Like all the kids who went back to school this past week, this guy gets a start on autumn things.
Like writing this column in Boston.
I was out there for the Colts first preseason game Thursday, so I will hopefully be back in Crawfordsville as you read this on Saturday morning. You know how production schedules and deadlines go.
The first Colts game is just the door opening to the football season out in front of me.
I finished the high school football broadcast schedules in the last few days, I’m waiting on the first college game calls to come in, and there have been plenty of calls, emails and texts from Fox about the NFL regular season.
Oh yes, there was a Fever game on Friday night on the way home from Boston as well. Can’t get away from hoops in Indiana.
Like I said, it is Colts for the preseason, with the regular season soon here. Those games get started right after Labor Day, and yes, as I know you ask, there is a trip to Dallas early in the schedule.
Before getting all over the football stuff, I just want to take a minute to thank everyone connected with American Legion Byron Cox Post 72 baseball for another great summer for this guy.
Mostly due to the selling skills of Legion coach Kyle Proctor, and with the “let’s broadcast two” attitude of Dave Peach and the folks at WIMC/WCDQ, we put a lot of games on the air, and I had the opportunity to cover most of the games.
There was a weekend trip to Evansville (with four road wins). There were a couple trips to exotic Illinois locations (find Watseka), and then a long siege at the state tournament in Rockport.
With weather issues, ranging from 110-degree heat indexes to pounding rain that delayed games into the next day, it was quite an interesting five days.
In the end, it was a third-place finish for Post 72, something to be very proud of.
You might have read the stories about how the teams that finished above Post 72 in the final standings fared in the national regionals last week. There was an ineligible player and a forfeit, the Terre Haute team subbed in for a Wisconsin team and nearly made the Legion World Series, and on and on.
I assure you that five days in Rockport, Indiana is just a little slice of heaven. The folks down there were very nice, and as helpful as they could be, but it was a long few days down there.
Again, a last thanks to all. The Legion folks, the coaches and players, and especially a lot of new parents who became friends over a couple months. They listened to a lot of me on the app, and were very helpful in getting names right, getting trivia questions answered, and keeping me up to date so I could brag on their guys. It was a great time.
The trip to Boston got me away from the days of torrential rain in Indiana. Wow, for the downpours, the flooding and all the rest. I hope everyone is recovering from all that water.
The Colts were so-so in their first outing, but there were 20 of the 22 scheduled Week 1 starters that didn’t play.
I managed to find some good seafood in that seafood town, and I didn’t have to drive too much. I assure you that I could not handle that congestion on a full-time basis.
So, the autumn is upon us, and there are footballs all over. The games don’t count for a few more days, but that doesn’t matter. The high school games count next Friday and the pros start soon enough.
There will be travel stories aplenty, I am sure.
Safe travels.
Jeff Nelson is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review and works professionally for Fox Sports working with the Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Colts and many more professional teams.
