As we anticipate the kickoff of another athletic season, we want to thank you for your feedback regarding our primary Network resource – this affiliate website. You will find this streamlined format simple and quick to navigate as a result of affiliate recommendations and critiques. Use this website to manage your Network affiliation with broadcast calendars, logs and affidavits. Take advantage of promos, liners and other audio to brand your station with its home team. Please return frequently to view news updates and check broadcast times.

This season, two announcers that had truly become the “voices” of their programs signed off for the last time.

Due to health concerns, Jack Cristil called his last game for Mississippi State Bulldog Sports Network in February.  Below is audio from Mr. Cristl announcing his retirement:

Jack Cristil Announcement

Mr. Cristil had called Mississippi State athletics for the past fifty eight years.  He was known for his clear, concise game descriptions that were free of any bravado or hyperbole.  Throughout his career he won the Mississippi Broadcaster of the Year award over twenty times and also earned the Ronald Reagan Lifetime Achievement Award.   One year, there was the sponsored Sonic Drive of the Game as one of the postgame show features. The Mississippi State offense hadn’t had a decent drive that day. So Cristil said on the postgame show that the drive of the game would be “my drive back home to Tupelo.” 

“You can wrap this one in maroon and white, my friends.”  -  Jack Cristil after Mississippi State victories

Yesterday, Bob Barry Sr. called his last game for the Oklahoma Sooners.  Barry was the voice of the Sooners from 1961-1972 (when legendary coach Bud Wilkinson selected him to be the play-by-play voice) as well as from 1991-2011.  Barry has been awarded Oklahoma’s Sportscaster of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, and was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was recognized as a distinguished alumni by the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.  Here is Mr. Barry’s farewell:

Bob Barry Final Call

“Boomer Sooner” – Bob Barry Sr.

College basketball is extremely unpredictable.  I was reminded of this fact last night while checking scores on my Blackberry and watching “The Bachelor” with my wife.  

Sidebar:  Now before you make fun of me, realize that my wife and I have a give and take TV relationship.  I watch some of her shows and she’ll watch about 100 KC Royals games with me per year and tons of college football and men’s basketball.  Trust me, I break even and if you’re a guy you can’t tell me that you’ve spent a good amount of time watching HGTV. 

While checking the scores I saw that in the “Octagon of Doom,” Kansas State got a much needed victory over the Kansas Jayhawks who are not only their in state rival but were also voted the #1 team in the country yesterday.  Now if you’re a Kansas State affiliate you received this great piece of audio last night from Ben Connelly, who is one of our Broadcast Production Coordinators:

KSU-v-KU Promo

In fact, if you’re aligned with any of our Networks you’ve probably received a similar highlight montage at some point during the football and/or men’s basketball season.  I hope you utilize these audio pieces on the air or with your sales efforts.  Our producers take a lot of pride in getting these audio elements out in a timely fashion and do a great job putting these packages together for you to use.

I am proud to announce that we’ve added two new staff members to our Affiliate Relations team. 

First, Alex Forkin is the new Affiliate Relations Coordinator for Learfield Sports, taking over duties formerly performed by Jenny Hollabaugh.   Alex graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Psychology and minors in Biological Sciences and Fine Arts.  Prior to joining Learfield she interned as a Case Manager with the Streets Hope Organization in Denver and has been active with Young Life.  The St. Louis native is an avid Blues fan and while in high school participated in competitive dance and lacrosse.

JerRon Smith is joining us as an Affiliate Relations Representative.   JerRon is from Russellville, KY and graduated from the University of Louisville in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He spent two seasons with Nelligan Sports Marketing and University of Louisville Athletics as Promotional Coordinator for the marketing department as part of the “Kroger Crew.”   A former baseball player, JerRon loves the game and everything Louisville Cardinal Athletics.   He joined Learfield Sports in 2009 as a Sponsor Coordinator intern for BCA Properties in Indianapolis.

