College hoops

A few weeks ago I worked at the ACC men’s basketball tournament here in Atlanta, as a “Talent TV Statistician” for Raycom Sports. What this means is that I sit with the TV announcers, keep statistics during the game, and pass information to them to say during the game. I also work in conjunction with another statistician who relays information from the game in progress to the TV truck. We all work together to make sure that what goes on the TV screen is the same thing that the announcers say.

As a TV statistician, I do everything from keeping track of when teams go on scoring runs, to what player hasn’t scored in a while, to the largest lead, to scoring droughts and giving the announcers fouls, turnovers, and other game stats. It is a lot of work, and you have to really pay attention to the game, but it is also very fun. On top of that, I get paid pretty well to work the games, so that makes it just so much more worthwhile.

It is always a lot of fun to work the games, since I love college basketball and it is just really neat to be contributing to the production of the game. I was able to work several other games this season for Georgia Tech and Georgia, though much less than I normally work. I get to sit with the announcers, directly opposite the team benches, and at about mid-court. They are pretty prime seats!

So, this weekend as you watch The Final Four, keep in mind that when the announcers say all those statistics, they are getting that information from someone else. When you are watching the game (or any game, whether it is basketball, football, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, etc.) the score that is listed on the screen, the home team is always the bottom team (or team listed on the right). And, that little box that the score appears in is called “The Bug.”