An Interview with Greg Hassler

For the first snippet from my book, I thought it only fitting to share a bit from my interview with my good buddy Greg Hassler, co-owner of 1450 KOKO/98.5 KWKJ in Warrensburg.  Hass and I have known each other for 20 years, since my days as sports information director at Missouri Southern and later here at the University of Central Missouri.  We've shared a lot of laughs on road trips together and I have always found Greg to be an honest man who loves his job and loves his teams.
I asked him about a couple of his favorites from his time in the booth.  Here are his responses:

MY NEW ADVENTURE: SHOW-ME SPORTSCASTERS

Well, friends, I'm embarking on a new adventure.  I am writing a book I have tentatively titled "Show-Me Sportscasters".

For 15 years I worked in sports information, 12 years as a director.  I developed media guides, wrote news releases and feature stories, produced game notes, provided statistics at sporting events, and served as host to countless media.  

One group I worked with always amazed me during sporting events:  the play-by-play announcers.  I was always amazed at how they could remember the names that matched the numbers and how they could recall this information in real time (actually in really fast time).  Of course, I knew they did their homework before the event--checking stats, finding nuggets of information, examining trends and so forth--but the fact that they could so poignantly articulate what was happening and draw on their preparation just fascinated me.

I have also always been a fan of the back story.  “Batman Begins” and “Captain America:  The First Avenger” are two of my all-time favorite movies.  While I am not a fan of the Star Wars prequels, I watch “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” at least once a month.  When I decided to begin this project, telling the back stories of some of my favorite sportscasters from across my home state just seemed to make sense.  As a sports fan, it is the type of book I would like to read because it is through the eyes of these gentlemen that I often get to “see” the game (if I’m listening to the radio) and that I get to really know the players and coaches who make it happen (if I’m watching on television).  As an educator who teaches sports broadcasting, this is the kind of book I would want to assign for my students who are interested in being on-air talent.

Over the next few months, I'll be posting audio clips from my interviews as a means of sharing the experience. I hope you enjoy.

Camping at Knob Noster State Park: This is the Good Life!!

Tonight I'm doing something I have not done in years, and remembering how much I love it:  I'm sitting by a campfire.  My oldest son, Gavin, turned 13 yesterday and for his birthday he wanted to bring some of his buddies camping at Knob Noster State Park.  Now, mind you, Knob Noster State Park is a whopping 10 minutes from my house.  My wife and daughter recognized this and chose to go home and sleep in their own beds, so I'm sharing a tent, S'mores, and hot dogs with six 11- to 13-year-old middle school boys.  And I'm loving every minute of it!
For a couple of the guys, this is a first.  They've never been camping, never roasted hot dogs or popped popcorn over a campfire, never slept in a tent.  Our fishing excursion--complete with witnessing a snake eating a frog--was also a first.  One of the fellas even said he'd never shelled and eaten a peanut!! Do not get me wrong:  These are boys with great families who have given them wonderful life experiences. Just not the camping one, and I am honored they've trusted me to give them this one.  Listening to them say things like "This is the best birthday sleepover ever" and "I haven't had this much fun in months", THOSE are the things I love to hear.  It reminds me, in all of the hustle and bustle of life, it's really all about serving the Lord, and my favorite way to do that is to teach and mentor young people, whether that is in my profession as a professor, as a coach, as a VBS worship leader, or especially as a father.  I just have to give thanks, for my cup runneth over.
Thank you, Lord, for your many blessings, for your wonderful masterpiece we call Earth, for the life you've given me, and for the opportunity to share you with the world, especially the young men I'm gonna have to try to force to sleep!  In Jesus name, Amen.

Get Your Start in Sports Broadcasting

I have so many students who are interested in sports and sports broadcasting.  Brian Clapp, a 13-year veteran of sports media, provides some great tips here, advising students to seek jobs as production assistants.  Those of you interested in the field, LISTEN TO THESE TIPS, read the content on this page (including the links), and let's get started!!

Of course, those of you at the University of Central Missouri or those of you looking at colleges, give
me a shout about our Minor in Sport Communication.  We'd love to help make your dreams a reality!

Bracketology: Joe Mule Style - Round 1

Well, THAT was an exciting first round!  Did you see that last second shot in Oklahoma City???  If not, here it is:

Paul Jesperson's buzzer beater

As promised, here is how my brackets are looking:

Top Seeds:  19-13 after the first round.  I don't know what the stats are for any other year, but 13 upsets?  That's impressive!

Cinderellas:  Obviously, if the top seeds went 19-13, the Cinderellas went 13-19 (funny how that works, isn't it?).

Alphabetical:  Sometimes being first isn't best.  The ABC bracket went 10-22, worst among my five, which means Xavier still has a chance (naturally I'm not reseeding after the first round).

Random Selection:  So I'm not going to look for statistical significance here, but the random selection didn't work out so well, either.  Teams picked to win only came out on top 14 times.  But the Yale-eys are hanging in there!

My Heart:  Sadly, my national champion was knocked out in the first round, but kudos to KU for supporting the #RallyforRhyan cause.  Still, my prefered teams did best of all, going 22-10.  And I'm picking Arkansas-Little Rock to go all the way!

ON TO ROUND TWO!!!