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) State Sportscaster of the Year finalists have been announced and several of the finalists are affiliated with Learfield Sports: 

Chris Stewart – Crimson Tide Sports Network (Alabama Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Reis – Saluki Sports Network (Illinois Sportscaster of the Year)

Don Fischer – Hoosier Sports Network (Indiana Sportscaster of the Year)

Gary Dolphin – Hawkeye Sports Network (Iowa Sportscaster of the Year)

Jim Churchill – Black Bear Sports Network (Maine Sportscaster of the Year)

Dan Hannigan – Black Bear Sports Network (Maine Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Kelly – Missouri Tiger Sports Network (Missouri Sportscaster of the Year)

Mick Holien – Montana Grizzly Sports Network (Montana Sportscaster of the Year)

Jim Jeannotte – New Hampshire Wildcat Sports Network (New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Murphy – New Hampshire Wildcat Sports Network (New Hampshire Sportscaster of the Year)

Mike Parker – Oregon State Beaver Sports Network (Oregon Sportscaster of the Year)

Matt LePay – Wisconsin Badger Sports Network (Wisconsin Sportscaster of the Year)

Woody Durham – North Carolina Tar Heel Sports Network (Hall of Fame Sportscaster)

Congratulations to all of the finalists, the winners of each respective award will be announced later this month with the awards presented at the NSSA’s 52nd Annual Awards Banquet on May 16th in Salisbury, NC.

I love college basketball and with the season starting in earnest this weekend  let me tell you why I love the sport.  My love affair dates back to the NCAA Championship game in 1987 when Steve Alford and the Indiana Hoosiers beat the Syracuse Orangemen in one of the most exciting tournament games ever.   This also happened to be the first basketball game I ever remember watching as well. 

Last week I gave a shout out to my mom so this week I must mention that my dad helped foster my interest in the sport and spent countless hours in our alley, a.k.a. basketball court, shooting baskets with me and my friends.  Unfortunately, my basketball talent peaked as a member of the eight grade B team at Colleyville Middle School.  My co-worker, Adam Froidl, convinced me to come out of my retirement a few months ago so after a lengthy Brett Farve-esque news conference that was attended by many media members in and around Jefferson Ctiy I now play on Friday afternoons at a local church.  Of course I now need a rest every fifteen minutes and because of my height I get volunteered to defend and be humbled by Ted Wedel who is an immovable object five feet from the basket. 

So before a full slate of games begin tonight here is why I love college basketball:

I love…..

the early season tournaments.  There is nothing better than staying up late (well late is a relative term since I now have two kids and can’t make it past 8:30 p.m.) to watch the Maui Classic.

the Princeton offense.

sitting down on Selection Sunday and filling out my bracket….then just a week later tearing up my bracket thinking that I was so stupid believing that a 14 seed could get to the Elite 8.

that I can spell Kryzewski (I’m Polish, so that helps). 

that Butler was inches away from beating Duke in the ultimate David vs. Goliath match-up.

that the only time I’ve ever danced in an aisle and hugged multiple strangers is when my Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks beat the UT-Arlington Mavericks on a last second shot in the quarter final game of the Southland Conference tournament in 2003….my dad was embarrassed but it was a great game and believe it or not the UTA Mavericks play their games on a stage!

watching the conference tournament finals, especially the small conference tournament finals where only one team from that conference will advance to the “Big Dance” every year.

studying Ken Pomeroy’s ratings at www.kenpom.com .

that my wife was an all-state basketball player in Maine so I get a hall pass to watch as much college basketball as I want.

the genius of Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology on www.espn.com.

the obvious passion that the players have for the sport (it just doesn’t transition to the next level, well maybe not until the fourth quarter arrives).

knowing that a “true” champion is crowned at the end of the year.

It seems like this years basketball season has snuck up on me.  During an affiliate trip a few weeks ago I bought a college basketball preview magazine but since it was still 80 degrees outside and my Royals were finishing yet another disappointing season I didn’t feel like it was time to immerse myself in reading up on who was going to try and dethrone the Duke Blue Devils this year.  Well I look up today and notice that several exhibition basketball games start this weekend and it reminded me that the months of November and December are interesting and chaotic months around Learfield Sports.   Now I’m not saying that we haven’t  been busy up to this point, in fact we’ve aired  football broadcasts every Saturday (and sometimes during the week) as well as hundreds of coaches shows the past few months but when you throw in men’s basketball, women’s basketball and hockey game and coaches show broadcasts in the mix it can get down-right hectic. 

