July 25, 2020

 

So now that I’m a pickleball expert, and I have yet another day off, I’m gonna go play me some pickleball after I go to the gym.  No I am not because when I leave the gym, it is raining hard.  One thing about Orlando is you can always count on it raining at least once during the day during this time of year.  I love the rain, but it’s taking away my pickleball.  It’s not that I am such a pickleball fan, it’s just that I really like the exercise and the drenching of sweat.  But right now, all I am able to get is the drenching.

I may as well head over to the dining area and grab some lunch.  Now that we are no longer having three meals a day shoved down our throats, I think I am eating healthier and having much smaller portions. Nothing is going to waste and I actually feel a lot healthier.  I know I put on a few pounds while we were being force fed and it is time to shed that unneeded weight.

Ted was already eating by the time I arrived.  He was very selective what he ate this morning, and actually every morning.  Small portions, healthy selections, lots of fluids.  He game me incentive to do the same.  We started having the normal chit chat over our meal.  He lives in Huntington Beach and I have known and worked with Ted for over 30 years.  Although he is here working for Turner during this restart, he is an employee of ESPN and travels a great deal for that network. He is used to being on the road, just not for this extended period of time. No one is really. We started to analyze the pros and cons of what we were experiencing, what we were being paid to participate in. Ted’s perspective resonated with a lot of my co-workers on this journey and that was comforting, more or less, that we were collectively on the same page.

Personally, Ted echoed that the opportunity to get back to work was a good thing.  COVID had brought the sports entertainment business to it’s knees, and no one that worked directly in this industry had worked since on or about March 13. He was very excited to get back to doing what he loved, and that was covering ball games. Ted loves baseball, likes basketball and football, and any other sport that involves a circular object that can be hit, struck, thrown, shot, etc.  You get the picture.  He is thrilled to be able to get back to what he loves.

We both reiterated how fortunate we were to be working currently, and for an extended period of time.  Until the current pandemic is under control nothing is going back to normal any time soon.  Some of our colleagues in this business were able to get back to work recently as well like those covering NASCAR, or PGA golf, or the WNBA games down the road at the IMG Academy.  Baseball was returning but as far as television was concerned, they were going to be operating with half the personnel than normal.  No longer would there be a home and away broadcast.  In order to reduce the numbers, to reduce the possibility of infection, there will only be one television crew covering the games.  The home team and the visiting team will be taking all the imagery from one local crew.  It makes for a more difficult broadcast, but it had to be so the number of people on site can be reduced.  Now, take that formula and tack in on to every major league baseball team. That is a lot of people still not working.  Our bubble here in Orlando has a similar effect on basketball broadcasts.  Normally, like in baseball, there is a home and away show.  Now there are only us (Turner) or ESPN.  All the local shows are gone.  How many people does that put out of work?  It’s a tough living right now, but we have been lucky enough to survive it, at least for the next 3 months.

On the other side of the coin, the negative part of being fortunate enough to still be working is being away from home and all that goes along with that. We miss our families a ton.  My kids are gone, but Ted has kids still at home.  His wife has to function as the mother and the father. Same with my wife.  She has had all of my responsibilities thrust upon her, not for a week or two, but 6 or 7 times that length.  There is a certain amount of guilt that goes with that as well. It is hard on everyone, regardless whether you are in the bubble or at home outside of it.  There has to be a lot of trust, appreciation, understanding, and communication in order for all parties to successfully get through a separation of this duration.  You really can’t empathize unless you have been in this situation.  We both are, and it is not easy.  It is bearable, but not without issue. Being with family, pets, going on outings, taking care of things that might need to be done around the house, are just a few of the things that we miss daily.

How do military families do it?  Consider that they, whomever is deployed, is working in an environment that doesn’t compare in the least to the comforts that we have here in the bubble.  Couple that with the duration of most deployments.  We are talking weeks here, and they are almost always dealing with months.  If anything, these first two weeks of separation have taught me a lot about how much I appreciate what I have at home and being thankful that I don’t have to endure what those in the military must go through.  I have never really thought of any of this in those terms until now.

From a professional point of few, Ted touched on several occurrences that pretty much exceeded what we expected would occur here in Orlando. We are in agreement that our employer is treating us much better than we anticipated.  Our work schedule is unpredictable yet we are not overworked.  We have access to meals whenever we want, and each and every person we come across does whatever they can do to make your job, and your stay, enjoyable. Coronado Springs Resort is not a bad place to be quartered to.  Of course, we could only hope for more recreational options, but when one steps back and really examines what we are provided, we couldn’t ask for more.

Another completely unexpected bonus of being here at the resort is everyone is so damn nice, and I mean everyone.  Whenever I walk past anyone, a hello or how ya doing or some type of pleasantry is exchanged, and that includes players and coaches.  The COVID testers are always in a good mood, the housekeeping staff, security, everyone.  Sometimes I think I am on the set of “Pleasantville” as the frequency of nice exchanges never stops. This may be attributed to the fact that we are all happy to be back at work, doing what we love, and sharing this unique experience and living by the Golden Rule.

Professionally, the few negative experiences are very minor.  If this was a normal basketball season, we would be able to visit different restaurants in different cities as we covered the games.  Here, our choices are very few.  From a production point of few, we cannot mix, mingle, or even have production meetings with anyone that is not in our zone of clearance.  No in person camera meetings, no in person production meetings, everything is completed over headsets, email, text, or zoom meetings.  The personal part of the job is missing and that is a major component of what we do.  The relationships, the comradery, the constant ribbing in person that goes with this group, are severely hampered under these conditions.  Other than those minor inconveniences, we are thankful.