“All Preparation can go Down the Drain in a Second”

Duke at Maryland –Fox Soccer

One live TV match under my belt and now I was ready for anything. Seasoned after 2 hours on the air, I knew my main job would be to come up with a pre game introduction to grab the interest of the viewers. No tomato patches at Maryland to talk about (See Blog #1), so it was all mine to devise. And this would be easy: 2 of the top teams in the country in front of a frenzied Maryland crowd. I had prepared all day and virtually memorized my pre game piece (just as I had for 22 years for my games as head coach at Georgetown). I always walked into the locker room knowing exactly the points I wanted to make – the emotion I wanted to bring out. This was no different. When it came time to tape my intro I was standing at midfield an hour before the game and already the stands were filling. Showtime!

In my earpiece the producer says 5 seconds Keith… ready... go. I knew I nailed it right from the start. A fantastic opening that brought in the importance of the ACC match, the NCAA implications and the atmosphere. Then reality hit – it wasn’t my show… the next words from the producer in my earpiece was: “Keith that was great, but if we use all that we will have to start the game late. Now do it again and cut it half. I’ll give you 20 seconds to gather your thoughts. He gave me 15 seconds, and I learned another big lesson – simplify everything as much as possible. I think I nailed it in the short version as well! Preparation helps you adjust when things do not go as planned.

More to come…

PS – Maryland did not disappoint their crowd of 6 and half thousand as Maurice Edu won the center midfield battle with Duke’s Michael Videra scoring the lone goal. Impressive Terp goalkeeper Chris Seitz from California gain yet another shutout in his young career - a future MLS star for sure. Edu was this year’s first pick in the MLS super draft (Toronto) and Seitz was the 4th (Real Salt Lake)