A day with Mario

As the fall prep sports season hits high gear, as college football begins another quest toward championship question marks, also known as the BCS, and as the NFL starts rocking and rolling (undefeated preseason anyone?), I felt it my duty to grab onto the that summer feeling and squeeze every last drop out.

With that in mind, I spent some time a few weeks ago with Detroit Tigers television play-by-play commentator Mario Impemba for the latest installment of my series of jobs in sports.

OK, I also did it in a selfish way as an educational tool for my career as a broadcaster. But anyway...

A Sterling Heights Stevenson and Michigan State University grad, Impemba, now a Macomb resident, showed me the ins and outs of a day on the job.

The story itself will begin running in our papers Sept. 10, but some of the highlights of my time spent with Impemba included the preparation he puts into each broadcast. By 3 p.m. any day of an evening game, he is already the booth preparing stats, opening comments and information to use that night.

We walked to and through the Tigers’ clubhouse, the opposing clubhouse, the back halls and hidden alleys of Comerica Park, all in a day's work.

This is the seventh year Impemba has brought Tigers games from Comerica to our television sets and still, even as a grown man with a wife and two kids, he said he is living out his wildest dreams.

The best way to describe my time with Impemba is, "refreshing."

He has a job he loves, a job he is very good at, a job he spent years in the minor leagues to get to, and still he gets a genuine kick out of coming to the ball park on a summer night and calling America’s past time.

Not a bad gig if you're lucky enough to get it.

A refreshing reminder

Within the next week or so, my summer series about jobs in sports will officially begin with a piece on Channel 7 weekend sports anchor Vic Faust.

You’ll read about his start in the broadcasting business, his climb to sports producer in Tulsa, Olka., his eventual unemployment and his arrival in Detroit.

You’ll learn about his faith in God, which he said has guided him through the ups and downs that come with the business.

Still, in talking to Faust, learning about his job and his life, there was one refreshing aspect of our conversation that many people sometimes forget.

“One of the things I enjoy most is the fact that professional athletes are really ordinary people," Faust said. "Sure, they are extremely gifted and make a ridiculous amount of money, but what’s cool to watch from my perspective is just how ordinary they really are.”

This came as no surprise to me. While covering prep sports doesn’t often translate to a behind- the-scenes view of the world of pro sports, I’ve had an occasion here and there to see these “celebs” in their ordinary moments.

Take away the cameras, the fancy cars and flashy clothes, and you have ordinary men and women with families, friends and lives outside the world of sports.

“Hockey players are probably the most down to earth,” Faust added. “But they’re all pretty cool people. Pretty ordinary.”

Anchoring the beginning of a series

The sports wrap on the Sunday night news is that last-ditch effort to grab onto and squeeze every last second out of the weekend before Monday rears its ugly head.

Fans see highlights of games they already know about, get a little extra perspective and pick up insight on the upcoming week.

This, the weekend sportscast, is where my summer series about jobs in sports begins. In the coming weeks, the story of Vic Faust, Channel 7’s weekend sports anchor will appear in our papers.

You’ll read how a former St. Louis resident went from being jobless to covering the 2004 Ryder Cup, the 2006 World Series and the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals and understand the ins-and-outs and ups-and-downs of being a sports anchor.

“Despite what a lot of my friends think, I don’t show up at 10:30 p.m., do the 11 p.m. news and then go home,” Faust said during our conversation last week.

Look for this story in the near future, where someone who's job it is to end every weekend will begin my series.

A paycheck in sports

We’ve all seen, heard of or maybe even taken part in the routine at some point. Punch the time clock to end the day, battle traffic on the journey home, and then relax in front of the television with the remote and our favorite sport.

Or maybe the escape takes us to the ballpark, the ice rink or the gym.

You get the picture.

Anyway you look at it, for many people, the end of the work day only means the beginning of sports.

But what about those people who punch the time clock to begin their day and do it in the world of sports?

Good question.

And over the summer months, I hope to answer it, or at least take a better look at those who earn a paycheck in sports with my summer series.

Early plans include stories on a Detroit Tigers broadcaster, a local sports anchor and a behind- the-scenes look into the world of sports-talk radio, among others.

At the same time, I’m open to any ideas you may have. Do you know anyone who has an interesting occupation associated with sports? If so, please feel free to e-mail me or give a call.

Or, as the summer months pass, flip through our papers and take a look at those who work in sports, those whose day actually begins with the first pitch or the drop of a puck.

You can reach me at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1038.

Frozen Madness

Well, at long last, March Madness has officially arrived.

And no, the previous statement has nothing to do with CBS airing six minutes of commercials for every three minutes of basketball, and I’m not referring to the ever-so-interesting showdowns between No. 1-seeded powerhouses and their No. 16-seeded (technically one team seeded 17th) practice dummies.

Instead, as the calendar turns from February to March, the most exciting part of the high school hockey season officially begins. In an eight-day span, the playoffs will go from regional finals (March 1), quarterfinals (March 4-5), semifinals (March 6-7), and then culminate March 8 at Compuware Arena in Plymouth.

Players, coaches, fans (and even media) who have, well, played, coached and witnessed the hockey playoffs understand the overall madness these eight days produce.

One lucky bounce or one key save can propel a team from the brink of elimination to center stage. Last season, for example, Grosse Pointe North watched as St. Clair Shores Unified hit the post in triple overtime in the opening round of the playoffs. Less than three weeks later, that lucky bounce partly to thank, the Norsemen were playing in the Division 1 semifinals.

