Silver Anniversary of a Great First Date

October 30, 1985: I finally managed to go to dinner and a movie with the pretty nurse I had meet a few weeks earlier. Getting the date arranged had its challenges. I was entangled in an old-school juggling act of dating; The newspaper reporter one night, the girl from the ad agency another night, the assistant manager at the apartment complex the next, occasionally going to the movies with the nice girl I’d met in college…Who needed to be tied down?
Plus, she was busy, working crazy hours in the neonatal intensive care unit: two weeks of nights, two weeks of days.



I was a weekend sports anchor. She was seeing a preppy lawyer and that tall guy from the hospital. Everybody was having fun, but we had hit it off the night we met. The follow-up phone calls were increasingly revelatory and romantically encouraging. Finally: common ground. It was a Wednesday and we both had the night off from work.
We got along well, to say the least. By Christmas, everyone else had disappeared into the abyss. I remember she signed her first Christmas card to me “Fondly,” which after 25 years together I still think is funny. It was too early to declare love for one another, so what was she to do? She gave me wine glasses. I think I still have them.

Mid-morning, October 30, 2010, it dawned on us that it was a big day. We were in the car on the way to Conway, Arkansas where I had a TV assignment for a college football game. There was no going back, so we celebrated our milestone at Estes Stadium on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.



It was a beautiful day and the game was competitive, so we can’t complain. It was fitting, in a way. Over 25 years, the pretty nurse has spent an extraordinary amount of time in football stadiums. Looking back on it, maybe one of the reasons we hit it off so well back in the fall of ’85 is because she was comfortably conversant in football. Pretty, smart, patient, professional, football fan…what more could a guy ask for? Not much, so despite my eccentricities we are still happily together.

We were in a hurry to get home, so we left Conway and headed south. We were hungry, so we stopped at an amusing spot in Benton, Arkansas: Brown’s Country Store & Restaurant, Home of the 100-foot buffet.
We didn’t take full advantage of the 100 feet of food, but supper was hot and fast. What more could we ask for? Well, on a big anniversary, probably a lot more. But, it’s okay. That sort of thing just comes with the territory. She’s such a good sport. She has been for twenty-five years and I have no reason to think that will change.

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I'm Ready For My Close-up, But Not The Cold

Estes Stadium
Originally uploaded by Darrell

(Conway, AR) – The winding road of the Independent Broadcast Professional takes me to Central Arkansas University, where the football team played host to the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. It’s back on the sidelines for the Southland Conference Television Network. The life of the sideline reporter has its ups and downs. The job takes less preparation than does play-by-play. You need to know interesting stories about the teams, the players and maybe the facility. Mostly, though, you make a cameo appearance at the top of the broadcast, host halftime and interview the coaches as they leave or enter the locker room, as well as immediately following the game. In between, you try to get the producer’s attention with your pithy observations or insightful comments. While the pampered play-by-play and color commentators sit in the cozy press box and have their minions bring them refreshments and salient statistics, the intrepid sideline reporter is relegated to relative obscurity while being openly exposed to the elements.
Conway is the northernmost outpost of the SLC and we felt it. Gone were our snazzy little network polo shirts which we jauntily donned in the hot part of the football season. As temperatures plummeted into the 40’s, I became acutely aware that I had dressed comfortably in layers from the waist up while utterly neglecting my lower extremities.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a breeze so the misery index stayed relatively low. The crew was alert enough to bundle up and even wear gloves, but the idiot on-air “talent” on the field with them planned his wardrobe with appearance in mind and not comfort. Style over substance: it’s the TV way.
The game was a great one to broadcast. There were lead changes, dramatic comebacks and a game-winning field goal as time expired.
I get called for spot duty with this crew, filling in when the regular guy can’t make it. It’s something I look forward to. I get just enough work to scratch my broadcasting itch. In this conference, the coaches and players generally are thrilled to be on TV. Most importantly, the ladies and gentlemen in the crew are exceedingly nice and fun to work with. They always make me feel welcome.
It’s a positive experience all around. It will be even better next time, I’m sure, as long as I’m alert enough to dress appropriately for the weather.

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And since this was my first trip to UCA, that meant a chance for a photo with a new mascot!

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