It’s an old joke that applies to so many jobs in sports media: A guy is shoveling elephant manure at the circus. He’s asked, “Why don’t you quit this job?” and responds, “What, and leave show business?”
No, it’s not glamour and glitz for most of the brave people who carve out a career broadcasting sports. Sure, there are the few millionaire celebrity ESPN names, but most men and women describing sports for a living do it without a spotlight or the benefit of a Brinks truck.
Enter Tom Callahan, the radio play-by-play voice of the Tucson Roadrunners. For the past 18 years he’s worked his way up, down, and sideways through the hockey media world. The alphabet soup of leagues, some no longer extant, give a clue to his journey: just the preseason for the 1999 WPHL San Angelo (Texas) Outlaws, half a season that same year for the Abilene (Texas) Aviators. Three years for the UHL Elmira (New York) Jackals, and four more with the ECHL Augusta (Georgia) Lynx.
The 2007-08 season for the AHL Peoria (Illinois) Rivermen led to almost five years with the NHL’s Nashville Predators. Tom dipped back into the ECHL, with the Indy Fuel, before tackling a completely new challenge: creating from scratch the media department for the Roadrunners franchise.
Tom is more than just the voice of the team. He oversees video and web content, handles the team’s radio deal, and contributes to marketing. His job title — director of media — means he even emcees official team dinners and events.
On an average workday — which does not exist in the ever-changing sands of a pro hockey team’s operation — Tom is up at the crack of dawn to get the Roadrunner mascot to a TV station or the Tucson Arena for a video shoot. Then it’s time to write game notes, get out a press release on that day’s trade, research the opposing team, and then get to the arena for the game broadcast.
He’s already recorded a video game preview and coach’s audio interview before dinner.
That is where I come in, at the end of Tom’s already-long day, as the radio (and AHL video) color commentator for Roadrunners home games. I have the luxury of reading the notes that Tom has already written and hearing inside information he collected at the team’s morning skate. I can enjoy the show and simply talk about hockey.
Tom, though, has to wrangle on-air sponsor reads, commercial breaks, out-of-town scores, and then actually call the play-by-play for the fastest game on earth.
Ever try to memorize 40 player names for instant recall, and then describe hockey, moment by moment, for hours at a time? Tom does it almost every day.
He also manages what might be the most difficult job in all of sports media: he keeps a sense of humor and is a genuinely nice guy. No fake “How are ya!” backslaps from Tom Callahan. He’s the sincere, friendly media face any organization should want fronting their team.
Tuesday, I got a closer peak into his frenetic media world. Tom was gone because of a family emergency, and for a few hours I was the play-by-play broadcast voice of the Roadrunners. I was a Tucson hockey media king for a day – or perhaps merely that day’s circus shovel holder.
I have years of hockey broadcasting experience, including this season’s play-by-play and color for U of A Wildcat hockey, but I don’t yet call play-by play at Tom’s level. Make no mistake, Tom’s razor-sharp voice and mind will be back in the NHL, and soon.
The damage report from my special night in the AHL broadcast booth: no lasting insult to the league, team, radio station, or the game of hockey. All is well, and I am very tired.
Tom will be back in the booth for the next home game, as if he were never gone. I’ll be back in my color commentator role. I now know that my contributions to the broadcasts might give him just a little rest, a few seconds at a time, during another of his marathon media days.
The circus must go on.
