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Sports  Watching, Reporting, Televising, etc.
T. Buckingham Thomas physics Oberlin WOBC Richwood Tom Thomas Chyron Infinit Pittsburgh
I never participated in sports (except as the navigator in road rallies), but I've been around them all my life.  Here are most of the relevant articles.  To search for specific names or events that might be listed elsewhere, use this utility:

 

Hot Rods

As a boy, I watch modified stock cars race at the local fairgrounds and make my own set of flags.

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1960

Keeping Score

Scoreboards, from the huge one at the L.A. Coliseum to the antiquated one at the Richwood gym, inspire my playful experimentation.

Halftime for Richwood High

A freshman manager's brief report on what football players do while the bands perform.

Kentucky Derby

The 1962 telecast featured the band playing "My Old Kentucky Home."

Dizzy Dean and the Goose-Eggs

Half an inning with the legendary broadcaster.

Hoops Copy

Introductions and imaginative commercials for my mock radio broadcasts of basketball.

Riding on the Basketball Bus

The long trip home in January 1964; also, later trips with the L.A. Lakers.

Stadiums

Playing fields for football, track, etc., plus a downhill racer.

Let the Sportscaster Beware

High-school fans don't like to hear their kids criticized.

Where Can We Put the Camera?

The gym's too small; try on the wall!

Richwood Relays

The annual track and field event as I remember it from 1965.

Sportscaster

Starting with a basketball broadcast on December 1, 1965, I soon become WOBC's sports director.

Developing a Sports Show

Correspondence and scripts for our new weekly radio feature.

Letter to Jeff Hanna

Planning the 1966 college-football broadcast season.

The Metz Bug

This Volkswagen ran unopposed in our Richwood Prep Rally and still had trouble winning.

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1970

Rally!

A motor sport for nerds:  driving down a road, navigating to the nearest 0.01 minute.

 

 

 


Exposition Park

The Ted Baxter System

WJM-TV's fictional newscaster invents a method for betting on football that actually works.

Earl Bugaile

Collaborating with a radio reporter and attempting to interview a hockey coach.

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1980

I Invented the Fox Box

Or at least the diagram of the bases.

Indianapolis 1987

Hanging out at the Pan Am Games, occasionally running off to work telecasts elsewhere.

The Seoul Cypher

The 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea.

An Eighties Flashback

More than two dozen video frames from 1989-90 Pirates baseball telecasts, including commercials.

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1990

Left On Base Doesn't Matter

Correlating baseball statistics with winning.

Fleeing the Storm

A "quiet" week on Lake Pontchartrain.

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2000

What Is It Again That You Do?

I work in sports television, but not as an announcer.

Motabs, Other Utahns Welcome Oly Guests

Miscellany from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Baseball's Planetary Realignment

Reshuffling the majors gives small-market teams a chance in the new Saturn League.

The Diamond Brick Road

A graphical representation of one season's race in a baseball division.

Quotes from the City Game

When sports figures speak, not all reporters write down their words the same way.

I Need a Stat, Stat!

The statistic doesn't actually have to be relevant; it just needs to seem that way.

Hypothesis Disproved

Baseball pitchers threw a pitch every 20 seconds in 1956.  Are they significantly slower today?

 


All-conference team has more players than the rules allow

Baseball could be expedited

Baseball records are closer to .500 than football records

Baseball's new rules, proposed by Mike Kobik

Basketball uniform numbering conventions

Batting the pitcher eighth?  Doesn't matter much

Belmont Stakes favorite Big Brown explains why he finished last

BracketBusters scheduling explained

Circus TV; re-pairing a basketball doubleheader

Computerized databases empower baseball stats geeks

Coonelly:  how to spell his name

Details of graphics do get noticed

Dizzy Dean "slood" into third

Fat lady has sung?  Then it's over

Football games could be shortened

Game 5's winner wins 5 out of 6 series; why?

Half-point solution to tied games

Half the time, you're a miserable failure

Harry Caray at Wrigley Field

Hockey: not my favorite, but still here

Hockey teams need 93 points to make the playoffs.  True?

I am who I am, said God.  It is what it is, say we.

Implosion clears the way for a new arena

Jubies and bummage

Lookalikes:  Bob Brenly and Bill Cowher

Los Angeles sports struggle for publicity

"Meaningless" games

Metro Conference tournament pins

National Hockey League schedules

NCAA tournament:  65 teams for 64 slots

Oberlin defeats Ohio State in football

Olympics 2008:  how to discourage dissent

Passer efficiency rating "perfection"

Pi and Michael Phelps

Pitt Stadium

Playing footsponge

Reporting games from your team's perspective

Ripken's night off from The Streak

Rooker's unintentional walk home from Philadelphia

Sports Illustrated's cover jinx predates the magazine

Sputnik news pre-empted by hockey

Super Bowl fans travel to watch the game — in Pittsburgh

Using the definite article for stadia

U.S. Open cameraman

Watching the Buckeyes on tape in 1962

Winning isn't everything

Wolfley — Craig Wolfley — with the talkeration

 

GREAT MOMENTS IN SPORTS HISTORY

On August 7, 1963, while playing shuffleboard against myself in the basement, I scored a net 41 points on a single shot!

There were two disks already in scoring position:  a Red in the 7-point zone, and a Black in the "10 OFF" zone (minus 10 points).  It was Black's turn to shoot, and I wanted to knock both of those disks away.

I knocked Red out of the 7-point zone, with my Black disk stopping in the zone.  That's a 14-point gain for Black.  The Red disk continued on, ricocheted off the nearby basement wall (which was in play according to my ground rules), and knocked Black out of the "10 OFF," stopping in that zone itself.  That's another 20 points.  Finally, the Black disk slid into the 7-point zone for another 7 points for Black.