Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
Last Friday was different. The classic matchup between the host Lander Tigers and the visiting Riverton Wolverines was for once a game that lived up to the hype.
Earlier that afternoon, I watched my friend Dan O’Brien and his Dubois Rams struggle against a good Encampment Tiger team. Nothing the Rams did worked out well. It was a lopsided, disappointing game for the boys from the High Country in their final contest on their home field.
Two-and-a-half hours and 75 miles after the Dubois game, another one unfolded at Bill Bush Stadium.
I usually work alone, but this season it’s been a treat to have stellar photographer Carl Cote working the sidelines with me at many games.
I’ve worked with some great photographers in the past. Wayne Nicholls comes to mind. The work of Mike McClure at Wyoming Indian games was beyond compare. These venerable warhorses were masters of the lens, the setting, and had that innate ability to capture the drama of an event in a single photograph.
Carl has that same skill. His angles, close-ups, and his favorite, “the motion blur,” bring static digital images to life.
His work last Friday in Lander was more of his usual excellence.
Excellence was on full display for the County 10 crew last Friday.
We had the best photographer in the state, and the two best sports broadcasters all in one setting, along with the only sportswriter in the county that covers everything from rodeo to baseball and every high school event in between.
Combining the skills of Jerrad Anderson and Scott Fuller into one broadcast team just isn’t fair. They’re great on their own; together, they reach another dimension.
Their banter, wit, analysis, and play-by-play is outstanding. It’s easy to see why they’re not just the best in Fremont County, but in Wyoming.
I had a basketball videographer years ago, Doug Wallage, who was outstanding in recording games on one of those luggable-sized video cameras with the full-sized VHS tapes. He didn’t use a tripod, yet his videos were tight without any blurring. I used to tease Doug that he was so good because he didn’t have a heartbeat. The kid was great.
Jason Peterson is even better as the man behind the camera for Jerrad at football and basketball games. He never misses the action, no matter how precarious the perch he and Jerrad are set in on opposing fields and gyms across Wyoming.
While on the subject of outstanding broadcasts, SVI Media, out of Afton, also does an excellent job in broadcasting Star Valley Braves football. I’m sure they’re just as good in basketball, but I’ve only watched the Tigers and Wolverines in football when they play in Wyoming’s version of “Death Valley” against the Braves.
It’s a shame that the state doesn’t allow County 10 and SVI to stream video from state-culminating events.
I’ve had an NFHS Network account since they went on the air a few years ago and routinely watch the Cougars, Rams, Chiefs, Eagles, and Wranglers on the road. They have an exclusive contract for the state and a new friend I met at the Wyoming Historical Society convention in Sheridan last month is in charge of organizing broadcasters and video operators.
Stephen Tucker (no relation) is the owner of Bighorn Films LLC in Sheridan. Bighorn Films is a full-service media production company that specializes in just about every form of modern digital video, from commercials to historical documentaries and everything in between.
I watched the Wind River Cougars play the Big Piney Punchers on an NFHS broadcast two years ago at 10 pm from a hotel room in London, England.
Nothing against NFHS, it’s a great service, but maybe the WHSAA could allow broadcast professionals like SVI and County 10 access as well.
Friday’s game was old home week for all five of us. Jerrad, Jason and I cover the Wolverines while Scott covers the Tigers. Carl somehow manages to cover both, and often joins me on the sidelines in Shoshoni, Ethete, Pavillion, and Dubois on the same day.
It’s a blast being part of such an outstanding sports coverage team.
It was also a blast watching all the kids from Lander and Riverton I’ve covered since seventh grade mix it up for more time.
I’ll have to admit, when I wrote the County Competitors piece last week and my Wednesday sports column (both on the rivalry between Riverton and Lander, a rivalry dating back to 1922), I was cognizant of how many references I made to each school and how many images I used in the stories.
There are people who count those things. So, in a story that included interviews with Daniel Clawson, Blake Gantenbein and Hunter Saltsgaver from Riverton, they each had three images inside. Carl wrote the Lander portion and his interviews with Paxon Hollingshead, Gavin Romer and Cody West were given the same consideration. His images of those three players were substantially better than mine of the Riverton kids, but on the featured image, I Photoshopped a composite image of both green and red teams.
We take covering teams from Fremont County’s eight high schools seriously. Some are harder to cover than others, and some teams, especially during tournament season in volleyball, basketball, and wrestling, are a challenge, but we do our best. When Ft. Washakie and Arapahoe Charter field teams we try to cover them as well.
Last Friday, I was able to spend some time with two longtime friends on the Riverton sidelines, friends from Lander. Paul Swenson and Eric Baker were part of the chain crew. I met Paul when I was covering his son Conrad a few years ago, who is now an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.
I watched Eric play football for the Tigers years ago, and his dad, Art, and I coached against each other. I even covered Art when he was the manager of the Riverton Raiders.
They gave me an insight into the inner workings of the Tiger program I don’t usually get to hear.
One sight that broke my heart, to the point of bringing a tear to my eye, came at the coin toss last Friday just before 6 pm.
Brayden Baker, Eric’s son, was pushed out in a wheelchair for the coin toss. Brayden continues to be a team captain for coach Jim Burton, even though he had a season-ending knee injury on a cheap shot in Torrington three weeks ago.
Brayden represents all that is good in athletics. He is intense, a fierce competitor and a gentleman all at once. The Bakers did an excellent job in raising this young man.
I first watched Brayden when he was playing Little League Baseball, and was surprised to see him earlier this summer. The weight room had changed him from that little red-haired kid into a formidable athlete.
He has surgery soon and we can all hope it goes well and that he’s back on the mound for the Raiders next spring.
The mainstream media takes pride in belittling small towns, but I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for any “glamorous” big city environment.