Just win baby!
Nashville needs a win! Just one little win. The Titans are 0-5, the Preds are 0-2. A Titans win certinaly carries a lot more weight than a Preds win in October, but a Preds win tonight in Chicago would taste pretty good for local fans. Most our viewer emails center around losing.
Oh to talk about a win tonight at 10pm! This business of covering professional teams is just as cyclical as any other business. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. But I can tell you it is a lot more fun to talk about a win than a loss. The athletes are happier, the coach is happier, the fans are happier. And let me guess, viewers aren’t going to sit around biting their nails waiting for me to talk about another loss. Most viewers have other stuff to do.
Can the Preds win tonight? You bet. But they’ve got to start playing defense and give Tomas Vokoun some help. If that happens they’ll probably snag their first win tonight.
Can the Titans win in DC Sunday? You bet. If they can somehow manage to play with the same intensity they played with in Indianapolis and execute their game plan they’ll be 1-5 headed into the bye week.
Chris Stout
The DLR Impact
For me, sports is not the be all - end all. A lot of people think that because I work in sports, I must watch Sports Center 24/7; catch every game in town; buy every retro jersey; collect athlete’s autographs. I can assure you my life away from the station couldn’t be more different. Let’s put it this way: Do you think the cat that served you the Big Mac you ate for lunch went home and made burgers for dinner? Exactly - now you follow me.
When I got into this crazy industry some 13 summers ago, I was a young, aggressive, hungry, know it all with a few semesters left in college. Have microphone, will travel. Fast forward to 2006, and I’m an older, aggressive, guy who just had a snack that now realizes he doesn’t know it all after having dropped out of college. The point I’m trying to make is - Times Change, People Change. And with those changes comes a great amount of soul searching.
The TV business has given me opportunities most people aren’t fortunate enough to land. How often does your job take you on an all expense paid trip to the Super Bowl with sideline seats? Now granted, you’re working 18 hour days during it all, but would most folks consider this work?
Recently, Big Joe on the Go got to interview a hero of mine: David Lee Roth. In my formative years, DLR came to my hometown for a show and I got to sit down with him for what turned out to be a life changing experience. I was 22 at the time; freaking out that I was going to be face to face with one of my childhood legends. Van Halen was everything to me when I was a teenager. If it wasn’t for hearing Eddie Van Halen, I never would’ve picked up a guitar. If it wasn’t for David Lee Roth, I never would’ve picked up my first girlfriend. Are you following me?
Flashback to July 1994, Huntington, WV. Dave sits down with me in one of the banquet rooms of the Radisson Hotel. If you’ve never heard DLR give an interview - it’s not the typical “coachspeak” that we bring to you on a daily basis. The word “cliché” isn’t in Roth’s vocabulary (unless he’s describing Sammy Hagar).
I nervously launch into my first question, and sound an awful lot like Chris Farley doing it. Dave picks up on this immediately. But, he’s never condescending, nor put out that he’s sitting here with some college kid wasting 20 minutes of his time while the ice in his Jack and Coke is melting.
After the interview, Dave pulls me aside and says “nice job.” Then he goes on to say - I knew you were nervous, but you managed to pull it together to ask some intelligent questions. Afterwards, he gave me the one piece of advice that I live by to this very day. He looked me straight in the eye and asked “Do you think Michael Jordan ever takes the court thinking he’s going to lose a game?” I said “no”. He replied “That’s the attitude. That’s the spirit. That’s the lifestyle. Master your craft like no other, and you’ll be feeling that way too.”
Later that night during his show, Dave was cool enough to let me shoot on stage with him for most of the concert. He even stopped the show during “Panama” to introduce me to the crowd of 25,000 he was playing in front of. It was one of the best nights of my life.
Stepping out of the way back machine and returning to 2006, I find again find myself in some uncertain situations. The winds of change are blowing so hard that Lisa Patton is ready to cut in to programming with a Storm Tracker Update. And once again, I find myself recollecting another piece of wisdom that only DLR could provide.
“Do you want to be the same guy that got on the bus 20 years ago when you get off? Why take the ride? Be an art project, don’t just wear one.”
It’s so brilliant that not many people even recognize the genius in that statement. As for me, I’m wondering where the bus is going to stop next.
Hail David!
Just got done hosting the OVC Awards banquet in Nashville. I know what most of you are thinking, it’s the OVC and you’re not that impressed. Let me just say I love the little guy! The OVC is not the most glamorous league out there, its teams do not steal all of the headlines and they don’t get much time on ESPN. That is until they pull off the upset.
My point, you may not love the OVC or any of the teams in it, but everybody loves the underdog. When David battled Goliath I don’t recall hearing a lot about the big guys cheering section. George Mason is a perfect example. Who didn’t want to see that team make it to the Final Four? So while, I don’t get jazzed to see Jacksonville State square off with Austin Peay, everyone gets excited when one of them takes North Carolina to the wire. That’s the ultimate drama in sports, the unexpected and the feeling that anything is possible. In sports the bottom line is anything is possible if you dream big enough and try hard enough. Just a few thoughts and words of inspiration for you underdogs everywhere!!! Good luck and thanks to the OVC for having me, it was an honor.
I learned half of what I know from the worst teacher going. Experience.
Did you ever wake up and the day turns to crap right out of the gate? The alarm goes off at 6:00 am and by 6:01 you feel like having a Maalox Daiquiri? Today was one of those days for me. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but to say today has sucked would be an understatement. Fortunately tomorrow is shaping up to be quite interesting. In the immortal words of Eddie George “I’m built for it”.
Speaking of 27, the former Titans RB sat down with Keith Bulluck for a stellar interview. Eddie’s really coming into form as a broadcaster. It’s been interesting watching him grow. Jeez - I sound like I’m Al Michaels and Eddie is my Bob Costas, Jr. Eddie doesn’t need my help. He’s Eddie Freakin’ George! Anyway - check out Sports Extra at 10:35 for the complete interview.
A little about me: Although I work in sports - my life doesn’t revolve around it. Don’t get me wrong - I dig my gig and know I’m lucky to have it. But some days I feel like a waiter hoping to get the call back after the big audition. And for the record - I’m not a country singer wannabe, nor an actor.
David Lee Roth said it best in his song Experience from the 1994 album Your Filthy Little Mouth (I think it sold around 12 copies, and I bought 2 of them) –
“Is it art, or imitating? Because if it’s art, my whole life’s been finger painting.”
I know how you feel Dave. I know how you feel.
Until next time,
Tim the Producer.
