When you are on the road covering a Super Bowl, you have to find a way to get your work done in a variety of locations.
Early in the afternoon on Wednesday, we interviewed Rod Woodson at our outdoor location near the NFL headquarters in downtown Tampa. The former Steeler works for the NFL Network, is a regular contributor to Connected and is a lock to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. After we were done, I asked Woodson a question that I have been dying to ask him for a long time. “Was former Steelers linebacker Greg Lloyd as mean as he seemed to be?” Woodson said not only was Lloyd mean, he was crazy mean. Woodson said no one on the Steelers would dare mess with him. Now, that’s what I call a tough man.
For the most part, we do the majority of our work at the ABC News trailer in a field next to Raymond James Stadium known as the “Domestic Compound”. Basically it’s a glorified construction trailer with a table and some folding chairs. On the tables are a few monitors so we can view our work. I like to plop myself down at the “Rogers Sportsnet” designated table and work on the scripts for my various feature stories we are putting together down here in Tampa.
While it might appear to be a Spartan area, it is actually a really cool environment to get your work done when you’re covering the Super Bowl. Once my writing is done, it’s time to voice the body of my story. For acoustic reasons, I like to hop into our rental SUV and voice my story.
Since its my third time covering the Super Bowl for Sportsnet, I have my own system for getting my work done. I always feed my voice overs and interview clips for any feature that I’m working on at least one day early. It’s the only way the dedicated men and women back at the network can work their magic and make my stories look as good as they do. No matter what. Your first priority when covering a Super Bowl is getting your work done. The work always must come first. Only after all your stories are done and you’ve filed any stories for the website do you enjoy any down time.
Working in the trailer this year does have some nice fringe benefits. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are rehearsing for the half time show in a tent about 200 metres from our location. The boys from Jersey sound like they’re primed to blow away the crowd at Raymond James Stadium with an incredible set. Mighty Max is still a beast on the drum kit.
Once again, the weather here in Tampa was completely off the hook. Just a nice light breeze, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures hovering around 25 degrees Celsius. Perhaps my favourite glimpse into life in Tampa occurred Wednesday morning while I was working out at a fitness centre near our hotel. On one of the televisions, they were showing the local long range forecast. They were predicting that it would be a “chilly” day in Tampa on Saturday. 15 degrees Celsius and sunny skies. It is definitely a different way of living down here.
Thursday on Connected, we have an interesting feature on the Arizona Cardinals record setting wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.