TOWSON, Md. - Although summer is my favorite time of the year, there is something missing. My new bride and I love the beach and enjoy spending time with family in Ocean City and the Jersey Shore. We love it so much that we got married on the beach just over a week ago.
But now its time to get busy. The new athletic season is underway for some of the Tigers and will begin in earnest the next two weeks for all of the fall sports.
For me, the season starts this Thursday night at 6 p.m. It's time for the first Tiger Coaches show which will come to you from Bill Bateman's Bistro on the Towson campus.
Over the last two seasons, our weekly show at Bateman's was basically a Towson football show featuring Rob Ambrose and a Tiger football player. But, this season will be different in many ways.
First off, the show will be on a new yet old radio station for Towson Athletics. Towson has signed a deal with WNST-AM 1570 to broadcast football, basketball and lacrosse. We will also have a Coaches show every Thursday at 6 p.m. through May. All broadcasts can also be heard on Towsontigers.com. That is change number one.
Change number two is that I will have a co-host for the first time. Damon Lewis, the Tigers' Director of New Media, will join me every week. Tiger fans who visit this site regularly are already familiar with Damon's work. He has done a terrific job in the three months he has been here at Towson.
As a broadcaster, you always have concerns when you work with someone new. Damon and I were thrown into the fire together early. He had barely unpacked his bags from Indianapolis when he found himself sitting next to me broadcasting the CAA Women's Lacrosse Championship from Unitas Stadium last spring. We hit it off right away and I really look forward to doing the weekly show with Damon. In the short time I have known Damon, he is a class act.
Change number three is that the show will not only feature Coach Ambrose, but will also feature another Tiger Head Coach and one of their players. For show number one this week at Bateman's, we will have women's soccer Coach Greg Paynter, who will be bringing along one of his stars.
We hope all Tiger fans can come out and join us each Thursday night at Bill Bateman's in Towson. We have had a lot of fun over the past two seasons and this year will be no different.
As for the football broadcasts this season, I will be working with a new analyst. For the older Tiger fans, it will be a familiar name. For new Tiger fans, a little background.
My new partner is former Tiger quarterback Ron Meehan. Ron is a Tiger Hall of Famer who played for Towson from 1977-1980. He was the Tigers' QB when I started at Towson as a freshman in 1978. As a matter of fact, Ron was one of the first players I ever interviewed.
I would see Ron occasionally through the years and then on a weekly basis in the mid 2000's when he was an assistant coach for the Tigers under then Head Coach Gordy Combs.
Ron will bring a wealth of knowledge to the broadcasts. Not only does he love his alma mater, but he is of course, a football junkie.
I have worked with some really good analysts through the years and after doing a practice run during the Tigers' scrimmage last Saturday night, it's obvious that Ron will be a great addition.
So, even though I am sad to see summer come to an end, as my 21st season as the Tigers main play-by-play man, I am as excited as ever to get the games started.
Hope to see you at Bateman's Thursday night at 6 p.m. and remember, if you can't be there, tune in at either Towsontigers.com or WNST-AM 1570.