As we enter our first weekend of airing all of the broadcasts I mentioned above, I encourage you to take some time tomorrow (or any other day for that matter) to check out the studio web-cams that we have set up throughout our broadcast area that run 24/7 to see what our broadcasts operations look like.  The studio cameras can be found on the top right hand corner of our affiliate home page.  Now as many of you know our sports operations headquarters are located in Jefferson City, Missouri.  We air broadcasts for twenty two of our Networks from what many affectionately call Jeff City and this upcoming Saturday we’ll air twenty six different broadcasts.  During this time there will be twenty six board operators, six producers, two engineers, three scoreboard announcers and two highlight runners making certain that our broadcasts are aired in an optimal manner.  The first broadcast will start at 8:00 a.m. and our last broadcast will end around midnight, then on Sunday we’ll have another round of game broadcasts before the real fun starts next week when we’ll have a litany of football, basketball and hockey coaches shows to go along with the football, basketball and hockey game broadcasts as well.

“Traddddiiitttttiiiionnnnnnn…….tradition!”

Even though I constantly watched sports while growing up, my mother took me to see a plethora of plays in an effort to keep me cultured.  These plays ranged from Shakespeare to musicals (ugh), however the one play I saw the most (quite possibly over 100 times because my mom loved it) was Fiddler on the Roof.  At one point the main character, Tevye, sings about the importance of tradition in his culture, feel free to hear the entire song here.  In college football, tradition is a big reason of why this sport is so great.   One tradition that I really like seeing are the annual trophy games.  In some cases these trophy games date as far back as the late 1800’s and I love seeing teams race across the field to secure Paul Bunyan’s axe or the Big Brown jug.  So, in the spirit of these traditional trophy games here are my top three trophies in college athletics.

3.  Commander in Chief Trophy

Though this trophy is not given out for one specific game, it’s significant in that it is awarded to each season’s winner of the triangular series among the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy and the United States Air Force Academy.  First awarded in 1972 when Richard Nixon was the Commander in Chief, the idea was brought about by the former Athletic Director of the Air Force Academy, George Simler.  Simler believed that a trophy was needed to ensure that the games played between these storied programs ensured more significance than the games they would play against other teams throughout the season.  In several instances the President has personally awarded this trophy to the winning team at a White House ceremony.  Speaking of tradition, the Navy-Air Force game is typically played the first Saturday of October, the Army-Air Force game is normally played on the first Saturday in November and the Army-Navy game is regularly played on the second Saturday in December.  Navy has been in possession of this trophy for the past several years, though Air Force may claim the trophy for the first time since 2003 as they defeated the Midshipmen earlier this year 14-6.  However, they still must beat the Cadets in early November to claim the coveted honor.  I truly respect these academies and if you ever want to learn more about the Navy-Army rivalry I encourage you to read the John Feinstein book entitled, “A Civil War: Army Vs. Navy a Year Inside College Football’s Purest Rivalry.”  

2.  Floyd of Rosedale

In 1934 the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes took part in a game filled with much controversy as many Hawkeye fans believed star halfback, Ozzie Simmons, received several rough and unnecessary hits forcing him to leave the game multiple times.  The following year the coach of the Golden Gophers, Bernie Bierman, received a flood of threatening letters from fans across the state of Iowa.  When the Gophers got off the train in Iowa a few days before the game in 1935, Bierman received round the clock police protection.  The day before the game Clyde Herring, governor of Iowa, issued this statement, “If the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t.”  After hearing this Coach Bierman was ready to put his team back on the train and head  home.  To lighten the mood, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson sent a telegram to Governor Herring on game-day morning, which read, “Minnesota folks are excited about your statement about the Iowa crowd lynching the Minnesota football team. I have assured them that you are a law abiding gentleman only trying to get our goat…I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota wins.”  The Iowa governor accepted and after Minnesota won the game, Governor Herring obtained an award winning pig from the owner of Rosedale Farms in Fort Dodge, Iowa.  Dubbed “Floyd” after the Minnesota Governor, Governor Herring took “Floyd of Rosedale” and personally walked him into Governor Olson’s office.  Since the two schools could not continue wagering a live pig, Governor Olson commissioned a sculptor to capture Floyd’s image.  This bronze pig trophy is now awarded to the winner of the annual contest between the Hawkeyes and Gophers. 

