We live for this type moments.
This is a live post — as we speak we are done setting up at Estadio El Trebol, in Guatemala City. The team is out for lunch, to my left video, to my right the great Don Mario Anleu who has become a friend over the last years.
No need to speak, we are working peacefully, every once in a while a comment about today’s production, a rights holder matter or life may break the silence.
Cameras are in position, mics are set, elements are loaded, we have enough candy to put any four year old piñata to shame, our signals are ready — this is the third match we do together just this week. We’ve been on three different venues now. Nothing to report but good times and the amazing coffee and pancito they always have in the truck.
Well — although we did had that encoder death earlier in the week — but we manage through. Now it’s just a fun story.
This is El Trebol’s first Central American Cup match. There’s a dull roar in the air, all departments want everything to go smooth and perfect. Broadcast is not — and will never be — the exception to the rule. Early set, everything in place, double tested after testing again and — let’s be ready for anything to be on the safe side.
Will it be perfect? No. Are we striving for perfect? Yes. Are we expecting perfect? Always. Will we be angry or sad if perfect doesn’t show up? No. This is live television — scratch that — live sports television.
Outside this truck, outside this venue, there’s life. A lot of people working fast to get out early, to come to the match, to go to a bar, to a friends house, to their apartment, sit down and enjoy. We know our responsibility in that equation. We take it seriously.
We help all departments and work with them — we love them, they are not only peers but friends.
We are KO-5hrs, waiting, the team will eventually come in one by one, with food, jokes, stories and ready to get this one in the books.
Hopefully El Trebol’s debut night will be a great memory for all of us, but only time will tell and in this business just like in every match we need to asses it, minute by minute.
