TK Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 http://www.panthers.com/news/newsroomNewsDetail.jsp?id=9870 Day-by-day play-by-play November 14, 2003 By Kenny Albert Special to Panthers.com Editor's note: Kenny Albert is a sportscaster for the FOX television network and will serve as the play-by-play announcer for the Carolina Panthers versus Washington Redskins game. Some football fans might think that the game broadcasters show up at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, talk for three hours, go home and then do it again the next week. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. I've never actually counted how many hours of preparation go into just one NFL game, but an educated guess would be somewhere between 40 and 50. Here is a typical week, using this Sunday's Panthers-Redskins game as the example. Monday: After getting home from the previous game late Sunday night, or in this case, early Monday morning following a redeye from San Diego, Monday is usually a day to re-introduce yourself to the family, open the mail, pay the bills and bring in the dry cleaning. I will start to prepare my charts for the next game, usually while watching Monday Night Football. I also read all of the articles written in the Charlotte and Washington papers. Tuesday: Around 10:30 a.m., three VHS tapes arrive, my previous game (Vikings-Chargers), as well as the two games played by this week's teams (Panthers-Buccaneers and Redskins-Seahawks). Most of the day is spent reading and watching tapes. Wednesday: Early in the morning, three more packages are delivered, one from each team and another from FOX with various statistics from the NFL. Each team packet includes a media guide, weekly press release, statistics, and numerous newspaper clips covering the entire season. I would guess I read the equivalent of five books each week preparing for an NFL game. Thursday: More of the same. Read. Watch tapes. Read. Watch tapes. Friday: I will leave for the airport around 7:00 a.m. for my flight to Charlotte. Upon landing, I will head to Ericsson Stadium to meet with my producer (Pete Macheska), director (Mike Frank) and color analyst (Brian Baldinger). We will watch practice, then meet with various Panthers players and coaches. After our meetings, we watch "coaches film" of earlier Panthers and Redskins games. These tapes differ from the VHS game tapes in that they are shot from high above the stadium and include all 22 players on the field in every shot. The VHS tapes we watch earlier in the week are the actual television broadcasts from the networks. At night, the production group (about eight to 10 of us) goes to dinner. Saturday: I usually spend about five hours in the morning/early afternoon reading through more articles and reviewing my notes and charts. In the late afternoon, we will go to the Redskins hotel to meet with players and coaches. Then, back at our hotel, we order dinner and have our production meeting, where we talk about our game open and story lines, as well as many other aspects of the telecast. Sunday: I will arrive at the stadium around 10:15 a.m. At noon, I get ready for the "FOX Watch," a live segment during the FOX NFL Sunday pre-game show. Then at 1:00 p.m., we hit the air. I can't think of many other moments during the course of a typical week that match the rush of going on the air live from an NFL stadium. Monday: The entire process will begin again. Yes, it's a lot of work, but I wouldn't trade this job for all the money in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakofthesouth Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 It's such a difficult and demanding job. He has to sit there, be on national TV, fly to cities all over the world, watch football games (eek!), study and read football articles/stats, and work for a whole 4 to 5 months out of the year. And.... He has to get up in time for his packages to 'arrive' at 10:30, sits around, watches football, watches some more football, then he repeats. Man. This guy's life sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orlskinsfan Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 agreeded...what a tool to say he has a difficult and demanding job....any one of us on this board would love to do this for a living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesome Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 Kenny Albert belongs in the circus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Washington Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 i find it hard to believe they do all that work. i would understand spending a lot of hours looking at film, but reading 5 books worth of articles a week? that's b.s. and if they do why? the reason i say it is because these guys recycle the same thing every week. they could just go over about 20 or so preplanned coversations that could be read off the telestrator and just do play by play and make bs comment from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyDave Posted November 15, 2003 Share Posted November 15, 2003 They do more work before 8 AM than the Navy does all day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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