Around the end of April, I had a phone conversation with Marc Ryan. We had been working from home for a few days at that point, and the difficulty of the situation we faced had really started to sink in. Not only were we trapped in our apartments, but we were tasked with what we both agreed would be the most difficult challenge of our careers, each of us with a decade and a half of sports broadcasting in our back pocket. That challenge stared us in the face, a daunting middle linebacker pointing directly at us as we tried to set up the play that would carry us through until athletics resumed.
That challenge?
How does one host a sports talk show that stands out, when there were no sports to talk about?
We had listened to shows from around the country as our colleagues in the industry all faced the same task.
"What's your favorite sports movie?"
"What's the best college football team of all time?"
"Who was the most dominant player at their position in history?
It was certainly the easiest way to get through the weeks where competition was limited to esports and reruns of the European Tram Driving Championships on ESPN 8, The Ocho.
But we both knew it wasn't what we wanted to do. It wasn't what we wanted for our shows and it wasn't the type of show that we wanted to bring to you, the listeners of ESPN Upstate.
Marc and I agreed on one other aspect of the shutdown: that while it was indeed the biggest challenge of our career, if we were able to succeed, if we were somehow able to thrive through it, we would come out the other side stronger and more prepared for any challenge that might come our way in the future than we could've possibly imagined just a few months before.
So, we dug for ideas. We invested ourselves, digging deeper than just "hey, remember that one time?"
Deep dive conspiracy theories into Tiger King. Episode by episode breakdowns of our impressions of The Last Dance.
(For the record, I don't care what anybody says - Jordan was out drinking, got hungover as hell, and knew he had an image to protect, so he concocted the "food poisoning story" to shield himself. Fight me.)
And then we got baseball back. And then we got NBA from the bubble. And then college football kicked off. The NFL came out of the gates hot. And finally, we had sports to talk about on our sports talk station.
I think 2020 was a lot like that struggle for all of us. It was a challenging year, and I think that's probably the most FCC friendly way I can describe the last 365 days.
But f there's one thing I've learned about the Upstate in ten months I've called this place my home, it's that the resolve to come out of that challenge better off for it exists. Hell, it's one of the better traits the Upstate has shown me.
I moved here less than two weeks before Rudy Gobert tested positive for the Coronavirus, which feels like it was seven years ago. I had one full weekend before the ACC pulled Clemson and Florida State off the floor minutes before the ACC Championship. I hadn't even finalized putting show promos on the station before the world went crazy and the path I was walking became winding.
You know what?
I made it.
And you know what else?
We're going to make it.
Vaccines are coming out. Sports are getting played. Teams are starting to let fans back into stadiums and arenas. Sure, in small numbers, but hey, after watching the NBA Bubble, I'll take it.
So, let's stare 2021 directly in the face.
We're not out of the woods. We're in that weird holding pattern, like the one that we were in when we were watching the MLB labor dispute. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we're not sure what weird factors we haven't considered are still between us and the umpire calling "play ball."
But, just like those few weeks of contract disputes and safety protocol arguments, we know what the end result is if we pull this thing together and get through it.
It's fans in the stands. It's players leaving it all out on the field. It's the fresh cut grass and the hot dogs and the cold beers. It's the "which hat is the ball under" challenge on the scoreboard and the smack talk between rivals across the aisle.
And it's the feeling of being human, of being alive, that is ultimately the reward for it.
So, as we stare down 2021, let's face those challenges head on. Let's invest in ourselves. Let's understand that we still face an incredible challenge, but one that is NOT insurmountable, one that will NOT beat us.
And let's get it.
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To end, I want to send out a special thank you to everyone in the Upstate. At the risk of being reptitive after my Christmas blog, I want to say thank you. As hard as the work that Marc, Diesel, Lonzo, Mark Hendrix, myself, and our incredible support staff at ESPN Upstate have worked, none of it would have a point if it wasn't for you. We do it for the the sports fans of the Upstate. We do it for you. And if you hadn't have elected to spend your afternoons talking sports with us, and allowing us to all be a part of the sports community of the Upstate, we'd all be in a wildly different place in life.
So, thank you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I hope that you realized the challenges of 2020 couldn't keep you down, and I hope you look at 2021 with a renewed feeling of optimism and encouragement. And I hope you choose to invest in yourself and make it the best year yet.
We only get so many spins around the sun. How you use them is up to you. So let's go give it hell, together.
Happy New Year, South Carolina....