The night the lights went out

It's nights like this that people will talk about in thirty years. That people will sit around and say remember that game......

It's nights like this that I LOVE my job. It's such a rush. About twenty minutes before going to air with our late cast, the power went out (not to mention it was the start of the fourth quarter in the football game!) We were running with a show that was being held together with a piece of string and some tape to begin with (shooting the whole show in the newsroom as the studio is being repainted and has the lighting adjusted). Thank goodness for backup generators (although it only runs the "important" stuff.) Thankfully hi-lites had just finished being cut but unfortunately the tape was still in the unpowered machine. So after an executive decision we disconnected the deck from the system, carried it to the backroom (where the generator was feeding power) to plug it in and pop the tape.

Suprisingly we made it to air without a hitch until the power came back on and the entire station dipped to black for 30 seconds. It happened during a commercial break but happened literally as we were coming out of commercial to go back to air!! We made it back on, showed our hi-lites and got the hell out.

That's when the fun began. We decided to head down to the stadium to get post and I am so glad we went.

The atmosphere at the stadium for those fans that stuckout the blackout and the torrential downpour and the lightning did not disappoint. The place was like a rock concert (it was an even more amazing vibe than the Rolling Stones -- and I am not exaggerating in the least). I have never seen that much bare flesh at a late night football game -- except for that streaker a few weeks ago! It was like all of the fans had trickled down into the lower part of the stadium and were huddling together for warmth.

They were so loud and so exuberant that it would have been a shock if the team hadn't won. In talking to some of the players afterwards they were amazed at how many people stayed through that hour delay. As they sat in a blackened dressing room (after leaving the field because of a lightning delay) the only light coming from their cell phones, waiting to hear if they would indeed finish the game! And what an end it was. Down by five points going into the delay they had just recovered a fumble and there was a definite swing in momentum. They came back and won by a touchdown (just like I said they would!).

Tonight was a night that will go down in history for that stadium. She may be old and starting to get rundown but tonight was amazing!

It's nights like this that people will talk about in thirty years. Not to mention the fact that this was the game that put us first in the league. It's nights like this that become legendary......

I'm so glad I got to be apart of it.