1.  Chief Caddo

Of course, my favorite trophy game has to be the annual contest between Northwestern State University in Nachitoches, LA and my alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas who by the way are ranked #5 this season….Axe ‘em Jacks.  The winner of this contest earns the solid wood trophy which stands at 7 ft. 5 in. and is the largest trophy in college football.  As to common heritage of Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, there is some question about how the cities—each the oldest settlement in their respective states—got their names.  Both versions agree that an Indian chief with two sons sent one east and the other west, and they traveled the same distance and established villages. As for the folklore in question: one version, as reported by historian Samuel Stewart Mims indicates that the village the Chief Caddo presided over was overpopulated and the chief ordered his two grown sons to report to him precisely at sunrise. He told one son to walk east and the other to walk west until the very moment of sunset. The sons were to establish a village at the place they reached. The son who went west wound up in a grove of persimmon trees, and named his village Nacogdoches, meaning persimmon. The eastbound son reached a grove of papaw trees and named his village Natchitoches, meaning papaw. 

Another version says that the chief had twin sons, Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, and could not decide who would lead the tribe following his death. The chief split the tribe between them and sent each in different directions. They traveled for three days, one eastbound and one westbound, and wound up where the cities are located today.  Regardless of which story is accurate, I love the national recognition that my alma mater gets on ESPN’s College Game Day each season.

When visiting with our affiliates I always like to ask if they employ any creative tools to sell our programming.  There are several great ideas and promotions that I have heard over the years but there was one promotion that our Sooner affiliate in Muskogee, Oklahoma used a few years back that has always stuck out in my mind. 

The premise of the promotion included the station partnering with a local pizza restaurant to sponsor the football coaches show.  Leading up to the first show the station heavily promoted the program and as part of the sponsorship the restaurant offered to give a free pie to any caller that got on the air to ask Coach Bob Stoops a question.  Now keep in mind we run the Sooner Sports Network broadcasts out of Jefferson City, Missouri and were not aware that this promotion was occurring.  After the first show I remember that Keith Sampson, our Executive Producer, came to me indicating that we had a high volume of callers from the Muskogee area.  I didn’t think much of it because Bill Payne, Travis Reeves, Cliff Casteel and company at KTFX-FM have been a longtime Sooner affiliate and do a tremendous job promoting their programs.  The second coaches show got a little stranger as again we had several Muskogee faithful call in wanting to talk with Coach Stoops but this time after a caller got done asking the coach his football question he followed it up by inquiring when and where he could get his free pizza!  Needless to say that even though Michael Dean (host of the show) and Coach Stoops were a little perplexed they got quite a chuckle out of the question and the next day Cliff filled me in on their creative partnership with the pizza restaurant.    

This was a great promotion!  The station did a remarkable job coming up with a unique idea, promoted it well and after following up with Cliff earlier this week I am happy to report that the restaurant has been a regular customer ever since.

Now that what ESPN dubbed “Monster Saturday” is behind us and we are two weeks into the 2010 college football season it’s time to start thinking about the college basketball and hockey seasons.  Some may be saying, “you gotta be kidding me, it’s September and football just started!”   They’d be right, but we want to continue assisting our affiliates in making our programming a revenue generator for your station by supporting your sales staff in creating customized sales pieces.   Below is an example of what Brittany Heck, one of our great affiliate representatives, created for a Purdue Boilermaker affiliate highlighting an athlete from the stations hometown:

Boilermaker Sales Piece

There are several great aspects of this sales piece:

1. As you can see in the example above, it’s a very professional item that your staff will feel confident in presenting to their clients.
2. The sales piece is totally customizable, we’ll work with your staff and make sure that all of the necessary pricing and programming guidelines are included as well as your stations logo
3. Once we have the necessary sales information from your staff we take over the creation aspect of the sales piece alleviating the need for your staff to spend time working on a proposal
4. The sales piece is simple to include with your other sales material
5. It’s free!

We hope by offering this service we can assist your sales staff in having a great tool to sell your local inventory.  Football season may have just started but the basketball and hockey season is right around the corner and now is a great time to begin presenting those sales packages to your partners. Please contact your affiliate representative if you want to take part in this program.