out on four NCAA championships (including two DIII men’s basketball) I am usually part of the broadcasting team. A fifth is up in the air. Those are paying gigs.
Added games I thought would lead to additional work from local schools. That has not materialized as I had hoped and figured.
Major League Baseball looks promising, so there is that. And I cannot wait.
Friday, March 13, 2020 ended with me picking up the kids from school later that day. It would be their last day in school until September (we realized we are lucky). We needed to come up with a plan to have them learn from home – and we didn’t even know about Zoom classes and other “virtual” needs as of yet. And we moved forward. My wife started working from home and I did not.
The year has been surreal, but I count my blessings.
No one in the family has contracted COVID-19 in the last year despite a few close calls. We have survived thanks to help from many known and unknown. We have found ways to make it work and we have gotten stronger as a family – even if there are moments we all want to yell at each other due to the non-stop family time haha.
And I got the chance to fix my back without the actual loss of work – a weird twist to the fact I have been unemployed for so long.
We will continue to get through all of this. We have to. But I also need work …
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