How to be a Steeldog: Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Dealing with Game Night

Nothing tests your mettle quite like game night. I was thrust into running game night as a 17-year-old high school student and, honestly, I was so nervous I was nauseated the whole time. In the seven hours between when it starts to get crazy and when the lights go out, you will experience chaos, energy, adrenaline, cheers, jeers, exhaustion, blood, sweat and tears. Essentially, what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.

The terrifying fact: First one in, last one out…this is indeed a very long day

You can’t cruise through game day and not expect to be worked past the point of exhaustion. A typical game night starts in the morning. Generally, you probably will get into the office around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. But there are some dates that you know will be much more troublesome than others.

In my final game, July 29, 2006, the BJCC had an event the night before the game, and all of the arena set-up (which normally progresses steadily throughout the week) was clumped into the pre-dawn dawn hours of Saturday morning. Needless to say, we didn’t know what to expect when we got into the office, so we all came in about 9:00 a.m. for a trouble check. This happens at least once or twice a season.

As the PR director, most of your job on game night takes place in the morning of and following the game. So you will likely be the first one in and the last one out. It’s best to accept that fact now and don’t let it get you down. You should expect to get out of the Arena between 10:45 and 11:30. The earliest I’ve ever gone home was 11:00, and that was due to a speedy takedown and a lot of extra help.

Preparing during the week

There is really not much you can do to prepare for game night until Thursday afternoon or Friday. Teams don’t have final rosters ready until that time, so you can’t really do a trustworthy flipcard. Most teams don’t release a final version of game notes until after the roster is finalized as well. So there’s no use making copies of the first editions you will receive on Tuesday afternoon (which is when the first set of notes is due).

For Friday games, its best to get everything together on Thursday. Friday is best for Saturday games. You get the picture.

Setting up in the morning

Once you get to the Arena on game day, here are your supplies. They are all located in a brown box under my desk.

1. The Stats computer: an old, grey laptop that the Stats crew will use to keep the
box score on. It has a power cord attached as well.
2. Stats printer: the equally old Epson 777. Also near the computer.
3. The big, black binder: This binder has blank scoresheets inside for the Stats
crew to record on during the game.
4. The black land-line telephone: it has the Sportsticker numbers on a sticker near
the top of the phone.
5. Three pencils and a pen: for the Stats crew
6. A floppy disk: to save the game stats on
7. A flashlight: you’ll see why
8. A roll of clear packing tape: again, you’ll see why
9. Blank copy paper: for the printer
10. All your game notes (usually 20-25 per game for each team), flipcards and a
few media guides
11. A voting ballot for players of the game

The press box is divided on two levels: one on the course underneath the upper deck (top of section 24 in lower deck) and a couple of rows of blue tables in section 24 of the upper deck. Generally, we have sat visiting radio, our game operations, our PA and our scoreboard operators at the white table in the lower press box. If you decide to do the same, there should be nine chairs at the long white table in the lower press box on gameday.

When you go up the stairs to the press box, you will see a press lounge at the top of the stairs just before you ascend the next throng of stairs up to the lower press box. This room should be unlocked for you on game day morning and a skirted table placed against the wall. You can do with this room what you want; I always put a few sets of notes, some flipcards, a couple of programs/media guides and a cooler of water for the press in the room.

Once you are in the lower press box, you will notice two separate booths, one on the far left and one on the far right. The BJCC will use the far left one for video. Our radio team will use the one on the far right.

Our radio equipment is contained in a large, silver suitcase looking thing and a black leather satchel. In order to set it up and test it (which will need to be done a few weeks before the first game), call the radio station and have them come out and show you how it’s done. If Matt Coulter returns as our play-by-play guy, he knows how to set it up and tear it down. Make sure all of the gear is set up before the gates open and the radio crew gets there.

Be sure to place notes for our radio and visiting radio at their spots, namecards are optional, but a nice touch. The bulk of the notes will go up to the upper deck press tables.

Now, there are no phone lines in the upper deck, but here is where the tape comes in. Go back down to the lower press box and go to the far right corner, next to the window of our broadcast booth. There should be a mess of cords in the corner right at the end of the table. Pick out a coil of phone cords with two beige colored phone jacks. Now take that coil and stand out in the lower deck and toss it up to the press tables in the upper deck. Tape them down and affix them both to one of the press tables. You will use one of those jacks for the black phone to call Sportsticker. The other will be used by your beat writer for Internet access.

Set the stats computer and printer, as well as the black binder, pens and pencils, paper, disk and flashlight down at the first table. Try and set them up on the far right side (if your looking at the tables from the field) of the table closest to the field. This is where the stats crew sits. The rest of the seats are for working media. If there is a problem with the tables, power, etc., ask the BJCC staff for help.

If you get started setting up around noon, you should finish in an hour or so. Then it’s time to sit back and wait for the bottom to fall out.

When it starts to get crazy

Around 3 p.m., after you’ve changed into your game night duds, everything will get busy. It will come out of nowhere. All of a sudden people will be running around like crazy, talking into radios and looking flustered. Stay calm. Your job is generally idiot-proof

Essentially, from this point until the game is over, you are a supervisor and a fire extinguisher. All of the grunt work is done. You’ve got to worry about people not having their press passes, making sure the photographer shows up (you do have a photographer, don’t you?), making sure everybody finds parking, making sure the stats computer works the entire game, making sure the stats crew is well-taken care. Put out fires when they flare up.

The Stats Crew

The men of the stats crew are your unsung heroes. I hope to God Clint Scherf wants to come back for an eighth year, or else you will need to call around to local college SID departments to find someone to do your scoring. Clint has been with the team since day one. He and Wayne and Dave are the af2’s finest. No kidding. Please do what ever you can to make them feel appreciated. They don’t get paid.

In-game responsibilities

During the game, three things must be done: stats supervised and distributed, scores called in to Sportsticker and the media taken care of. Make sure to get box scores and scores from around the league in the hands of our owners, our media, and both radio teams after each quarter. Call Sportsticker after each score and after each quarter. Please greet the attending media and fulfill their needs. Also, it is your responsibility to get with Scott and get the attendance numbers near the end of the third quarter. Get those to the PA announcer and to the Stats crew for inclusion in the box score.

Post-game responsibilities

Make sure you call local TV stations with a final score after calling Sportsticker for the last time. Have the Stats crew print out a full book of final stats and have them save the stats file in FPK format on the floppy disk. Take the hard copy and make three copies for the officials, three copies for their SID, three copies for their coach, three copies for our coach and a couple of copies for yourself. Fax the box score and individual numbers to Group Dial 20 on our fax machine, as well as to the opponents fax list (provided by their SID) and to the league’s fax list (from the PR Manual).

After you distribute the copies of stats, take the disk and email the FPK file to the league as directed by the Media Services Director in the PR Manual. Then, write a post-game story to be emailed to the league and your media list. Post that story on the Web site as well.

After all that’s done, go back up stairs and break down all the crap you set up that morning. Coil the phone cords back up and place them back down in the lower press box. Break the radio gear back down into the containers and place them back in the office. Remember, anything you leave out in the arena is likely to be gone by the time the weekend is over. There are a lot of sticky fingers at the BJCC. Lock everything back up in the office.

Lessons from five years of running game night

If you haven’t done this before, I won’t lie, game nights are tough. You will sweat clear through your orange shirt. By the time the game is over, you will think to yourself: “there is no way I have the energy to break all this stuff back down and put it away.” But you will. Just think to yourself: “If a 17-year-old high school student could handle this and not get fired, you can too!”