A year later, the Norsemen are alive in this playoff chase, along with other local favorites (Cranbrook, St. Mary’s and De La Salle) and even some you’d be surprised at (Stoney Creek, Notre Dame Prep, Troy Athens).

As each day passes, the field will be cut in half until March 6, when the final 12 arrive at Compuware, which is the perfect culminating spot for the playoff tournament.

I understand the aura that comes with playing at Ford Field for the football state finals, but in a stadium that seats more than 60,000, excitement and atmosphere often get drowned out by the empty seats. (Compared to pro games at Ford Field where the seats are filled but there is no excitement or atmosphere).

Compuware is the perfect platform for the finals. It’s big enough to house everyone in attendance, but small enough to keep the atmosphere rocking from start to finish.

I understand and won’t deny my bias toward the hockey playoffs — it is the best sport in the world, right? — and I realize the girls basketball quarterfinals (semis and finals), the boys basketball regionals, the swimming finals and the boys individual wrestling finals are all this week as well (everyone at the MHSAA is smiling at that), but there’s something about the hockey playoffs that just has that “it” factor.

Needless to say, buckle up and let the frozen madness begin. Even if it is only a week. After all, unlike the March Madness this one actually ends … in March.

Enjoy every last moment

So, it’s officially come to this.

A season that began many moons ago, with conditioning in the dead of winter giving way to training camp in the dead of summer to finally the playoffs in — Halloween’s coming up, right? — the dead of fall.

What was a guaranteed nine-game season has translated into what could be a five-week run or a 48-minute heartbreak. Either way, the competitiveness, agony, jubilation, excitement, and any other adjective you care to use to describe the football state playoffs, is what makes them so, well, I guess I’m out of them, great.

For 256 teams across the state, spilt into eight different divisions, the 2007 playoffs begin Friday night. And of those 256 teams, only eight — less than 4 percent if you’re counting — will end the season with a win.

But my advice has little to do with wins, losses, play calling or strategizing, I leave that to the men with the headsets and flashy jackets. Instead, for all 256 teams, and however many thousands of players that entails, I offer one small bit of advice.

Enjoy this time, however long or short it may be.

Enjoy every last second of it.

It won’t be long before you find yourself in class, at a party, celebrating a holiday, or anywhere in between, and the words, “remember at football…” will come pouring from your mouth.

It may be a story about training camp, a story from the locker room, from practice, from a game, from a bus ride or the playoffs — anything and everything is fair game when it comes to reminiscing about what was such an integral part of the high school career.

A play that may have been a 2-yard touchdown run with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter will turn into a 55-yard score with 12 broken tackles. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with exaggeration, it makes stories better.

While we all tend to look back at what was, many of us look back and wish they could have it once more.

Make one more bus trip.

Listen to one more pre-game speech.

Run onto a field of screaming fans one more time.

For the 256 teams that will take the field this weekend, that “one more time” is still in front of you. Cherish it as if it’s your last. Remember every little detail, every face, every name you go to battle with.

I tender this advice not as a lecturing adult who thinks he knows all (and walked to school uphill both ways in the snow), but as a former player who experienced it.

It was 2000. A bitter-cold November morning with the brightest sun I’d seen in days beamed down and welcomed us into this second-round playoff day.

As our team walked from the locker room to the chapel for a quick prayer before boarding the bus, one of my best friends gave a me a swift slap and said, “Enjoy this walk, you never know how many we have left.”

That was the last one.

My “remember at football…” conversations began days later.

Where have all the stickers gone?

Think back to when you were a kid.

Think back to when mom or dad strapped in you the back of that 1987 Aerostar for a dreaded trip to, yes, the doctor’s office!

You just knew that, no matter why you were at the doctor, you were in for one of those dreaded shots.

Of course, once a bandage of some sort was placed on your arm and most of the tears had dried the thing that made this all worth it, for me anyway, was when the nurse came back with a sheet of stickers — and I got to pick one.

That's right, a sticker took away my pain and brought a smile to my face.

OK, I know, a lot of set up to get to this, but while there may not be as many shots or waiting rooms anymore, am I off base in suggesting that high school football players still enjoy getting those little stickers and stamping them on the back of their helmets?

Good plays, big hits, touchdowns, interceptions, fumble recoveries — any type of individual play that was made for the betterment of the team — was rewarded with a small sticker, or decal if you will, the next day at practice and instantly placed on the helmet.

Is it just me, or are fewer and fewer teams doing this now days?

Maybe it has a lot to do with the “team concept” so many coaches swear by now days.

Maybe it has something to do with the way society has developed.

You know, the same society where schools across the country are outlawing playing tag or kickball because they can be too physical or too selective to less athletic kids.

Maybe the notion of one player having more noticeable individual awards than another is just not accepted anymore.

The way I see it, though, it's tradition.

Having decals and stickers on your helmet is one of the cool things about high school football. You’ll never see a professional team do it, but you’ll never see a professional team have a game and a homecoming dance or drive in an old school bus two hours to get to a field for a Friday night in front of 700 fans. You’ll never see it done by the pros because they are staples of high school football and just a few of the great traditions of the game.

Just eight or nine years ago, when I was going to homecoming dances, riding old buses and playing in front of a couple hundred people, I did so with decals on my helmet. Some teammates had more than me, some had less. Come to think of it, that’s why they looked so cool.

Maybe it’s a sign of change, where flashier uniforms and more arm bands and spatted cleats are the things to do. Maybe, although tough to admit, traditions have a way of changing.

After all, I still go to the doctor. And once in a while, I still need a shot. But I can't remember the last time I was offered a sticker.