Well, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, giving us a pretty dismal weather forecast this morning. Pittsburgh-based engineer Dave “Mitch” Mitchell was there in the wee hours to broadcast the bad news to the world. He then packed up his truck, put on another layer of clothing and made the chilly drive over to Akron, where the Zips will host the Toledo Rockets in college hoops on Saturday. Through rain, sleet, snow and brutal cold, the show must go on!
Our guys in Minnesota are all set for some Super Bowl LII action, but they are mighty cold. Rick Kolinek reported a minus 27 degree wind chill as he prepared his truck to transmit NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Fan Forum on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. This isn’t Rick’s first rodeo (he’s based in Chicago), so his truck was well-prepared to withstand the arctic conditions. Same with Colorado-based engineer Mike Sheehan, who is parked at the State Theatre for Golf Channel’s Super Bowl-related programming. PSSI News Group’s Bill O’Toole and Steve Mills are also in Minneapolis to provide CNN with live shots before, during and after the big game.
Wes Hill is a long way from his home in Long Beach, California, but he packed his long underwear to be ready for his job at the NFL Honors awards ceremony at the Northrop Memorial Auditorium at the University of Minnesota. Project manager Eric Hall will be there, as well, to ensure flawless transmissions via satellite and fiber for NBC’s Saturday night broadcast of this great event.
Justin Roszak and Rick Ball will do their best not to gloat while they’re setting up at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas this weekend. Rick and Justin will be operating a truck and a flyaway system for redundant paths of the “Live with Kelly and Ryan” show on Monday and Tuesday. Our C23 truck has had the longest vacation of all, as she’s been on the island since the beginning of January for our Golf Channel work down there. She’ll be sad to come back to the mainland after this show!
We are in the heart of college basketball season, and there is no shortage of hoops on our schedules this week.
- Rick Varney was with our Arizona truck on Monday at Hart Center at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, when the Lehigh Mountain Hawks beat the Holy Cross Crusaders in men’s basketball.
- Then Rick handed off the Arizona truck to Mike Howley, who headed to Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, on Tuesday when the Rhode Island Rams faced the University of Massachusetts Minutemen.
- Also on Tuesday, Mati Kerpen brought the Junior truck to Carnesecca Arena at St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York, when the Xavier Musketeers took on the St. John’s Red Storm.
- Howley continued with the Arizona truck on Wednesday to the Silvio Conte Forum at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, when the Virginia Tech Hokies beat the Boston College Eagles.
- Also Wednesday, Dave Brin brought our Wolfcoach truck to the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada, for more college ball when the UNR Nevada Wolf Pack took on the Fresno State Bulldogs.
- Nick Ray was at Liacouras Center at Temple University in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with C42 on Thursday when the Wichita State Shockers faced the Temple Owls in more men’s basketball. This was yet another seven-channel “at-home” transmission for our friends at ESPN.
- Another specialty uplink took place at Stanford University’s Maples Pavilion on Thursday night, when John Jennings and Rick Varney were in C21 for a 4K transmission of Stanford vs. Oregon State. It is great to have yet another flawless 4K transmission under our belts for our friends at Fox and DirecTV. Looking forward to many more to come!
- Back east on Thursday, Dennis Smith was at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia, with K44 when the Louisville Cardinals faced the Virginia Cavaliers in women’s college basketball.
- Ron Ford made the long, lonely drive across West Texas to the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, where the UTEP Miners faced the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Thursday, as well.
- Steve Hagerty’s got back-to-back games in some chilly climates. First, he will have K18 at Alumni Arena at University of Buffalo in New York on Friday when the UB Bulls take on the Western Michigan Broncos. Then he heads to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York, when the Syracuse Orange face the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday.
- Also on Friday, Kevin Spangler’s taking a break from Golf Channel duties to run C41 in Richmond, Virginia, at the Stuart Siegel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, where the Rhode Island Rams face the Virginia Commonwealth Rams in more men’s college ball. Another seven-channel “at-home” transmission for ESPN.
- Up I-95, Nick Ray is back at it in Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, where the Cincinnati Bearcats face the Connecticut Huskies. Seven channels will be multiplexed and transmitted a few miles over to ESPN headquarters in Bristol.
- C47 and Steve Chaisson are together again in Boise. They will be at Taco Bell Arena at Boise State University in Idaho when the Broncos face the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on Saturday.
- Dennis Smith will be at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday when the Saint Joseph’s Hawks face the LaSalle Explorers. Then he’s across town at Hagan Arena at Saint Joseph’s in Philadelphia on Sunday when the Hawks face the George Mason Patriots in women’s college basketball.
- Last, but certainly not least, Mike Lemieux will have one of our fiber encoding kits at the Silvio Conte Forum at Boston College on Sunday when the Eagles take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
- Whew! That’s a lot of basketball!
We also have one big golf tournament this weekend. Larry Sheets is at TPC Scottsdale for the Waste Management Phoenix Open through Sunday. This event, touted as “The People’s Open” is the most attended golf event in the world, and this year marks the 83rd time this event has been played at the most unique stop on the PGA Tour. Larry and Golf Channel engineer in charge (EIC) Tracy Michaels worked their tails off early in the week to set up a three-channel mux out of the C-band antenna with a secondary feed out of CK25’s Ku-band antenna. They ran 3,500 feet of fiber to cover all of Golf Channel’s live standup positions. It’s a big show, to say the least!
And we have two big fights this weekend. One is all the way down in Corpus Christi, Texas, where Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez of Mexico defends his WBO super middleweight championship title against Habib “Wild Hurricane” Ahmed of Ghana. The co-main event is a 12-round junior bantamweight bout between Mexico’s Israel Gonzalez and a protégé of Manny Pacquiao, Jerwin Ancajas of the Phillipines. John May is there in the C12 for ESPN’s domestic and Latin American broadcasts of the fight, while John Poss and David Gallardo are in the Alabama truck outside American Bank Center for the international distribution of this big night of boxing.
A wee bit further south, Jim Flowers and Keith Valeri are working alongside Pepe Gallegos and our good friends at Casablanca Online at the Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, Brazil. It’s a UFC Fight Night on Saturday, with a headliner of Lyoto Machida vs. Eryk Anders. While we’ve worked in Brazil many times over the years, this is our first time in Belém, the “gateway to the Amazon.” Jim and Keith have their hands full setting up for total transmission services for UFC’s broadcast to MMA fans across Brazil and around the world. Hopefully they have a little time to enjoy the local culture!
