week 1: Three Things I've Learned

[galewind]

I covered as assistant game announcer to George at NJ, but since it was my first time doing so, please take my comments with a grain of salt:

1. It's hard to do exciting game announcing job when 4 robots sit in hybrid mode, and those same 4 robots have a difficult time lumbering around the track in tele-operated mode. Inversely, it makes it that much more exciting when a robot attempts to hurdle. Now, unless you're on team 102, how many times do you want to hear "...and team 102 completes yet another lap for red" before it gets old?

2. This year especially, it's sometimes difficult to actually get all of the penalties (who/what for) from the head ref without a notebook. Between line violations, impeding, entanglement, and "other", it's hard to remember it all right when the score announcing is about to occur. I did try to do it when I could, but I felt like a deer caught in headlights when there were 4 penalties, the head ref took his notebook back, and there was very little time for delay between the score entering and the displaying on the screen. I chalk it up to inexperience, though.

The irony of me actually volunteering for the job was that right when FIRST Overdrive was announced, I thought "man, what the heck can the play by play guy do? I mean, how many times can you say 'hey look, red completed another lap'?" But then somehow I ended up volunteering to do it .