Earlier this year I wrote about technology and smartphones hurting society, and in some ways that is true.
However, it has also done our society a lot of good.
I experienced some of the good this weekend. For the first time, I attended one of Gannon’s football games, and attempted to track the play-by-play using paper and a pen.
After receiving some guidance from my knowledgeable adviser, who has experience doing this, I felt confident in my ability to track the game.
He told me days before the game that people don’t usually get it their first time, and that it takes a while to develop your own style.
I thought I had a handle on the situation. Boy, was I wrong.
Fortunately, Dan Teliski, Gannon’s assistant director of athletics for media relations, allowed me to watch the game from the press box located above the visiting team’s bench at McConnell Family Stadium.
It was a treat to be up there, and I was treated like a real reporter. Teliski made sure I got stat sheets after each quarter and everything. He doesn’t get enough credit — he does a very nice job, so thank you, Mr. Teliski.
I was able to keep up with tracking the game, but before long I was distracted by all the different announcing going on. People were broadcasting the play-by-play for Gannon, Clarion and Jet Radio 1400.
It was difficult to hear the official ruling over the public address system so that I could take accurate notes.
Looking back on it, I would probably station myself outside the press box on the platform in hopes of drowning out some of the play-by-play and color commentating.
However, I was able to write up key plays, substitutions and anything interesting said by Jack Quinn from Jet Radio 1400, whom I was stationed next to.
In fact, Jack let me talk during the halftime show about The Gannon Knight, my thoughts on the game and my future aspirations.
He told me if I wanted to go into TV I should shave, to which I responded, “Yeah, I’ve been told I’m pretty for radio.”
He laughed and wished me luck. It was an awesome opportunity to be on such a popular radio station in Erie.
Hopefully our paper picks up some new readers.
To relate this back to technology, I usually can’t make it to the events I typically write about.
This weekend was an exception because I covered football for the first time this season to gain experience tracking it by hand.
I usually rely on the postgame write-ups and play-by-plays on gannonsports.com to write my stories.
Thankfully technology has advanced to give us apps and the Internet that have made my job easier.
It will take some more tries to find my style, but going to the game and being in the press box gave me an advantage that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise, and I thank Mr. Teliski and Gannon’s sports media department for that opportunity.

BRANDON JACES
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