TIMECODES AND DESCRIPTIONS
ANCHORING 0:05 - 4:34
CCSN WEEKEND UPDATE
CCSN Weekend Update is a weekly sports wrap show released on Twitter every Sunday. The show includes headlines, scores, highlights, and other relevant information from week to week. During the pandemic, the show did not have a lot to do with sports, it was usually the latest plans to go back to school and information from CHSAA on what sports in the 2020-21 school year would look like. Every Sunday morning, I write the show before converting my script to a teleprompter app, shoot the video on the "set" (aka my parents bedroom), then add the motion and stat graphics before releasing. The challenging part of Weekend Update is that it must be concise and fit within Twitter's 2 minute and 20 second limit. It's extremely rewarding to see how the quality of the show and my journalism has increased since March of 2020. This show is where I've seen the most improvement in my broadcasting and the best part is it was never an assignment given to me. I have personally given myself the responsibility of doing this show every week and I have a blast doing it!
NARRATION 4:34 - 7:19
VIDEO DIARY
I did multiple video diaries over the course of the football season because it was a rather emotional time in our community and for me as an individual. Between the previous season and the one this fall, so much had changed in our world, and for many it was hard to comprehend. These videos set the scene every Friday night and allowed me to create a piece where I could reflect. This season was extremely special for us because it could have been taken away at any moment and going all the way to the championship was an amazing experience. I thought it was very important to address what was going on nationwide as far as the fight for social justice and the pandemic. I'm thankful I was given the platform to prepare such a piece. I don't feel like I've ever used my voice in my broadcasting as much as I did in these type of videos and it was very personal to me. This truly was a video essay because I had typed out what I wanted to say in my English class one day, then decided what videos to overlay on-top of it.
PREGAME SAMPLES 7:19 - 9:57
CHERRY CREEK VS. POMONA
These samples were taken from this year's CHSAA 5A Football Semifinal between Cherry Creek and Pomona. Something I love about sports is you can't write a script for the game because it's not planned, that's the beauty of live action competition. However, you can write a script for your pregame show, that's the only thing you can plan and that's why we spend so much time on it. This year, the CCSN football crew spent the days leading up to each football game on Zoom crafting our pregame script and graphics. It was quite challenging to do our graphics remotely but the crew did such an amazing job, and it was easy to lead such a dedicated crew. My partner Matthew and I wrote the script to get the viewers ready for the matchup and get to know the two teams and their stories. As a broadcaster, the research necessary to pull of a high-level pregame show helps me so much because I can go from knowing virtually nothing about a team to being able to tell a story to the viewers at home. This pregame show is the best one we've ever produced and was the biggest game we had ever broadcasted on our network. The only thing I could tell myself before the game was, "You're nervous because you care." I love the broadcast booth so much and can't wait to be back next fall.
PLAY-BY-PLAY SAMPLES 9:57 - END
CHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP & GIRLS BASKETBALL
Play-by-play (PxP) is SO much fun! In my opinion, it's most unique type of storytelling because the story is unfolding right in front of you, and there's not a lot you can control. Due to CHSAA's broadcasting rights rules, the State Championship broadcast, had to be audio only, essentially a radio broadcast (which I had never done before). I knew for this game that the style of PxP I had to do would have to be much more descriptive than normal because the listeners could not see the game, they could only hear my audio accounts of it. Although I was in the booth at CSU-Pueblo alone with no broadcast partner (and no offense to my dear friend and usual Color Commentator Matthew Anderson), it was the most fun I had ever had broadcasting sports. At first I thought it was so weird that I was in a tiny room (when retelling this story I often say closet) talking to myself, but then as the game went on I settled in and was able to take in what was the most exciting experience I've ever had (except for perhaps the bus ride there and back). Included HERE is the ending of that game, which was excluded from my reel due to a time requirement by NATAS. The pauses in that segment were me getting emotional and wiping tears from my eyes.
The basketball game was included to show what was probably the most odd stretch of basketball I had ever seen. The Cherry Creek girls were going up against the #1 ranked team in the state, Grandview. To be completely honest I thought the game would be over pretty early and Cherry Creek would get killed. What happened in the first half was surprising, when we went into the locker room down by just one possession. In the first quarter, the fact that we went so many minutes being scoreless was remarkable and the first half was very competitive before Grandview pulled away in the second. That night I learned that when you play some of the best teams in the state, the records and stats can be thrown out the window and that it's truly just a game of basketball between two teams who both want to win so badly.
