Celebrity status

I've tried to keep a low profile in Yuma. Kept a tight circle of friends. Avoided public places. Shopped late at night. Dated only when necessary.

That's all over now. I've got a household name like Tiger, a household face like Seacrest, and a household voice like Regis. :)

For the past couple months I've had the opportunity to play a little part of the local NBC affiliate's news broadcast. The sports anchor wanted to do a weekly 3-minute segment about the Arizona Western College basketball teams and bring me on as the "expert." (His term, not mine.)

Here's a taste of my work. (I tried to post the video directly into the blog. The little video screen appeared, but it was blank and nothing happened when I clicked the play button. Sorry.)

There's about seven or eight more of these if you're interested. Which one's the best? Guess that depends on whether you consider "best" as Emmy-worthy stuff or Boom-goes-the-dynamite stuff. I've never watched them and tried to erase from my memory any and everything I said.

However, I'm sure if you decide to watch them you'll recognize some of these faces/expressions/reactions:

• "You didn't tell me you were going to ask that question."

• "Sit straight. No, too tall. Cross your ankles. No, too lady-like. What do I do with these bean stalks!!"

• "Better not say that. (awkward pause.) Better say something."

• "Why did I say that?"

• "Hey look, I can see myself on the monitor! Am I REALLY that pale and pasty?

• "Probably should smile. (Smile, pause). Oooh, that was cheesy."

• "Stop staring at Tommy. Stop staring around the room. Look into the camera!!"

• "Why did the camera guy's face just get really serious?"

Couple observations from this experience:

1. People love to tell you they saw you on TV.

It's fun being a celebrity and all, but I just didn't expect this kind of notoriety. Excluding the haters who me leave voicemails when I fail to include their precious all-star prodigy child's name in a story, it's rare when someone tells me they read my article in the newspaper.

2. 3 minutes goes by in a jiffy.

Before going to the news studio each week, I probably spent 45 minutes - 1 hour preparing myself with stats, records, tends, quotes, and ideas. Then the lights go up, the video starts running, and bang, it's over.

I imagine the gobs of nervous energy pushing me along had something to do with it too.

Seacrest out.