(Forgot to add a link to the video after first publishing. So click HERE for my YouTube channel where the broadcasts are.)
Hey Everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve even made sure my
website is up and running. Looks like everything is in order. So that’s good. I truly can believe that I haven’t done a post in 2 years. A lot has changed, most for the good.
As you’ve probably noticed the last two weeks I’ve been
pretty busy trying to monetize the internet. Okay, I’m not monetizing anything
on the internet, but I am creating content like it’s the only thing I have to
base my income on. Luckily, I don’t have to do that.
Because baseball isn’t a thing right now and everyone is
confined to their houses, I thought this would be the best time to do live
commentary over simulated games of MLB The Show 20. The idea came to me about a
week before Opening Day would have taken place. A game my wife and I would have
been at if it wasn’t for COVID-19.
Like most of my ideas I was so sure that I would be the only
one doing it. Now I’m sure there are others doing it, and a lot more
successfully, and I have even seen the Mets were doing this at the start of the
season. I saw that someone was eating pizza and drinking beer while the game
was going, but I don’t think they are doing what I’m doing.
I’m doing these games as if they are real broadcasts. I’m
tracking the stats, I’m trying to find the story lines heading into the games.
I’m trying to take all the aspects that you would see in a broadcast and bring
it to YouTube. Because I have started doing this, I actually do more to prepare
and call a game than actually playing the games in MLB The Show. Once I won the
World Series in March to October Mode I don’t have a ton of reasons to play as
much actual games. That is until I get that itch to start my own franchise mode
and play like I have the last few iterations of MLB The Show.
In this new world that we live in we all need to do what we
can to feel normal. Baseball has always been normal to me. Sports in general
have always been the normal to me. It’s how I could tell time. I don’t know the
best place to start with this calendar, but I’ll give it a try. I always know
baseball is around the corner when the NCAA basketball tournament gets started.
And when the finals happen that’s usually right when Opening Day will happen.
The first 2 months of the baseball season fly by until I can start playing
softball in May.
Once the softball season starts wrapping up that’s when the
NFL starts ramping up with pre-season. Labor Day weekend is always the start of
the NFL season and that’s how I remember it’s my birthday. Then the pennant
chase picks up. Once the World Series is over it’s almost time to start
planning for Thanksgiving and the NFL is getting even better. College football
games are getting more important.
Then before you know it it’s Christmas, it’s the NFL
playoffs, the Super Bowl, and before you can take a breath baseball is right
around the corner again.
But now…2 ½ weeks ago would have been Opening Day. If it
would have happened, it would have felt like yesterday. But now, March 26th
feels like it was 2 ½ months ago.
So if these broadcasts can help provide some normalcy. Give
you something to watch, and maybe help bring some entertainment. That’s cool
awesome.
I’m sure there’s a lot, okay a few, okay like 2 people, who
are wondering what’s the endgame in all of this. When baseball comes back, when
we are back to “normal,” what happens then?
Well to answer the second question first, when baseball
comes back I’ll probably stop. Because baseball is back, which means I can
probably do more than just stay at home all day.
The endgame, I think if I can just get better at
broadcasting, be even more comfortable behind the microphone. This summer I am
going to be the PA Announcer for the Wisconsin Woodchucks a Summer Collegiate
Baseball League. Getting paid to watch baseball is a pretty cool gig. But if I’m
going to reach for the stars then maybe this leads to someone seeing this and
offering an opportunity to learn more about broadcasting, maybe I can use this
as a conversation starter that could lead to bigger things. I don’t even care
what the play-by-play is on, golf, curling, I’d do professional wrestling. That’d
be pretty dope too.
And if anything I think all of this has taught me how hard
it is to call a baseball game. There’s a lot of down time in baseball. The games
I do last 90 minutes. MLB games are 3 hours. That’s a lot of time to fill and the
games aren’t non-stop action like other sports. You need stories, you need
stats, you need tidbits, you need to know the history of the game, of the
players of everything.
This has reinforced that I need to be prepared to do well. When doing stand up I could never just go on stage with a couple of words in a list and just “riff.” I needed to spend hours writing and practicing before I would go to an open mic or showcase night and go with it. That’s the same with this. I can’t just write down Rookie next to a player’s name. I need to write down where they played before, what did they do in their last game, all the details I can think of. Even if that player never makes it into the game I want to be ready. And that’s what actual broadcasters do. They prepare and know as much as they can.
That’s probably why I’ve liked this so much. It’s looking at
the game from a new perspective. It’s looking at the game with new admiration
for what goes into the production.
So if you have been watching these broadcasts. Thank you.
Please share the links, share my YouTube page, just tell someone who likes
baseball “here is some baseball.”
If you haven’t check them out. Check out just the highlights, or check out a full game. Just like
when baseball is on TV its perfect for the background. Have it on when you are
doing something else, or playing other video games. Whatever you want to do. I’m
going to keep doing these until baseball comes back or until I have a reason to
be out for more than 1 hour at a time that isn’t at a grocery store or a run.
Thanks for reading and watching.