Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Mid February?

I am beyond stunned that its already the second half of February! It seems only yesterday that we had Christmas decorations up. (by the way, I just noticed a Christmas wreath still attached to our house...how did that happen? I emailed my wife, as she handles decorating)

The temperatures are warmer, the grass is growing and I am trying to get some bike riding in. Apparently college baseball is starting this week as well, since Brian is heading to LA for a few days before the grueling Oregon Duck trip to Hawaai. Why on earth is college baseball starting in February? Apparently another of those decisions dictated by others without asking me.

There have been alot of changes lately in my life, but the funnest one (most days) is 541radio.com - our new website for the Brooke Communications family of stations. I love that we can put up pics and audio of the news for you to see and hear. Justin the Webguy has taken us along ways in a short period of time. Laura has done a ton of great work on the site as well. It will continue to evolve, but its nice to feel like we have taken a big step foward.

Well I will end here for now, as a pile of paperwork is calling my name from the Programming desk side of my brain. Keep listening to News Radio 1240 KQEN and checking out 541radio.com.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

No Voice?

At 7:04 this morning, I opened the mic - and an odd sound came out. Brian and Bob instantly knew we had a problem. A few minutes later I tried to chime in with a bit of weather and then it was clear - I was off the air for awhile today. When I woke up this morning, I knew my voice was a little on edge but was confident after downing the magic substance - a quad mocha - that I would be fine. Apparently not. Listen later today and see how I am doing. I feel better than I sound but right now, you -the listener- don't need to be subjected to my voice. So I will blog, facebook and tweet for now!

Have ideas for how to get my voice back? Email me - kyle@bciradio.com

Monday, January 11, 2010

That Can't Happen

Last night's Oregon Duck loss in the basketball civil war was not fun for a number of reasons:

*I didn't see it coming.
*How do you lose, in your own arena, on a historic night, to a team that was coming off a 50 point loss?
*It was not the way to have the last Civil War in the Pit. The loss was just wrong.

The late drive home was not fun. If I am going to get 5 hours of sleep, I want a victory. Ducks coach Ernie Kent said his staff was "outcoached" and was very complimentary of Craig Robinson and the way they came back. Very classy comments with Jerry Allen on post-game. Kent took the rap for the loss as being his fault for not communicating the vision to his team that they needed.

One more note: Another media person noted what appeared to be some kind of security
person near the OSU bench. As it turns out Senator Ron Wyden was at the game. I think that must have been the reason. Unless the brother in-law of the President now gets security!

Friday, January 8, 2010

HS Basketball Observations

While I clearly will leave the stats and technical analysis of the RHS loss to South Medford to Brian Prawitz, I do have a few observations:

*Never let up near the end of the game. RHS gave an inch and South took it.
*Make every free throw.
*The sport is basketball, not football -knock off the tackling and grabbing of jerseys, especially the grabbing of another player's shorts.
*Both teams have some obnoxious fans but I am pretty sure there was one South female fan who should have gotten an escort out. At what point and after how many foul words at 90 decibels does the RHS staff take some action?
*South Medford's coach wins the award for the longest angry rant without a Technical. The ref blew it for not blowing it!
*Come back on Tuesday night for the Sheldon game! - This season promises to be a wild ride.


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy New Year

Sorry I know its been quite awhile since I updated this blog. I promise to do better in the new year.

2010 seems a bit ominous. So many things are happening so fast right now. From world economic issues, to potential military conflicts, to uh having a teenager who wants a car....yea there is a lot to think about.

In the new year I hope to do a better job at recreation. I did ride a whopping 8 miles on Sunday. The bike path was like rush hour with walkers and riders, and even dogs, out to work on those resolutions. I hear all the health clubs and the YMCA were packed out too.

In the new year, I hope to fix up the house and yard a bit. I have gotten lots of advise on what to do, now just need to get to it.

In the new year, I will go to the Oregon Coast. I have not been to the beach in 5-6 years. (yea sad isn't it!). Most of my life runs on I-5 but I need to walk in the sand and feel the wind. (sounds kind of weird...I know)

In the new year, I will go out of state. Its been a couple years and while I don't know where we might go - I am open to ideas.