  

Bracketology -- JoeMule Style

I've already established that I don't watch much basketball during the regular season.  Well, let me rephrase that; I watch a LOT of basketball during the regular season.  It just happens to be UCM games my students are webcasting and Warrensburg High School games at which my daughter is dancing.  I just don't catch many games on the tube.

As such, I'm never really into filling out brackets.  Can't really make educated selections when I don't even know the teams, you know?  But this year I thought it would be fun to get in on the action.  Instead of studying the match ups and fill out one bracket, though, I decided to use some highly sophisticated criteria and fill out FIVE brackets.  I then will compare results and see which method is most effective.  Are you ready?  Here we go:

Method 1:  The Top Seeds
A whimpy way out, sure.  Who couldn't pick all the top seeds? But really, what are then odds we'll see no upsets?  Pretty slim! So, KU, you are the favorite, but don't get cocky!

Method 2:  The Cinderella Stories
On the opposite end of the spectrum, let's try all the underdogs.  In this bracket, the lower seed in every round wins.  That means all four 16-seeds will have to run the table to get to the Final Four.  From there, I picked the lower ranked teams in the final poll.  Long odds, to be sure, but how cool would that be to see a tournament full of upsets? So, congratulations, Holy Cross, on your TOTALLY unexpected title (maybe I should put some money on this one ...).

Method 3:  The ABCs of Bracketology
Okay, I did this one on a whim.  You know how some who know nothing about sports will just pick the team wearing their favorite color or with the coolest/cutest mascot? I chose my own approach:  alphabetical order.  Every pairing, the team higher in alphabetical order gets the nod. So, sorry Xavier, you were finished before you started.  Arizona, you get the nod over Arkansas-Little Rock, but just barely.

Method 4: The Scientific Method
I'm a social scientist, so like it or not, I had to pick a bracket based on random selection.  You know how they say on any given day, any team can win? Well, in this bracket literally every team had an equal chance of winning.  Took me a while to lay out this bracket because I had to wait until the First Four were finished (sorry, I was not picking them).  Each round the two teams went into a hat, I picked one out, hat team advanced and the other went into the trash.  So, congratulations California, Yale, Michigan and Middle Tennessee for making the Final Four, and your randomly selected national champion is Yale (seems fitting that the Ivy League school would represent the scientific method, don't you think?).

Method 5:  It's All Heart
And, finally, because so much of sport is about what's on the inside, I picked a bracket based purely on emotion.  For bracket number five I chose based upon my own preference.  This wasn't necessarily  the team I favored, mind you.  For example, I picked Stony Brook because I am not a Kentucky fan. I chose Butler because I just cannot pick a team with Texas in its name.  I have UALR going to the championship game because I grew up in North Little Rock.  But sorry, Trojans.  This year I'm gonna #RallyforRhyan.  Let's go (Austin) Peay!!!

So, those are my picks.  I'll be keeping up each night, and we'll see how close I get (and which bracket is most accurate)!

U.S. Reed's Buzzer-Beater: My Favorite March Madness Memory

I've never been a HUGE basketball fan. Maybe it's because I was never very good at it. Oh, I loved to play when I was younger, but I was a power forward in a point guard's body.  I enjoyed to banging around under the basket, going up for rebounds and going for blocked shots.  And I had a sweet hook shot.  But I am 5-9 if I stand REALLY straight, so I was built more for the outside.  Problem there is I can't shoot and I have fewer handles than a plate.  

I have no interest in the NBA, and because I've worked so much basketball as a college sports information director and now as a sports broadcasting professor, I really don't care to watch college ball.  Until March.  

I know, I know.  Lots of people ignore college hoops until the Madness sets in.  For me, though, it's not because that's when the best teams are playing for the title or because Cinderella might find her glass slipper.  It's because that's when my dad and I shared some of our best memories.  We'd watch our beloved Arkansas Razorbacks dominate the old Southwest Conference with Eddie Sutton calling the shots and Sidney Moncrief bringing the magic. We'd marvel at big 6-10 Scott Hastings owning the low post. Those teams, in the late '70s and early '80s were some of the finest in college basketball.  

As I watched UConn's Jalen Adams sink a half-court buzzer beater to force a fourth overtime against Cincinnati and then saw Oklahoma's Buddy Hield have his apparent half court game-winner waved off against West Virginia, I flashed back to 1981 to relive my all-time favorite March Madness memory.

The date was March 14.  The Razorbacks' opponent:  Louisville.  

The place:  Austin, Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  Here you go:

Arkansas vs. Louisville: 1981

Ulysses "U.S." Reed was a senior, and that shot against the defending national champions put him on the map!  I remember I was lying on the couch, and my dad was across the room in his recliner.  Mom was upstairs in her sewing room watching the game on our little black-and-white TV (I have no idea where my sister was; probably reading in her room).  Dad and I were both bummed after watching Louisville's Derek Smith drain that jumper.  But seconds later, Reed sank the shot that will be etched in the minds of Razorback faithful forever.  Dad and I met in mid-air, screaming at the top of our lungs in the tightest bear hug I think I've ever felt.  Mom came shrieking down the steps, " Did you see that?!?!? Did you see that?!?!?!?"  We were too excited to answer.  But THAT is my favorite March Madness memory.

What's yours? Please share!