Covering High School Sports During a Pandemic
By Jordan Campbell
I would be lying if I told you that I think we nailed it. Honestly, I believe we probably were way more reckless than we should have been, given that we didn’t know much about this virus; and are still learning about it I might add. However, while I think we could have been more cautious, said no a few more times out of concern for our families, or even shut down all together, I can truthfully say I wouldn’t trade a single second of what we did or experienced for anything. (I must add that this is taking into consideration the luck that we had in not contracting COVID-19, or losing anyone in our immediate families to it. Our hearts are still with those who lost loved ones here in the Shoals and across the nation.)
One thing about being a media member in the south during a pandemic is that people expect their sensibilities to be your sensibilities. What I mean by that is that if someone invites you to celebrate a kids signing, they expect you to approach the signing with the same mentality about COVID-19 that they do. Fortunately, Chuck and I are professional chameleons in a sense, so we had no issue blending in. As far as our personal beliefs about COVID-19, they didn’t matter then and don’t matter now. We took up the mantle of covering Shoals Area Sports 5 years ago and that never changed. We went to signings, athletic events, and fundraisers just as we always had. Our show might have missed one or two days, but for the most part, we kept trying to entertain the masses as best as possible (and boy do we owe NASCAR a debt of gratitude). The only problem for us was that we didn’t want to offend when we went out in public. We didn’t want to make COVID deniers mad when we showed up with a mask on and we didn’t want to upset COVID absolutist if we forgot one. As the year continued though, we got to a point where we, like many of you, decided the risk of death was worth not wearing what I can only describe as a sports bra under a sports bra on our faces. Was it the right decision? Who knows. All I can say is that we made our decision and had to live with it; which can be fairly criticized.
Let’s go back now to the week the world stopped. For us, everything came to a head on Thursday, March 12th 2020. Roughly three days prior, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz brazenly touched all the media members’ microphones; an action I’m sure he will never regret (he subsequently contracted COVID, presumably from that act). As far as relevance to us, Thursday was of more importance because that was the official shut down the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. If you recall, the rise of concern was growing as many professional sports leagues and the NCAA had begun putting restrictions on media access, and conversations about playing conference tournaments without fans in attendance dominated not only the sports airwaves, but every news outlet across the country. Sports was, and still is, the unifying beacon of hope that brings people from all walks of life together, so of course it was going to be the lead everywhere. As for me, I was terrified. Selfishly though, I must admit that my first thought was not, “Oh no! These seniors! What are these kids going to do about their senior year? How are our local baseball and softball players going to survive mentally?” Sadly, my first thought was, “Is the radio station going to fire me? If there are no sports, what sense does it make to pay the salary of a sub-par sports radio host? I don’t have the social media draw to get people to send me videos of them doing stuff for me to ‘broadcast’ like Joe Buck of Jim Nantz.” I was worried, selfishly, about my ability to provide. Yet, fortunately for me, Big River Broadcasting never even had the talk about that being a possibility with me, so I pushed on.
Brad Black, the head football coach at Brooks High School had one of the best quotes about COVID that I think I ever heard. “I googled how to coach football in a pandemic and nothing came up.” I think you can replace “coach” with anything from “write about” to “cover” for us. However, like Brad Black, the answer for us was not to just stop. Kids still wanted the play. The AHSAA wanted to get football, the state’s most popular sport, back, even with the knowledge that most states weren’t as bold. So that meant we had to figure out how to handle our yearly preseason football tour, from the comforts of our studio. This is where Zoom came in. With Zoom, we were able to handle everything from our “Jobs in Sports” series on Shoals Sports Talk to the aforementioned football tour. For once, we had to actually get a planner and plan out the days and times kids and coaches would be available and then execute the interviews “flawlessly” through a medium that no-one truly understood. (This is where I take time to thank not only the coaches and kids, but also my program director Chuck Hammer. Chuck was innovative and worked with me to figure out how “the show goes on”).
