Have you ever attended three basketball games and one hockey game in one evening? You’d likely have to have plenty of disposable income, or be that much of a die-hard sports fan to have accomplished the feat. Or, you could work in the media.

Checking out multiple games in a matter of two hours or less is a typical night on the town for area TV sportscasters, putting together highlight packages for the 10 pm news. You see the fruits of their labor many nights on stations like TV-18 and Channel 8 out of La Crosse. The evening of Friday, Feb. 6, I tagged-along with the TV-13 sports crew to see how they turn 50-plus games into 15 minutes of highlights. Here’s Part 1 of how that night went.

I arrive at the station on Hastings Way at 6:29, just in time for the end of the 6 pm news and the deployment of the staff to cover the games. If you’re expecting a dramatic Hill Street Blues-esque roll call to set assignments and pump-up the troops, you won’t get it; Bob Gallaher has already put together the schedule the prior Tuesday, and everyone gets their gear and heads out.

Matt Queen is driving I-94 to Hudson to shoot the Eau Claire North girls’ game; Matt Cullen is stopping by Augusta and Fall Creek; three other photographers are hitting up the likes of Clayton, Amery, Menomonie, and Glenwood City. I’m following the veteran Gallaher, who has the metro assignment: in two hours we’re planning to go to four games in and around Eau Claire.

We’re out the door at 6:38, for the 14-minute drive to Hobbs Ice Center for the UW-Eau Claire womens’ hockey tilt against Lake Forest, Ill. On the way in the arena, a random guy from a neighboring house yells across the street to ask Bob about North sports. Gallaher is famous enough that pure strangers ask him questions on a dark street (I apparently have a ways to go in building up my celebrity).

We head up to the press area, Bob shoots one period’s worth of action, and even though UWEC does not get a goal, we have to zip out at 7:29 to catch our first basketball game of the night, Independence at E.C. Immanuel Lutheran. We quick park, race in, and Gallaher shoots more video; regrettably, Immanuel Lutheran doesn’t get a basket during our eight minutes in the gym, but more games are underway and wanting our attention, and we dash to E.C. Memorial for the girls’ game against Rice Lake. Evidently, I’m a jinx. For the third game in a row, the Eau Claire team fails to score any points during our time getting video. Twelve real-time minutes, no Memorial baskets. Oh well, we gotta get to the Chippewa Falls McDonell-Altoona boys’ game.

Upon arrival 10 minutes later, Bob gets word from his brother that the Marquette men’s basketball team got upset by South Florida; there’s one more highlight package to put together. We only spend three minutes in the Altoona gym since both teams score a flurry of baskets, so it’s back to Memorial for video of an elusive Old Abe basket. Again, they go into a drought at our return; the most captivating video Bob can shoot is of the dancing Old Abe mascot. Alas, after another nine minutes go by, Memorial hits a field goal.

Incredibly, during the 21 total minutes we waited for the Old Abes to connect, they held the lead the entire time, and went on to the win the game. Maybe my celebrity is larger than I thought, and my mere presence is flustering Eau Claire’s finest athletes.

8:52, and we roll into the TV-13 parking lot. The sports team has less than an hour-and-a-half to jot-down all the scores, edit all the video, and add highlights to the scripts – and most staffers haven’t returned yet. Plus, most of the games aren’t even done. Will the TV-13 sports unit have the time to put together a quality sports segment to be viewed by thousands of discerning Chippewa Valley residents? Stay tuned for my next column to find out the answer ...