Wake Forest Athletics
100% Cotten: An Easy Call
3/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 16, 2011
This article was originally published in the Feb. 26 edition of Gold Rush.
By Stan Cotten
A thoughtful caller to Coach Bzdelik's weekly radio show recently phoned and actually had a question for me. Nervous time. Before he asked his question, my mind instantly began racing to figure out what I had said incorrectly or remember a mistake I had possibly made in the last game broadcast. Trust me, when you go for hours at a time, sometimes the mouth can't keep up with the brain. And that can get you in trouble. But the caller wasn't going to try to embarrass me or take me to task in any way. He was thinking of the job I've had to do this season, beginning in the fall, to announce the games of back-to-back stressful seasons from football to basketball. The specific question was whether or not it was difficult "getting up" for the games when the prospects for victory seemed slim.
Understandable question. Easy answer.
No.
When it comes to the Deacons, I generally am the eternal optimist. Even though intellectually I know at times winning against certain opponents will be difficult, I've seen too many crazy things to ever give in before the game even starts. There's always that "what if?" component to every game. You just never really know.
In good seasons, my mental approach never for long even considers that Wake Forest might lose. In the tough times my attitude is more like -- maybe today's the day. Either way, it makes for a positive attitude going in, and that can make a huge difference.
What is harder sometimes is holding it together while the game is going on. I'm so emotionally "checked in" now after 15 years in Winston-Salem that once the game's over and I'm on the way home, often I feel like I played the game. Worn out. Mentally "checked out."
The worst part is my stomach. It remains clenched a good bit of most games, especially basketball for whatever reason, and most times I can feel it the day after. And now that I've turned 50, the physical toll after games is greater.
I told the caller that I thought I had the best job in the world, and I really believe that. I get to go to every football and basketball game the Deacons play, and in a small way, actually be a part of the game. No bruises, no broken bones. The only heavy lifting is actually heavy lifting. And the older I get, the heavier the broadcast equipment seems to get. I've been around for 15 years, and hopefully my senior season is still a ways off. Plus, my job security does not lie in the success of the teenagers whose antics I'm describing.
And they pay me for all of this.
It really does beat working for a living. And I feel blessed to be able to do what I do.
I used to marvel when I was younger at how long many school's radio voices had been wherever for 30 years, 40 years. I think Otis Boggs at Florida did the Gator games for around 50 years when he was in Gainesville. Woody Durham down in Chapel Hill has been around for four decades as was the man I listened to while growing up in Knoxville, John Ward, at Tennessee. Why?
It's a great way to make a living. And a whole lot of fun. Even when the Deacs are taking more knocks than giving. So, no -- it's not hard to "get up" for the next game. It's a pleasure. And I'm looking forward to growing old in my chair.
The hardest thing I have to do from time to time is write these columns. I'm not a writer by trade. And I'm sorry to write about myself this time.
But he asked...
