What did I do? Well, I almost burned down the station.

Maybe I’m embellishing slightly. It wouldn’t have been my fault if it had happened, though.

It’s always a little disturbing when you pick up the aroma of burning plastic. It only took 5 minutes of scurrying around the edit bay to find out one of my monitors was literally smoking. Third monitor I’ve blown out in 6 months. Whoops.

I did make it home from Nashville, by the way. But when I saw this sign at Nasvhille International Airport, I thought that might not happen.

I’m not sure if I want to travel on any plane leaving from an airport that trusts Windows 98 for anything. Especially when it’s in the process of shutting down. If you’re not careful, all of the instruments on the plane and on the ground show a blue screen of death. Luckily you don’t crash. You just get stuck, forever.

So originally the plan seemed perfect. Fly out of Nashville (BNA) to O’Hare (ORD) at 6:35 pm. Land at 8:25 pm. Leave ORD for IND at 9:00 pm. Be at home, in bed by 11:30 pm.

I took a sip of my beer at O’Charley’s in the airport.

Flight 4337 with service to Chicago-O’Hare is delayed. By 10 minutes. Big whoop.

I took another sip of my beer.

American Airlines flight to ORD is delayed. Until 7:10 pm. Landing at O’Hare at 9:00 pm.

Shit.

Please check my math on this, but if I land at O’Hare at 9:00 pm, and have a flight to Indianapolis at 9:00 pm… Well, you get the idea.

Double-shit.

Flight delayed. Even more.

Time for a new plan. Thank you ESPN Emergency Travel.

Nashville to Indianapolis on United. Via Washington-Dulles.

I’ll only get in half and hour late. That’s not bad for going to D.C., right?

Ahh. It’s a whole new design for a whole new year.

Doesn’t that feel better? So nice and clean.

That’s what you can get done in airports if you put your mind, and battery-life, to it.

Anyways, I’m on the road again. Seems like that’s happening a lot as of late. I just worked an ESPNU game in Tennessee (the state where Tennessee-in’ is Tennebelievin’ and where edukashun pays). Tennessee State at Tennessee Tech. Confusing.

For being the Ohio Valley Conference, it was a pretty good game. But damn, those women’s teams play fast. Someone needs to teach these small schools about face time. A girl would go to the line, the referee would toss her the ball, she would bounce it once and take her free throw. Compare that to those guys in the NBA. They get the ball, dribble 4-5 times, stare at the bucket (while their face is perfectly framed on television), then take their shot. Talk about a complex.

Anyways, back to the actual game. You can’t complain about a game where only 3 things are screwed up by the graphics guys (@ of those were my fault). The confusion between Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech got the best of me on a results graphics. Whoops. Didn’t mean to give the wrong school credit. Oh, and Stat Track. Stat Track how I loathe thee. The biggest, most obtrusive graphic ever. Does it really help tell the story of the game? Well, if I’m sitting in a bar watching Wisconsin at Purdue and Southeast Missouri St. at Murray St. (which I am) I don’t really care about those 3 stat categories. I want to see occasional field goals, rebounds and maybe another telling stat.

The constant saying about the Stat Trak is that the game gets in the way of using it, just like the game gets in the way of every Fox show. Have you ever seen how many sponsored elements there are in a Fox show? It’s a wonder you even see the game.

Anywho. After a 4:00 am wake-up call, 5:00 am crew call, 11:00 am broadcast and hour drive to the airport, I’m tired. And not just a little tired, like falling asleep in my airport O’Charley’s beer.

So now, I wait. 2 more hours. BNA to ORD to IND. Home by 11:00. Or so the paperwork says.

Here’s some photos from the trip down. Maybe I’ll get the photos from today off my phone. First I have to find a power outlet. Damn airports.

My Saturday started at 4:30 in the morning in Covington, KY (see above). My day ended 16 hours later in Tallahassee, FL (see below). Yes. Those are two different Waffle Houses. And yes. They were both delicious.

It’s nice that there aren’t any banners obstructing the view.

It’s amazing I even made it back to Indiana. Now bitching in airports has never really solved any problems, and I personally think the people with over-the-top complaints are there purely for my enjoyment. However, I was more than a little on edge while traveling today. Here’s the Readers’ Digest condensed version.

• 4:30am- Alarm.
• 4:35am- Alarm. Again.
• 6:00am- Crew call at a school I never even knew existed.
• 1:00pm- On-air.
• 4:30pm- Off-air.
• Whoops, around 3:30 a voicemail from United that my 7:50 flight was severely delayed and I had been bumped to US Airways at 6:20.
• 5:00pm- My cell phone reacquires a signal after exiting the production truck and tells me I have the aforementioned voicemail.
• 5:02pm- I hop in the car to make the 30 minute drive to the Richmond airport.
• 5:52pm- Walk from the rental car drop-off to the United desk, where workers are actually shocked I received the message, and showed up.
• 6:00pm- Finally make my way through “additional” security. You’ll learn to recognize it from the “SSS” on your boarding pass.
• 6:20pm- Made my flight. Thought things could only get better.
• 7:10pm- Get to Philadelphia (US Airways) instead of Dulles (United).
• 8:15pm- Begin boarding the plane, only to find out I was actually a stand-by passenger.
• 8:30pm- Watched them close the doors to the jetway.
• 8:35pm- Watched them open the doors to the jetway.
• 8:40pm- Got on board. Was told to sit wherever I wanted.
• 8:41pm- People got on. Told the kid behind me he was in their seat. He told me I was in his seat. Goat rodeo for seats ensues.
• 8:42pm- Got stuck, crammed into a window seat, next to a fat guy who snored so loudly it caused turbulence.

I’m sitting in Indianapolis International, waiting to board my flight to Cincy (a one hour flight/two hour drive). I look through the sea of people waiting to board planes. Families on the move. WHERE IN THE HELL ARE THEY GOING FRIDAY EVENING?

I understand the road warriors are all heading home after a long week away from their loved ones. The folks dressed in business attire explain themselves; it is just after 5:00, and this is the first flight after the close of business.

Suddenly the answer to my question has dawned on me. Through the sea I notice key clues to why these families are traveling on a weekend that involves no holidays. Cowboy boots. Blue jeans. Cowboy hats. A faint smell of manure. THE BLUE JACKETS! The FFA has invaded the airport, and many of them are heading home.

I find it a humorous coincidence that most are heading to Atlanta.

Here’s a video look at Great American Ballpark from between left and center field, right next to Cincinnati’s bullpen.

And here’s Lyon Video’s production truck, MU5 , that has been used for all the games this week.