LIVE IN 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Controlling what thousands of fans see on a stadium scoreboard for hours at a time can be an intimidating task. Especially here in Indian Wells, California at the BNP Paribas Open, which is widely consider the "5th Grand Slam" in the tennis world.

Imagine a player serving for set point. He hits a magnificent shot for an Ace, only for the line umpire to yell, "OUT!" The player, not allowing himself to think that his eyes were playing tricks on him, challenges the call. Both the producer and Hawkeye review official call to you on the headset saying, "Standby for review...and ready!" You reply with, "Hawkeye on the board!", hit a button, and suddenly Hawkeye is on the scoreboard for the player, umpire, and fans to see. Well, it is supposed to be on the board for them to see at least. Instead, they see scores from matches in progress on other courts at the time - whoops! 

That happened to me yesterday and let's just say when you make a mistake once in the world of production, you make sure never to make the same mistake again. Now, every time there's a challenge, I find myself checking and double checking to make sure I have all the correct options selected on my multitude of computer screens in front of me on the desk before saying, "Hawkeye, on the board!" 

Considering that's the only major mistake I've made so far in this first week of play at the tournament on Stadium 4, I would say I'm doing a pretty good job. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to work in a major production role at a major sporting event for my job and I'm trying to take it all in as best as I can. As some can tell from my website, I'm on the creative side of things, producing my own personal videos, doing photography, and whatever else comes to my mind. I know they are very amateurish and not professional at all, but it's something I enjoy doing, and by doing production for work right now, I can translate more of what I enjoy doing in my personal life, to my professional life. 

So, if any of you happen to come out to watch some tennis on Stadium 4 here in the Coachella Valley, know that everything you see on those scoreboards is controlled by me, sitting at the desk in the picture below.