The Bills ( I believed) moved up to take John McCargo…he’s backup on the DL.

These are guys in their 3rd year! These are guys who should be making an impact. Look at the vikings 2nd rounder, Cedric Griffin. He’s a starter on the defense and is making a big time impact.

At least Donte Whitnor is starting.

Come to think of it, I may be getting confused at who the Bills traded up for…it might have been Whitnor and then they took Youboty in the 3rd.

Ok, just thinking out loud (via keystrokes).

I’m into fantasy football right now…I have a draft in about 1 hour and a draft on Wednesday….exciting stuff. I’m defending champ in one league, leading my baseball league in another. I guess this whole sportscaster thing is paying out (in other forms) besides the paycheck.

I struggle with starting Edwards over Losman personally, but I see what the Bills brass is doing.  Losman has done nothing productive since being drafted in 2004. Last year was his “make it or break it season”. He went broke…was banged up and a younger guy did exactly what he could of done. From a numbers standpoint, they are both bad. Edwards just 7 TD/ 8 Int while Losman was 4TD / 6 INT.

I think I would give Losman the nod to begin with…and if he struggles, then cut him. I don’t see the benefit of getting into J.P’s head as a back-up. If JP is going to have a good year, then its going to start from the beginning.

Losman did get the nod against the Colts on Sunday night, he went 13-19 for 108 Yards, 0 int/0td. Decent numbers.

There’s a random stat out there that Trent Edwards hasn’t had a winning season since he was like a sophomore in HS. Winning sometimes is genetics.

It’s weird…it’s like that in a lot of things. Some people just know when to buy or sell stocks at the right time. Some people are just better broadcasters than others…and some people don’t know how to lead their team to a winning record. I’m not saying Edwards is cursed, but the number of losing seasons in a row causes concern to me.

Regardless, all Buffalo Bills fans want out of a QB is someone who will get rid of the ball and not turn it over.

What are your thoughts on the Buffalo Bills QB situation??

No excuses, I know…they’re like a$$holes, everyone’s got one, I know.

Anyways, the Olympic buzz is in Iowa right now. Doug Schwab a freestyle wrestler is from a town around the city that I currently live…so we covered his thing in depth. Its just a shame that these athletes work so hard for just one shot at a gold.

They put in basically four-years of hard work…and if they mess up, OUCH.

Like what a Des Moines hurdler did….Lolo Jones.

Girl was 2 Hurdles away from a gold. She hit hurdle number nine while leading…and stumbled to a 7th place finish.

I commend her for taking the interview, saying exactly how she felt…and taking it like a true olympian.

Sometimes, its not your day…even though you hope and dream of that day for 4 whole years.

That’s what sports is all about. Winning, losing and the heartbreak/celebration that goes along with it.

With out emotion in sports, I believe I’d be without a job.

That being said…I’ll make fun of my Texas Cheerleaders.

26 Cheerleaders in an elevator…sure it will stop working.

Anyways, since I’ve last posted, Brett Favre has been traded to the Jets…the poison pill in that deal, IF THE JETS TRADE FAVRE TO THE VIKINGS…they owe 3 First Round Picks to the Packers!

Unbelievable huh.

And you thought rivalries were dead in the NFL.

PSSSSH.

KIMT Announces Promotion

I can’t believe my co-anchor stole my thunder!

I’m excited to become Sports Director. This will give me an opportunity to use all those ideas in my head that would make the Sports Department a better department…and turn them into something that will actually come to fruition.

The news department looks to expand sports coverage even further than it already is…which will give me a good opportunity to keep improving.

I’m excited.

Today I went live out at the big baseball game of the night…not only was I up to date on the new coaching stuff going down with the local junior college, but I had S.A.W and a live interview.

It was an all-local, all-live show at 6 and it was fun.

It’s been a little hectic here at the 3. Our Sports Director decided to resign, allowing myself to pick up the slack. I really don’t mind, I think the department runs better right now with one person than two.

Not only am I worrying about my thing, but I’ve got post game sound from tonight’s game that I will hand off to the guys filling in on the weekend.

On a different note…there’s a team in our area overcoming adversity.

Charles City as many people know has been through probably one of its toughest summers as a city. The flood then the fireworks has been a complete distraction.

With the baseball team only playing two home games the ENTIRE season, they have still been able to make it down to state.

I talked to the coach today and he told me it wasn’t common for the kids to ask: a) who they are playing and b) are they the home team.

Pretty amazing story.

Amazing Catch I shot which made ESPN! 

Pretty sweet. A high school girl from Saint Ansgar, IA robs a home-run and lands on the opposite side of the fence. I’m really curious to see if baseball tonight / Sportscenter picks it up. I saw the top plays from the early edition of sportscenter, and this one is wayyy better.

I interviewed the girl this afternoon…she was super excited.

Expect that story on Sunday.

But, seriously…check out the catch. It’s sweet.