We got through our preseason tour and had a tough decision to make. Do we bail on broadcasting games or not? See, in radio, you create content and expect businesses to give you money to grow their own popularity based on how many people like your content. The problem with football season wasn’t the content itself. The problem with football season here in Alabama (as it relates to businesses giving you money, etc., etc.) is that businesses didn’t have the capitol to take on the risk that a football season might not actually happen. In simpler terms, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze; and to be fair, I get it. While the situation angered me at the times, if I look back on it now, I can’t blame them. Looking at the timeline, PPP loans were no more than a myth during prime high school ad sales time, so business owners were clinging to every penny for dear life. That didn’t stop our high school football teams from suiting up, which means we were there too. We did our pregame show “in studio” (prerecorded) and went everywhere from C.T. Manley Stadium in Leighton to Ralph Thompson Stadium in Zip City. Chuck, Wes Ayers, and myself called games from press boxes and stands. Touchdowns rang out over the airwaves. For the first time in months, things felt right for us. We forgot we were in a pandemic as Brooks High School’s Kyler Murks side arm slung a touchdown against Lauderdale County High School. Thoughts of a devastated nation were cast aside as Sheffield High School’s Jaylen Jones (reigning Buffalo Wild Wings Football POTY) scrambled out of the pocket to find Devin Doss for 6. Things felt right every Friday night for 17 weeks. The Shoals produced one state champion on the gridiron; the 2A Mars Hill Panthers.
Basketball season got on us quickly. The same “risk” that plagued the minds of business owners during the regular season in football had not dissipated when the basketball regular season arrived. At this point, Chuck and I also realized we had gotten “comfortable” during the sports hiatus. You see, football is a build up to a single fireworks show each and every Friday. Basketball is a series of July 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th, half off artillery shells popping off at 10:40 p.m.; it’s a bit startling. While we are behind in terms of switching our brains from football detail to basketball reactions, we persevered. Basketball coaches across the Shoals should be commended for accommodating Chuck and I whenever we called ahead. We never wanted for a table, a word, a chair, or even a bottle of water in most cases. Players like Sarah Puckett, Muscle Shoals; Maddie Kreiger, Rogers; Ruthie Smith, Lauderdale County; Chloe Siegel, Deshler; Keeara Ricks, Colbert County; Lila Beth Turner, Lexington; and many, many, others showed the work they had put in during the pandemic. Guys like Eric Fuqua, Lauderdale County; Knute Wood, Brooks; Drake Joplin, Florence; Luke Crowden, Mars Hill; Brandon Green, Deshler; Lane McCay, Central; Reed Trapp, Covenant Christian; and again, many, others dazzled in their home whites and road colors night in and night out. The Rogers Lady Pirates reached the mountain top, winning their second state championship in three years.
By the time baseball and softball season rolled around, the state of Alabama was pretty much back to normal in their day to day functions. The vaccine had been rolled out and the most precious among us had an opportunity to take the vaccine if they wished. We were outside, we were in press boxes away from the moms, dads, and classmates. We, here at Fox Sports Shoals, were back to normal. It felt good, after more than a year, to be back in these communities and not have conversations with everyone we came in contact with about the deaths in that area. It felt right, day after day. When you read this next part, I don’t want you to get offended (but if you do, that’s on you). We were excited to get baseball and softball started again because it routinely is the most successful combination of sports we have. Sportscasters, especially on the local level like we are, can be a bit self indulgent. We like to say “yeah, I broadcasted the 1997 Red Hill Roosters State Championship. Those boys could really swing it. I have a copy of the broadcast on this disposable flash drive if you want to take it and share it on Facebook.” I am no different. I look forward to it so that I can be that guy. We were also excited about it because we knew that these kids were going to be a little bit more hungry than any of the other team sports we broadcast. They, along with golf, track, and field, were the ones most affected by the 2020 shut down and they realized how precious every minute of being a high school athlete is. Though we didn’t produce any baseball or softball state champs, we had quite the run from Rogers’ softball team and Florence’s baseball team. Hopefully those kids had as much fun competing as we did broadcasting.
All in all, the pandemic taught me a lot. It taught me that however important I THINK I am, I am not. It proved once again that the human spirit will preserver through any and everything if you let it. It proved to me that two choices can be made with most things, and that some times your decision doesn’t really matter. Thank you to the coaches, players, and fans that stuck with us through the year. Thank you to the businesses who still supported our postseason broadcasts. Thank you for the time you invest in us. Let’s hope we never have to deal with anything like that ever again.
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