New network, new role, new level unlocked!

As avid followers of this blog know ... I've been shirking my blogging duties. There are many reasons for this, but let's get past those and focus on not making it FIVE months without posting.

The news is that my role with ESPN will increase this year, a big professional deal that is more than three years in the making. It's occupied a lot of thought and attention and time, and it's really exciting to finally start. My focus will be on ACC Network soccer, with some professional soccer, college basketball, and miscellaneous odds and ends thrown in.

I'm not sure I'm capable of explaining what it means, after almost eight years of free-lancing, to have guaranteed broadcasting income. It's not a full-time deal at the moment (baby steps!), so there will still be plenty of free-lancing and scheming and job-chasing. But to earn and receive a commitment from ESPN and some people I truly respect and admire really provides encouragement and validation of work I've put in going back a long way, and it's something special.

I'm incredibly fortunate to have the support of family (nuclear and extended), and friends (old and new) in chasing, pursuing, and realizing this and other opportunities, and I really am grateful for it. This is neither the time nor the place to list everybody, but suffice it to say, Thank you.

Moving ahead, the fall schedule still has some moving parts to it, but it is well and truly underway with a two-game ACC Network week with games Sunday and Wednesday this week. Sunday was a special thrill and adrenaline rush, as Lori Lindsey and I called the second ever live event on newly launched ACC Network, and the first produced from a school control room. What's more, it was the first game at Syracuse for former Rice head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams, who I know from my undergraduate days at Rice, when she started her coaching career as an assistant. The emotions and intensity of seeing her new team pull out its first win was a welcome start to the season!

Missed last night's game? We got you covered. Visual recap of our 1-0 shutout of Colgate.⬇ 🍊⚽ pic.twitter.com/QN24kJOTTx

— Syracuse Women's Soccer (@cusewsoc) August 26, 2019

There is much more still to come, and I am hopeful of providing slightly more regular updates as the year goes along. But there's an ESPN paycheck in my bank account this morning, one I didn't have to submit an invoice for, and that's a goal I never felt certain of achieving.