Mark’s Time Doing Play-By-Play in Montana

I've got a great job. Maybe the best job in town. But it wasn't always like it is now. Believe it or not, before my life became all supermodels and Ferraris, I had to pay my dues.

When I got hired, in addition to my air shift from midnight to six a.m. six days each week, one of the ways to make a little extra cash was to do play-by-play calling for high school basketball games.

The good part was making the money. But there were several bad parts to the job. I had to make sure that I didn't forget one single piece of broadcast equipment. No mic cord, no broadcast.

Often you to travel to the out of town schools. Basketball is played during a time where snow is possible in our state. My mode of transportation at that time was a 1975 Vega.

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Halftimes were ten minutes long and I had to fill that with stats and coach interviews. And there were a couple of coaches who didn't really want to be interviewed. And so sometimes I would ask a lengthy and what I thought was a very well thought out question, and the answer would be "no." Helpful.

What kind of money was I making, you may wonder? Fifteen bucks per game. Five of which went to my color commentator, Bob, on the nights his wife would let him help.

One of the good parts was that I got to watch a lot of basketball. And the tax bracket that I was in at the time didn't take a lot out of my paychecks, which is also why I had a job at a pizza joint, a school bus route and I would also wear the radio stations moose suit because it paid $10.00 an hour.

Yes, I still do things for money.