I'M HOISTING EMMYS

Today I put in a call to my merry Mexican carpenter, Jesus, asking him to come by pronto and add another shelf in my office (Second thought – living room. No, check that – front entry) for Emmy has entered my life again – and this year there are two of her!

You may remember a previous blog entry (“Emmy Has Come Knocking – Again” September 24th) that listed the 2008 Lone Star Emmy nominations and included my “heart-on-my-sleeves” revelation that not winning would reduce me to a vodka-soaked depression commercial. Well not to worry – the Boy came away two fisted, and the only alcohol problem I currently have is I’m low on Cristal.

The FSN/Stars broadcasts as a whole were 2 for 6 in Emmy win to nomination ratio, while the Razorboy was – to no one’s surprise, 2 for 2. Yes indeed, you are reading thoughts from 2008’s: Best Sports Analyst, and, Best Game – Live, Unedited – Program/Sports.

Of course I could have garnered these honors alone but instead I elected to share my superior talents with a group of idol-worshipping “technical” people who once again proved very adept at getting our show from point A to point B, while at the same time affording me the large swath that a person of my presence and intellect demands.

So in the spirit of “All for one - wow am I great”, here are the thanks I give for my wonderful bounty:

- Play x Play man Ralph Strangis - For getting most of the names right, and some of the action.

- Producer Jason “K” Walsh (the K stands for “Kick-ass”) - For doing what I tell him and not following through on threats to “fire everyone”, and also for piecing together teases for the start of our shows that make Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer films seem like rudimentary film school story-boards.

- Director Mark “Vitto” Vittorio - For pulling his cameramen off focusing on his lovely and talented wife Celena long enough to show the odd shot on goal and penalty.

- Graphics Co-ordinator and infinitely interesting Doug “Dot Com” Foster - For wearing fascinating shoe/suit combinations and always jamming as many negative stats as possible into our graphics package.

- Tape Room General, “Handsome” Johnny Sponsler - For editing together epic in-game video packages that have little or no correlation to the actual game being played.

- Statistician Greg Ramirez - For having a working knowledge of Wikipedia and Spanish - and for owning his own computer.

- Stars Public/Media Relations staff – For the sea of factually correct yet completely inane rhetoric they barraged us with during the game.

- Press Box Lieutenant Rick Jensen – For keeping the post game beers as cold as a well diggers arse.

- Our crew at AAC - For faking interest in our little northern sport yet at the same time staying sincere in their professionalism.

- The Broadcast Booth Relocation Group - For without them we surely would not have captured these Emmys. Some in our group would have struggled to differentiate between Sharks and Ice Girls from our elevated location, and no doubt the action would have to of been viewed, uplinked, translated and then re-animated from what has been referred to as "Southern Heaven". (Also known as the pressbox at AAC.)

- The San Jose Sharks - For building character in our broadcast by placing our Game 5 location up on a dusty, obscured-view platform in the rafters of the Shark Tank. (And for playing the role of perfect antagonist patsy in Game 6.)

- The NHL - For allowing locals to still broadcast the odd playoff game, and for making all of us better through their "tough love" broadcast report cards.

- Brenden Morrow's bone marrow altering hit on Milan Michalek, Nabokov's glove save on Richards, Turco stoning Marleau, and eventually -Morrow's series winner - For giving us some moments to punctuate. (Emmy voters love that)

- And finally, my bladder – For acting like a stoic water tower for the duration of the seven period epic that was the foundation for our Emmy win. (Yes, my molars did in fact float.)

Oops - the orchastra is playing.

I am being ushered stage left by a buxom evening gown draped “model”.

See you at the after party.