Basketball Nights
January 20, 2008
My job at the radio station means I get to produce all of the McMaster basketball broadcasts. The games are usually on Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons, but this week they were on Friday and Saturday at night since the team was traveling to Lakehead University all the way in Thunder Bay. Apparently the Lakehead games are a big draw there. Nothing against Thunder Bay, since I’ve never been there but it doesn’t sound like there’s much to do there.
The radio station is in the same complex as Quarter’s, our on-campus bar. On the weekends, it’s club nights and that’s where most of the student population congregate. I’m not usually on campus that late into the evening on weekends, so as I was leaving last night it was the weirdest thing to see all of these students dressed to the nines sitting around waiting in the Student Centre. Our student centre resembles a shopping mall, so seeing a bunch of 20-somethings sitting in their club wear in what is essentially a food court sort of throws you for a loop. There I was, in my business casual (I went to a lecture earlier in the evening), trying my best not to snicker at how ridiculous I thought they looked. Not that I had any right to do so, I have the personality of a 60-year-old. (It is COLD outside, would it kill you to cover up? I bet you a shiny penny it wouldn’t).
The station is surprisingly quite lively late into the evening. Most of our hosts fight for production room time so they sometimes have to come in at odd hours. It’s not too full though so I don’t feel like an idiot running from one end to the next. I’ve never missed a cue although there’s been a few close calls. It’s a bit of a lonesome job, but it’s always nice because all of our play-by-play guys give me shoutout after every game and ensure me I’m doing a great job. I’m quite flattered and a little embarrassed by it all because all my job consists of is clicking a couple of buttons.
But boy, do I click those buttons well. Really, I have superior technique. It’s from years of being annoying in elevators.
