Archive for the ‘Hoops Tour Northwest’ Category
Written by pbrown on Monday, January 5th, 2009 ( One response )
I’m finally home after an extra night on the road. I’ve never been so happy to see Sea-Tac Airport! I’ll start with yesterday afternoon…
We had a terrific game at OSU. The Beavers came out and ran their offense the way it was meant to be run, and USC seemed to be completely confused by the way they moved the ball.
As Coach Craig Robinson spoke in his post-game press conference, I got a text from Heidi telling me that it was snowing in Seattle. I was planning a 9:45 flight from Portland, but was hoping to go earlier. My producer, who was not flying out, suggested that I get out of there and head to the airport. I left the truck by 5:30 and started driving in the rain.
By 6:45 I was in Wilsonville on I-205 and it was dumping snow. The road was fairly clear, but you could tell it was going to be bad for a little while. I got to the airport about 7:30, and saw that it was in total disarray. I went down to the Horizon area and found out that the 6:30 and 7:30 to SEA had been canceled, and that the 8:30 had been delayed to 9:05. I signed up for the standby list and hoped to move up my flight.
In the meantime, I called my parents in Vancouver and put them on standby to maybe come pick me up in case my flight was canceled. By 9:15 they offically canceled the 8:30 flight, and about 15 minutes later they announced that all flights to Seattle were officially off. I called my folks and my step-dad ventured out in his 4×4 to come get me. While I waited, I called Horizon to rebook for Monday morning. They told me that Sea-Tac was down to one working runway. Wow. So we made our way through the snow back to Vancouver for the night and I got a bonus visit with my parents and my brother and his new wife.
Monday morning rolled around and I got a ride back to the airport, and walked on to the 9:00 flight. Finally, a nice quiet trip home.
I’m taking today off, then back to the office tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to spending time with Charlotte and Heidi tonight! I’m back on the road next weekend to Pullman, so I’m really hoping the weather settles. I’m done blogging about work for a while, but it was a fun experiement to keep track of all the craziness this week. We now return this blog back to the usual programming consisting of cute pictures of the family. Thanks for reading!
Written by pbrown on Monday, January 5th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
After an exciting last game of the tour (that OSU won in overtime over USC), tonight got even more exciting… my flight home got canceled at PDX. So, I’m at my parents house tonight in Vancouver, and I’m going to try to catch a flight in the morning. Looks like 8 days will turn into 9… I’ll have the full story tomorrow when I get home.
Written by pbrown on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
Woke up too early in Corvallis to another cruddy weather day. The truck we’re using today was here on Friday, so it was mostly set up for us. Our game is at 2:30, so we had to get to the truck at 8:30.
I had time to join my producer Curtis and his wife Amy for a Breakfast/Lunch at a Corvallis restaurant called “The Broken Yolk Cafe.” I had a great breakfast burrito with sausage and bacon.
We didn’t have any shots of the exterior of Gill during the day, so I had to send camera operator Andy Nelson out to get some shots. Andy was at the Olympics this summer, now he’s on our crew! He’s one of the best around.
After the game I drive to Portland to catch a flight home to Seattle. This is the last day of the Tour. I’ll try to post a wrap up note later tonight.
Written by pbrown on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 ( Start discussion )
The Cougs lost to the Huskies for the first time in 8 outings tonight, which was a little disappointing but we had a prettty good broadcast. On to the next assignment.
I needed to get out of Pullman tonight and get to Seattle then Eugene for the OSU game on Sunday. We were watching the Alaska website and saw that our flight was going to be late, so we went and got a bite to eat. By the time we got to the airport, everyone was headed through security and we were off pretty quickly. The flight was 45 minutes late, but it didn’t hurt my plans. As we got off the plane from Pullman in Seattle, we were joking that it would be funny if I was on the same plane to Eugene. Well, I was. This same plane started in Boise about 6:30, and ended up in Eugene about 11, even though it was two different flights. I had a good laugh with the flight attendant who thoghth maybe I was stalking her. Anyway, I got a rental car and drove the 35 miles to Corvallis through split-pea fog. I gotta get some sleep: crew call Sunday is 8am. Last day tomorrow!
Written by pbrown on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 ( Start discussion )
We woke up to a cold and sunny Pullman this morning. I turned on the KHQ Saturday Morning news and they told me it was 1 degree here. All I know is that when I walked out of the hotel my nostril hairs froze.
We got to the truck about 9. Typically the truck will have been here about an hour before we’re supposed to get here, so they have it all opened up and powered on. Today when we arrived the engineers were battling the cold and nothing was open. The pop-out unit was frozen shut, along with some of the locks on the side of the truck. It took them another half-hour or so just to get everything opened up, so our crew got way behind on setup.
Then the little surprises started popping up. Like the mult-cable that had water frozen into the end. One computer wouldn’t come on at all because it was too cold. The slo-mo tape controllers needed to be warmed up with a hair dryer before they would work. And don’t even ask me about how my toes feel!
Crew memebers like Krister Persing here have done a great job of working quickly to get caught up on setting up. Our audio crew is a little behind, but so far we’re looking good and most of the crew has left for lunch.
Now we’re just a few hours before tipoff in the Pac-10 opener for both the Huskies and the Cougars. This is always a great matchup, and today the Cougars are looking to extend a seven game winning streak against the Huskies.
Right after the game we go to the airport and fly to Seattle. I’ll then get on a flight to Eugene and drive to Corvallis, where I’ll connect with another producer for tomorrow’s USC/OSU game. If I get a few minutes at the airport tonight I’ll try to post something about today’s game.
Written by pbrown on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 ( Start discussion )
There are two problems with the photo above. First, this flight was supposed to leave at 10:30. Second, this flight never got to Pullman.
