http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/108279712183980.xml Almost like a game within a game Broadcasting the Hornets is a team effort Saturday, April 24, 2004 By Pierce W. Huff Staff writer It's 6:28 p.m. on a Friday night in March, and producer Scott Snyder is two minutes from "the biggest adrenaline rush you can imagine," broadcasting a Hornets game for Cox Sports Television. Snyder, director Gary Kirby and their crew are huddled in a trailer parked in the loading dock at New Orleans Arena counting down to the start of their broadcast. Snyder gives the two-minute warning. Another is issued at one minute and another with 30 seconds to go. Snyder then counts down the final seconds before show time: "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. All right. We're on." Coach and the QB Snyder and Kirby have been working together on Cox's Hornets broadcasts for the past two years. Snyder, 36, started producing games for Jefferson Pilot Sports in 1995 and worked 106 games and 70 shows for Cox last year. Kirby, 54, has worked on broadcast crews for the Cleveland Indians, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Milwaukee Brewers. "Scott is the conductor, and I am the coordinator," Kirby said. But Snyder prefers to use a football analogy to describe how he and Kirby work together. "A producer is kind of like the head coach, and the director is the quarterback," he said. "The head coach kind of calls the plays, and the quarterback executes." Either way, the broadcast of the Hornets' 30-minute pregame show, game telecast and postgame wrap-up is in their hands. With that responsibility it might not be a coincidence that Snyder and Kirby each smoke on game day. There are signs that prohibit smoking, eating and drinking inside the trailer that houses all of the video, audio and replay equipment used for the broadcast. So, Snyder and Kirby smoke beside it. Snyder has a cigarette before the pregame show, at halftime and at the end of the game. Kirby smokes before and after the game. "I smoke depending on how big the game is," Snyder said. The day begins Six hours before the start of the Hornets-Seattle SuperSonics game and the day is just beginning for Snyder, Kirby and the rest of the Cox crew. As usual, Snyder did some work before the start of the game. "I'll go through the format, decide when we do stuff, call each announcer and find out if there is anything specific that we need to talk about, and then put it together to make sure that it has flow," he said. But even when Snyder gets to the Arena for the game there is plenty of work to do. He starts editing videotape, putting together features that will be used for the pregame show, and collecting sound bites from players. Kirby makes sure that everything is working technically. And John Sulser, the graphics coordinator, starts putting together the graphics. Snyder has his standard pregame meal 2 ½ hours before the start of the game in the Hornets' media room with play-by-play announcer Steve Martin, color analyst Gil McGregor, sideline reporter Jordy Hultberg and stage manager Michael Hadley. Snyder passes out the format to Martin, McGregor, Hultberg and Hadley. While Snyder reads the format out loud, Hadley takes a few bites of his salad, Martin reads the sheets of paper, and McGregor and Hultberg scribble a few notes. The pregame meal ends, and Snyder and the other people in the media room tease Hultberg about a deep, red suntan he received during a Hornets road game in Miami, a few days before the SuperSonics game. When the ribbing is over, Martin and Hultberg go to their seats courtside and work on voice-overs for the opening teases to the pregame show and the game broadcast, and McGregor goes to his seat courtside and reads game notes. Snyder walks back to his seat in the trailer for a few minutes to relax before the broadcast. In an area outside the trailer, Kirby watches as cameraman John Williams shoots footage of SuperSonics players getting off their team bus and walking into the Arena. One hour before game time and 30 minutes before the pregame show, Snyder watches Hultberg interview Hornets backup center Robert "Tractor" Traylor in front of a black background of Cox Sports Television logos for a segment that will air during the pregame show. When Hultberg's interview ends Snyder returns to his seat in the truck beside Kirby, who gives last-minute instructions on his headset to the cast and crew before the pregame show. Smooth evening The pregame show, the game broadcast and the postgame wrap-up work out as smoothly as Snyder and Kirby planned, which is rare in the world of live television. The "Hornets Tonight" pregame show ran according to every sheet in the format, with Snyder and Kirby barking directions for every camera shot and graphic listed. The only time that Snyder breaks from a direction on the format sheet is when he urges Hultberg to push an upcoming high-definition broadcast by saying: "Sell it, baby. Sell it like it's a Buick." The game broadcast also goes as well as Kirby and Snyder could have hoped. There are no major mistakes. The cameramen get good footage of Hornets guard David Wesley stretching his toe on a pad on the floor in front of the team bench during the game. They also capture shots of a young girl bending over backward and shooting a bow and arrow with her toes during the halftime show and guard Baron Davis bumping his knee during the game. The guys in the replay area put together nice highlight segments of SuperSonics fast breaks and Hornets scoring runs. And McGregor has the verbal highlight of the broadcast when he makes a good joke about Seattle forward Vladimir Radmanovic needing a shave. Kirby said "our intention when we shoot a game is that if the ballgame had no sound people would still know what was going on." And Snyder said he produces the Hornets' game broadcasts very aggressively, so that they can keep up with the small attention span and off-the-wall energy of a college kid watching the game with his fraternity brothers. At the end of the postgame wrap up, Snyder, Kirby and the rest of the people in the truck breathe a sigh of relief and take off their headsets. Snyder walks out of the truck for his postgame cigarette. Kirby has a few words with the crew and then walks out of the truck for his postgame smoke. Kirby, who has been working in television since 1973, said the pressure and enjoyment of putting together a broadcast never gets old. "(Directing a broadcast) is like electronic chess because you always have to figure out your next move," he said. And the game within the game always is exciting. . . . . . . . Pierce W. Huff can be reached at [email protected] or (504) 826-3809. --

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