Saturday, October 13, 2007

...like being shot out of a cannon.

Last evening's Jaguar Jamboree felt like getting shot out of a cannon. There's no other way to describe it. Once the volleyball game concluded, we had about 10 minutes to set up and get rolling. I'm used to about 45 minutes of prep time when I work a basketball game, but I figured it would be no sweat, since this isn't my first rodeo.

I was wrong.

It should've been received as a harbinger of things to come when I learned my standard headset mic was out of commission. The handheld mic I was using is what I absolutely hate because it's arguably the least sensitive of the bunch. So I spent most of the night having to SCREAM into the mic. Anyone who knows anything about public speaking can predict this is a recipe for disaster.

If that wasn't bad enough, we had sound issues all night long. We lost the right channel on our amp and, I'm learning, one entire side of the gym couldn't hear a thing because half the overhead speakers were out.

Everything sounded muddy, muffled and over/under-modulated. It may very well have something to do with the system I run (I run my computer into one of the inputs and play everything through iTunes). It worked fine last year. But now, something is amiss and I need a moment to figure it out. Being as how we only had 10 minutes to get things ready last night, there was no time for rehearsals or anything else.

The upside, however, is former player Angelo Smith did a fantastic job as the floor emcee. I knew he would. He's a good guy with a very warm, friendly personality and it came across well.

The new Jungle looks great. I just wish we had more butts in seats last night.

If I were compiling a wish list, it would begin and end with better equipment. What we need, though, would cost an additional few thousand dollars.