The Journey Begins...

T Minus 12 hours from departure...Yes assistant coach Brian Dignan and I apparently drew the short straws on the first basketball trip of the season so we'll be departing out of Los Angeles at 6am, so do the math thats a 2:30am departure via Bakersfield. No big deal, we flew out of LAX so many times last season we started getting mail there.

Just went through the most interesting equipment check of the season. Engineer Jake and I were testing out the new mixer the station purchased for lighter travel when it started to smoke. Apparently the promotions staff didn't know you can't put C batteries in backwards, it tends to cause a meltdown. Tragedy averted, we were able to rescue the mixer before any serious damage was done. It's not the first time equipment used for CSUB has had smoking issues. Three seasons ago a stat monitor located in front of me at Rabobank Arena caught fire during the pre game show, since I was on the air I was limited to panicked gestures to Sports Information staff who promptly unplugged the now deceased piece of equipment.
Equipment issues aside I still have a lot of packing/organizing to do prior to departure tomorrow morning. Unfortunately the first trip of the season always catches you off guard, once it's out of the way things are right where they're supposed to be but the first trip always has me searching for items I need for the journey. Add in my recent house purchase and move and well it could be a long night.
Otherwise excited to start the season. Long trip covering two states in four days. First at Wyoming on Friday night and then at Air Force on Sunday afternoon. More details to come as we officially get underway tomorrow. The plan will be early flights out of Bakersfield for the team, they'll meet up with us in Denver where we'll Charter bus our way north to Laramie, Wyo. More updates to come...