Let's Put the Toe to the Leather!

After eight months, I'm ready for some football again at Troy! Actually, I've been waiting for this game for about a year, because I still say that last year's loss at Bowling Green was one of the strangest games I've seen in a couple of years. I was looking at the game film this week (I'm not a big game-film guy, because my role on the radio broadcast doesn't get helped as much by film study nearly as much as Jerry Miller's color analyst role; Jerry's loves watching film!) and I can't imagine Troy offense looking any better than it did on the first two drives of the game. But you know what? That was IT. Bowling Green scored late in the half (which was huge) and only allowed the Trojans 94 yards (and 0 points) in the second half. That was a long, quite plane ride back after that one.
But it's a new season, and there are lots of new, untested personnel on each side. BG loses QB Tyler Sheehan and WR Freddie Barnes, who caught 15 of his NCAA-record 155 receptions last year against Troy. Troy's lost all but three defenders from a year ago, plus Levi Brown, so, believe me, there are a lot of questions to be answered at Troy. We hope you're at the game (wearing your Troy gear), and we encourage you to listen to our radio broadcast on on our flagship station on the network, 94.7FM in Troy.
You'll hear, for (I believe) his fifth straight year, our studio host Mike Mote in our BB&T studios Saturday night. You hear him on all of our football and basketball broadcasts and, for my money, he's the best studio host on radio, at least that I've heard. He does a remarkable job for us, and it's made even more remarkable by the fact that Mike is blind. How he does all he does, I'll never know, because he's so seamless and in-control that his sightlessness has never been an issue. Sometimes, you can hear his Braille typewriter clacking away in the background as we listen in before airtime, but, other than that, if you didn't know that Mike couldn't see, you'd never guess it. I'm not pointing this out as a frivolous mention, and I sure as heck didn't do it so anyone would feel sorry for anybody (Mike would be horrified by that; he takes it all in stride and even makes light of it sometimes. Many a time has he cracked me and Jerry up during a game after a bad call: "Even I could tell that wasn't a penalty!") Why I am pointing it out is because it's more than a little inspirational; a very competent, Christian man who's exceedingly good as his job and doesn't use his challenges as excuses. Maybe someone can learn from his example. By the way, the picture at left is from Mike's wedding this summer. From left to right, it's Jerry Miller, me, Mike Mote, broadcast producer Michael Buchanan, and Chris Blackshear. I've always told anybody that'd listen that there are four great facets to my job: the school I cover, the coaches with whom I work, the fans for whom I broadcast, and the best group collectively of both broadcasters and human beings in the country. I can't wait till the Trojans play, and can't wait to work again with my radio crew!