Broadcasters If They Are Any Good Are Prepared

It is a sad state to think a person working on the broadcast of Wake Forest University football because he was not retained by a new coach would do all in his power to help that new coach fail.  He was hired to be the color man on the football coverage.  He either told other teams of the expected plays Wake was going to run against certain teams when they played them that week or he was paid for the knowledge.

There are plenty of teams willing to spy or to send fans to practices to watch what plays you are running for that week.  There is no doubt if I know when you line up in a certain formation what you plan to run is a big help.  There are not many colleges or pro teams these days that allow open practices where fans can come watch just because of the potential of spies learning all the knowledge they can find out on your team this week.

If it didn't help get your team prepared this week why have teams like the New England Patriots been caught taping other team's practices.  It wasn't because they were testing  new camera equipment.  Now days even in high school players are given DVD's to take home and watch last week's game and look at the person you will be going up against.  If you know what a tendency of a player is or a team what they will do in this formation it helps your preparation..

I had the great pleasure to do play by play for 16 years at Ahoskie High and Hertford County for Daryl Allen  and then the first four years B W Holt was at Rocky Mount.  Both those coaches gave me access to come watch film with their coaches most of the time on Sunday nights after you have met with next week's coach of the other team to exchange film.

There were not many Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday's that you would not find me at practice  watching the team work on what each coach thought they would need to do that week to win.  I knew who was hurt, where each wanted to attack that week and even what they planned to do to stop the other side.  I wanted to know as much as possible to be able just like a player recognize what formation a team was in and what to expect as the play unfolded. 

When you cover one team you can do all that but as my radio life turned more to games of the week it is harder to get to both schools or to even a coach allowing you the access you have when one team  is all you are covering.

I knew some very important information which I had been given privilege  to know by both coaches and I had been trusted to not tell everyone I knew about what was going to happen.  The world of college coaching when a coach is relieved of his duties as a coach most of the time his assistants are also relieved.  Why a person would feel he should be retained when all others were not is a mystery.

When you see those guys on TV on Sunday's and all they do is describe what they see remember this that they have spent all week learning to pronounce names, look at films of both teams they are covering that week.  They too have been given access to teams practices, locker rooms and knowledge of what they plan to do to win the game this week.  It is only a game but to those who play in the game they surely don't want some media person giving away secrets about what they plan to do to win this week.