I went Northern Kentucky University. We had no football team. So when basketball season rolls around in Highland Heights, I always got a little more amped. I had all this pent up sports energy waiting to use. I was spoiled coming out of high school. I went to a high school (Elder) that had a very high-octane sports following. In my 4 years there, I missed one varsity football game, and that's because I couldn't get a ride to Cleveland. I saw 2 football state championships. I did 85 on on I-75 to get to Dayton my junior year to get to Dayton to see the baseball state championship, having taken the SAT that day. (Surprisingly, I did better that time than the previous September when I had taken it). My senior year, I was on the pep rally committee and a cheerleader--If you don't know about the GCL South, all 4 schools are all-male. So when we say cheerleader, it's a guy dressed up goofy with a big megaphone who literally yells cheers at the cheering section that they repeat-- and during basketball season, I was the play-by-play man on the internet/radio broadcasts.
So you can imagine my shock, when upon entering my first college basketball game for a school that has no football team, I saw a half-empty guy that would be lucky if it held 2000 people and a cheering section made up of about 12 students lounging in the stands. I was a bit disheartened. However, I had a job to do. A few weeks before the season had started, an e-mail had been sent out that the sports department was looking for a new person to play the mascot. I sent in my "resume" as I laid it out for you, plus many more points. Unfortunately, the one thing I was missing was, ummm, mascot experience. So the job went to someone else. However, the director of athletic marketing created a new job, just for me. With my crazy enthusiasm for all things sport, he made me the "Arena MC".
'What, Brian, is an Arena MC?' you ask. Well, have you ever been to a minor league baseball game, or a hockey game? You know that guy dressed goofy with the microphone making people do funny things during time-outs to get prizes and gift cards? Botta-bing. There were no parameters for my costume. It was clearly something of my own design.
My first night on the mic was a little forced and awkward. But the more I saw the same people at the games, the more comfortable I became. I began to have fun with it. I became friends with the cheerleaders, dance team, pep band, and of course the guy who played the mascot. During the game, it was the athletes time to shine, but during TV time-outs, all eyes were on me. But still the atmosphere wasn't quite there.
As the season wore on, we did theme nights, door prizes and giveaways, and I even resorted to going to class in my costume, just so people asked what my deal was, and I could convince them to come to the games. Our efforts, combined with the stellar play of both men's and women's teams my freshman year began to draw crowds. Senior phenom transfer Steven Wright putting on an offensive show didn't hurt either. It was a great season. My dad, a friend and I drove to Evansville, Indiana to see the GLVC tournament. The same friend and I rode a bus up to Findlay, Ohio to see the men upset the host Oilers.
It was a great freshman year for me. I got really involved in all the sports after that, attending a lot of games. But after that semester, the marketing director left the school, and no one else in the department thought my job necessary. It was okay though, because by that time, I was becoming involved with more broadcasting projects, including shooting the sporting events, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything. As the teams gained more acclaim, the crowds began to come, and with the opening of the Bank of Kentucky Center, people swarmed in. It's a beautiful arena and a grade A facility, but it'll never compare to the memories I have of that little gym barely bigger than where a high school would play.
If you have a chance, the Norse men's team plays today at 4:30pm for the GLVC championship against Southern Indiana. They're almost assured a bid to the Big Dance (selection show is tonight on NCAA.com, I believe around 10 or 10:30.) but a win would get them the GLVC automatic bid. It would be great swan song to take the final GLVC tournament they will ever participate in. The women will likely get an at-large bid based on their regular season record as well. I plan to do a post about the game, the tournaments, and moving to Division-I tomorrow.
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