Hooping it up

Left to right, that's Anthony, yours truly, Rocco on replay, and Sam on audio.

Nothing more to share from the kids' lives, so here's something from mine.  Even with my old boss having left UAlbany, I've continued freelancing on their athletic productions for ESPN+, which means basketball games this time of year.  They have a new guy in charge, Anthony, and he's great.  Comes from a TV engineering background, which came in handy this year because with the university's main arena undergoing a massive renovation, the teams are playing at Hudson Valley Community College in nearby Troy, which presented a whole new set of challenges in terms of getting the games on air.  He was given a just-under six-figure budget to work with and was able to hire a local broadcast production company to set up a temporary control room off the arena floor. We all just show up to our positions and make sports television.  It's a lot less of a hassle for me, because I'm no longer responsible for setting up or breaking down the equipment.  I basically just sit next to the director (Anthony) and make sure he gets in and out of the commercial breaks as required while monitoring the live stats from the game and working with the graphics operator to tell the stories revealed by the numbers.  It's great fun and pays a solid $150 per game. The worst part? The pre-game crew meal is still pizza, so I have to explain myself to someone new each game as I dutifully scrape the toppings off and just eat wads of cheese and pepperoni.  But I'm still breathing and not yet jabbing insulin into my veins, so... worth it.