ANCHORING 0:05 - 4:34
CCSN WEEKEND UPDATE
CCSN Weekend Update is a weekly sports wrap show released on Twitter every Sunday. The show includes headlines, scores, highlights, and other relevant information from week to week. During the pandemic, the show did not have a lot to do with sports, it was usually the latest plans to go back to school and information from CHSAA on what sports in the 2020-21 school year would look like. Every Sunday morning, I write the show before converting my script to a teleprompter app, shoot the video on the "set" (aka my parents bedroom), then add the motion and stat graphics before releasing. The challenging part of Weekend Update is that it must be concise and fit within Twitter's 2 minute and 20 second limit. It's extremely rewarding to see how the quality of the show and my journalism has increased since March of 2020. This show is where I've seen the most improvement in my broadcasting and the best part is it was never an assignment given to me. I have personally given myself the responsibility of doing this show every week and I have a blast doing it!
NARRATION 4:34 - 7:19
VIDEO DIARY
I did multiple video diaries over the course of the football season because it was a rather emotional time in our community and for me as an individual. Between the previous season and the one this fall, so much had changed in our world, and for many it was hard to comprehend. These videos set the scene every Friday night and allowed me to create a piece where I could reflect. This season was extremely special for us because it could have been taken away at any moment and going all the way to the championship was an amazing experience. I thought it was very important to address what was going on nationwide as far as the fight for social justice and the pandemic. I'm thankful I was given the platform to prepare such a piece. I don't feel like I've ever used my voice in my broadcasting as much as I did in these type of videos and it was very personal to me. This truly was a video essay because I had typed out what I wanted to say in my English class one day, then decided what videos to overlay on-top of it.
PREGAME SAMPLES 7:19 - 9:57
CHERRY CREEK VS. POMONA
These samples were taken from this year's CHSAA 5A Football Semifinal between Cherry Creek and Pomona. Something I love about sports is you can't write a script for the game because it's not planned, that's the beauty of live action competition. However, you can write a script for your pregame show, that's the only thing you can plan and that's why we spend so much time on it. This year, the CCSN football crew spent the days leading up to each football game on Zoom crafting our pregame script and graphics. It was quite challenging to do our graphics remotely but the crew did such an amazing job, and it was easy to lead such a dedicated crew. My partner Matthew and I wrote the script to get the viewers ready for the matchup and get to know the two teams and their stories. As a broadcaster, the research necessary to pull of a high-level pregame show helps me so much because I can go from knowing virtually nothing about a team to being able to tell a story to the viewers at home. This pregame show is the best one we've ever produced and was the biggest game we had ever broadcasted on our network. The only thing I could tell myself before the game was, "You're nervous because you care." I love the broadcast booth so much and can't wait to be back next fall.
PLAY-BY-PLAY SAMPLES 9:57 - END
CHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP & GIRLS BASKETBALL
Play-by-play (PxP) is SO much fun! In my opinion, it's most unique type of storytelling because the story is unfolding right in front of you, and there's not a lot you can control. Due to CHSAA's broadcasting rights rules, the State Championship broadcast, had to be audio only, essentially a radio broadcast (which I had never done before). I knew for this game that the style of PxP I had to do would have to be much more descriptive than normal because the listeners could not see the game, they could only hear my audio accounts of it. Although I was in the booth at CSU-Pueblo alone with no broadcast partner (and no offense to my dear friend and usual Color Commentator Matthew Anderson), it was the most fun I had ever had broadcasting sports. At first I thought it was so weird that I was in a tiny room (when retelling this story I often say closet) talking to myself, but then as the game went on I settled in and was able to take in what was the most exciting experience I've ever had (except for perhaps the bus ride there and back). Included HERE is the ending of that game, which was excluded from my reel due to a time requirement by NATAS. The pauses in that segment were me getting emotional and wiping tears from my eyes.
The basketball game was included to show what was probably the most odd stretch of basketball I had ever seen. The Cherry Creek girls were going up against the #1 ranked team in the state, Grandview. To be completely honest I thought the game would be over pretty early and Cherry Creek would get killed. What happened in the first half was surprising, when we went into the locker room down by just one possession. In the first quarter, the fact that we went so many minutes being scoreless was remarkable and the first half was very competitive before Grandview pulled away in the second. That night I learned that when you play some of the best teams in the state, the records and stats can be thrown out the window and that it's truly just a game of basketball between two teams who both want to win so badly.
Great moments are born from great opportunity
- Herb Brooks
Email: [email protected]