Many of the local news departments in larger, much larger markets are diminishing in size. That means bad news for me. The word is they are getting the jobs in the middle size markets where people like me would normally fit in.

It’s frustrating. At the same time, I still do not doubt my abilities. Just because I haven’t received the call, I still believe I have the talent to make it to the next level.

The contract is technically up in 27 days…so some interesting developments should be coming in the next month.

I was on vacation for just over a week…went down to Texas got a bunch of rays, enjoyed water sports and mooched off the rents’ for a while. It was very nice being back.

Now I’m just trying to keep improving my tape…keep sending out reels to potential jobs and hopefully someone will bite.

Oh yeah, and keep improving my golf game!

Just when you lost hope that Tiger was not going to win a 14th straight major when entering the final round with at least a share of the lead…Super-hero like actions bring him right back into the action.

You don’t even have to be a golf fan to get goosebumps from Tiger’s putt on 18.

One knee, on father’s day weekend (everyone knows his connection to his pops)…Tiger does it again. Everytime this cat swings you can see the grimacing look on his face. It’s like someone is reaching in his knee and tearing a little bit more of his tendon everytime he swings.

Is there ever too much Tiger love fest?

I saw at the beginning of the week where Woods has the media eating right out of the palm of his hand. Sure that’s nice and everything, but why does that happen? There’s a rumor that media members get the best interviews with him if they are “F.O.T’s”.  I’m not kidding.

F.O.T’s stands for “friends of Tiger”. IF you’re in his inner-circle, you’ll get the best soundbytes…you’ll get the interview and he’ll call you by first name on the podium (secret goal of mine to have first name called on podium on live national TV). 

Anyways, it was a lot of fun watching Tiger. By him doing what he did on Sunday…there’ll be that many more golfers out playing on Monday. That many more youngsters picking up a new set of sticks and learning the game…and alot more competition in the future.

Michael Jordan scoring 40+ winning an NBA title with the flu, Kirk Gibson hitting a HR with one leg…that’s the modern-day equivalent of Tiger and his bum knee at the US Open without playing competitively for 2 months.

Tiger vs. Rocco — As stated on the news at 10, Advantage Tiger!

My bad.

So, the flood of 2008. I came back from my girlfriends up in Minneapolis on Saturday morning and could tell there was something weird about the skies to the west. Soon enough after going into work around 1:30, thunderstorm warnings turn to tornado warnings turn to tornadoes spotted in a town 30 minutes northwest of Mason City.

About 20 minutes after that, tornado storm like clouds (obviously not a meteorologist) were heading towards Mason City. There were unconfirmed reports of a tornado touching down at the Mason City airport. Me and a co-worker were intrigued at what exactly a tornado would look like, we went out side. The darkest of dark clouds. The clouds we saw weren’t touching the ground but we did see some circulation up in the sky.

Very scary.

Little did I know that was the beginning of a uncomfortable weather-filled week.
I took a shower before going into work that Saturday, and I didn’t take one when they called me in “to help shoot flood-ravaged areas” around Mason City. Little did I know that an hour and a half later that our water would be shut off until Wednesday.

The newsies sent me to a town called Rock Falls…about 20 minutes down the road if there’s no road closures. Of course, with only one way in and out of the town, it took me near 45 minutes. I get there and talk to a family who has 3-inches of water in their house. While shooting video of the river right behind their house, I see a deer swept away in the water just barely sticking his head out.

I alertly capture this on video…some of the strongest, most powerful video from the flood.

That Sunday, sports was canceled (and who could blame them). So I turn a PKG (story in news term) about Rock Falls.

I loved turning the news-style PKG because the newsy at my station always poke fun at me turning my feature stories. They say how I have it easy and how I couldn’t do their job. Of course I incorporated natural sound, have strong shooting and basically show them all up.

My buddy up here lives in a basement of a house near the Winnebago. He had waist high water…he got all his clothes out of there…but all furniture, everything else he owns he had to trash. He’s stayed at my place two or three nights since the flood.

And that was just Sunday.

Monday our news station did more continuous coverage of the flood. A lot more newsies were in, so I didn’t help them. But I did try to find flood related Sports stories. A tip came in about Riceville helping out the MC Newman softball team by offering them facilities to shower, wash their uniforms, feed them, etc., a truly touching story.

So I coordinate live shots to get this great act of kindness recorded on the 5,6 and 10 pm news.

It’s a pretty good story if you got to see it.

Now still on Tuesday…I’m driving back from Riceville and a tornado is in the process of producing. I get to Plymouth, 10 mins away from Mason City and it starts hailing. I drive south and I’m out of the storm.

A little later, this is what it looked like.

So now Wednesday rolls around…water is expected to come on. It does, but it takes until 5 p.m. for it to be pressurized to my apartment on the 5th floor.

Yes, I’ve taken about 15 showers…and no, I don’t take water for granted any longer.

I’ll just make a statement of fact about this weather….there’s no one that can really want to live in Iowa when the weather is like this.
Simply put, tornado alley isn’t fun.