Welcome to Day 6 of Hoops Tour Northwest, and I’m back on the road, finally heading to a place I truly love: Pullman, Washington. After an uneventful morning, we got to the airport and found out pretty quickly that our pilots weren’t going to even try to land in Pullman. Because of “white-out snow and frozen fog” we were going to be diverted to Lewiston, Idaho. That’s typically not a big deal, as Lewiston is only 26 miles from Pullman, but today it was a challenge. Since we found out early we were going to be diverted, we were able to call and get our car rental changed so we could pick it up in Lewiston. We also got upgraded to a 4-wheel drive, which turned out to be a good idea.
The flight finally took off about 11:10, and once we got across the cascades, it was clear and sunny for the first time in weeks. The rolling hills of central Washington were beautiful under the a thick layer of snow. Things got interesting shortly after this photo was taken though. we hit a cloud bank that made everything white outside, and lasted almost all the way until we landed.
The final approach to LWS was really bumpy, and we had a very heavy headwind that really blew the plane around. Our captain brought us in for a great landing, and I was grateful to be on the ground. After picking up our car, we were off for Pullman. The Lewiston/Clarkston valley had very little snow on the ground, but that changed as we worked our way up highway 95, otherwise known as the Lewiston Grade. Two-thirds of the way up the hill conditions degraded to the point where you almost couldn’t see the car in front of you.
When we got to the top, we found that highway 195 to Pullman was completely closed, so we ended up having to go to Moscow, Idaho, on 95, then over to Pullman. Fortunately for us we had famed basketball producer Jon Bradford at the wheel of the car, and he did a great job of navigating the icy roads.
We eventually got to Pullman about 1:40, only 2 hours later then we would have if we had left Seattle on time and flown to Pullman! We were pretty hungry by then, so we ran over to Basilio’s for lunch. After that it was over to Beasley Coliseum for Cougar basketball practice, and finally to the hotel.
Today I’m finishing up some paperwork for tomorrow, and then we’re going to have a production meeting/dinner tonight. I hope to get some good sleep tonight before what is sure to be a L-O-N-G day tomorrow.
(Ok, I probably need to retire the whole “Trouble on the Horizon” thing, but I think it’s funny. I’ll try not to use it tomorrow. Or Sunday.)
Written by pbrown on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 ( Start discussion )
After managing to only stay up long enough to see the ball drop in New York, I got a good night’s sleep last night. I’m back to the tour today, and another new venue. KeyArena, former home of the Seattle Supersonics, now home to the newest Division I team, Seattle University. I did a couple of Seattle Storm WNBA games here over the summer, but it seems wierd to be here again in basketball season.
This is a big game for Seattle U. This will be their first home game as a Division I team since 1980. They have a long history of good baskebtall here, and it will be fun to watch as they become a full fledged big-time basketball school over the next few years.
Anyway, tonight’s game is at 6:30, with a big pre-game show at 6. Tomorrow is a travel day to Pullman. If anything interesting happens today I’ll pop something up tonight, otherwise I’ll try to post something from Pullman tomorrow. Happy New Year everyone!
Written by pbrown on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 ( Start discussion )
All I had to do today was participate in a 67-minute conference call at 11 AM this morning, so not much to report. I do have some pictures from yesterday though.
Huskies on the floor before the game at their “shootaround”.
One of our Utilities, Max Wilson, wires a backboard for a microphone.
My third TD of the week, Doug Wetz. Doug likes to buy me off by bringing me home made liquor, and it works every time.
Written by pbrown on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Just finished buttoning up after the long day at UW. Overall the productions went well, but we had one camera that kept blinking out on us, so that kept us hopping a little. The big news is that while the crew was on lunch I took the opportunity to call my friends at Alaska Airlines to explain my challenge with my MVP Gold status. Amazingly, the nice lady I talked to was able to take care of my concerns quickly. She warned me that this would only work once and that next year, I’d have to get there for real, but for some reason I don’t think I’ll have any problem doing that. Later on I checked my account online and saw that I had already been upgraded!
Thanks Alaska, you made a happy customer.
Tomorrow is my first off day, so I’ll try to post some of the other pictures I took today. For now, I’m going to bed!
Written by pbrown on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 ( Start discussion )
Back to Seattle this morning on a nice Horizon jet. Smooth through security, and an on time departure. I’m at the UW now getting ready for our big double header. Things are going well, we’re in a different truck today but the one I’m most familiar with: M1.
Oh yeah, the second game between Morgan State and UW. If you had Baltimore as the town Morgan State is from, you can pat yourself on the back. I have a feeling it’s not going to be a great game, but with the Huskes being so shaky, you never know.
I’m going to try calling Alaska later about my MVP status; I’ll let you know if I get an answer.
I’m finally home after an extra night on the road. I’ve never been so happy to see Sea-Tac Airport! I’ll start with yesterday afternoon…
As Coach Craig Robinson spoke in his post-game press conference, I got a text from Heidi telling me that it was snowing in Seattle. I was planning a 9:45 flight from Portland, but was hoping to go earlier. My producer, who was not flying out, suggested that I get out of there and head to the airport. I left the truck by 5:30 and started driving in the rain.
In the meantime, I called my parents in Vancouver and put them on standby to maybe come pick me up in case my flight was canceled. By 9:15 they offically canceled the 8:30 flight, and about 15 minutes later they announced that all flights to Seattle were officially off. I called my folks and my step-dad ventured out in his 4×4 to come get me. While I waited, I called Horizon to rebook for Monday morning. They told me that Sea-Tac was down to one working runway. Wow. So we made our way through the snow back to Vancouver for the night and I got a bonus visit with my parents and my brother and his new wife.
