The important stuff: Tying a tie

A Troy, Alabama welcome.

I really enjoyed my trip to Troy, Alabama, last weekend, including Louisiana-Lafayette's 37-24 win over Troy, breaking a 25-game Troy winning streak in home openers. Hopefully the good people of Troy won't hold it against me.

The game was my first working with former Florida State offensive lineman Forrest Conoly, and we made sure to sample some local fare, going to Hook's BBQ for Friday dinner and Julia's Restaurant for Saturday breakfast. It should be noted that somebody awarded Julia's 'Sun Belt Conference Best Breakfast Spot' last year, and it didn't disappoint.

My version of a half-Windsor.

Forrest and I also bonded over trying to tie just the right tie knot for the occasion. Now, although we wear suits and spend the game in them, we're usually not on camera all that long. Those in-game booth close-ups that Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit get? Not really done at this level. So worrying too much about your tie knot, when it's only on screen for about 30 seconds, really doesn't make much sense.

No pressure, Forrest, but my tie is already good to go.

But at my brother's urging, I decided to try a half-Windsor knot for this game, rather than whatever you call my normal knot. I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to get it, and I have a certain YouTube video to thank for the final result. I ended up feeling pretty good about the knot, though, so I couldn't resist having a little fun with my partner in crime as he tried to tie his just right.

Eventually both our ties were ready to go, we recorded what I thought was a very solid opening segment, and the game was on. Four hours later, after many penalty flags and replay challenges, our ties were still going strong at the final whistle. We even wound up with some extra camera time, thanks to our halftime interview with the Troy chancellor, Dr. Jack Hawkins, and so our half-Windsors came in handy.

Dr. Hawkins, what do you think of our ties?

There's a lot that goes into these broadcasts - memorizing names/numbers, talking to coaches, studying statistics and schedules - but tying that tie just right certainly can't be overlooked!