Thats it for now. More blogging coming soon.

Friday, December 4, 2009

I smell Roses!

Wow. by now you know the Oregon Ducks had a thrilling victory over Oregon State Thursday night. While I will let Brian disect the game, I will hit some interesting notes from our time in Autuzen.

We arrived at 3pm, which while early - kept us out of later traffic chaos. After walking around chatting with media friends for while, and going down to the Mo Center to watch the early crowd. it was time for the media dinner. An incredible pot roast dinner was served complete with potatoes, salad, rolls and more. Wow- I am not sure I will be eating much today.

Brian started doing postings on Facebook and Twitter, while I only jumped on a couple of times. Cell service was spotty in Autuzen. In the third quarter, it actually took 20 plays for me to send one text! I guess, given that it was the biggest crowd in Autzen history (over 59,000) I shouldn't have been suprised.

Game time started at 35 degrees and went down from there. I believe it was 27 when the game was over. The press box windows were closed for the game - keeping the working media warm - but we did lose some of the "feel" of the game since the cheering was quieter. Initially I whined about it, but after going downstairs at half time, I decided I could deal with having heat.

Santa was there - uh actually there were at least 4 Santa's on Duck Vision. That may have confused some of the kids.

I saw several Roseburg folks at the game - Diana Corder, John Migulena and Steve Walker among others. Walker appeared envious of my warm working environment and pot roast dinner. I know there were many of local folks there - just couldn't down stairs as much since I decided I liked the heat.

During half time the ESPN TV guys were waiting to come up in the elevator as I went down. I knew they were TV guys after looking at their perfect hair and suits! Actually I am told they are all nice guys. Brian actually saw one in the restroom. I do want to correct one of Brian's posts however. While Erin Andrews of ESPN was indeed there - I did NOT see her in the restroom! By the way, Brian was also part of the media group that polished off all the cookies during halftime.

In the third and early fourth quarter it became very intense and quiet in the press box, given the tight score and -for awhile - a Beaver lead. When LaGarrette Blount scored, people's pens began writing quickly - as everyone sensed one of the game highlights in the making. With 6:16 in the 4th, the Duck crowd came awake big time and it stayed that way to the end.

I went down on the field staying by the Beaver players for awhile before moving to the south end zone. As I have said on Facebook, I was standing next to the Oregon Duck when the Roses came out. Wished I was fast enough to get a pic, but had too much gear with me to try. The Oregon Band and students began singing "Living on a Prayer" with 3 minutes to go as everyone was confident of a Duck victory. As the game wound down, fans stormed wthe field. After the USC chaos, I tried to hang back on the field but eventually got in the midst of wall to wall fans - many who seem to get louder when the media microphones come out! Its so funny to have people say "Hey you want to interview me?". I tried to leave the field but was flat out stuck. A makeshift fence -designed to keep fans out of the tunnel taken by the players - also kept the media and even some players from being able to leave the field in a timely manner. One of the Ducks players came up beside me wanting to leave the field and was told by a security person - that he couldn't leave the field there - but had to go 20 feet west to exit. Sure, easy to say and hard to do. Eventually some of the crowd backed up and I - and some other media - followed the player off the field. It was a bit too crazy there - but I think sercurity did the beset they could, given the thousands of fans on the field.

After getting to the locker room just in time to see the Pac Ten ceremony where the coash, athletic director and University President received their awards, I could finally relax a bit. Coach Chip Kelly is incredible and I am more impressed with him each week. We listened to the coach for about ten minutes then Jeramiah Massoli took the mic for awhile.

About 10:15 we headed to the parking lot, making it back to Roseburg by midnight. WOW! Now the big question - do I try to go to Pasadena?

GO DUCKS!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Sorry

I know its been way too long since I updated this. I only have time to say - "GO DUCKS". Be sure to listen Thursday morning for a special Civil War Morning Report - with fans from both teams as guests, plus comments from others connected to the big game. Brian and I will be working hard Thursday night in our heated press row seats near the ESPN crew.

Email me if you have any special Civil War insight!

Kyle