The grounds crew seemed to be hard at work this morning at Alliance Bank Stadium. Workers were mowing the lawn, raking the infield and putting advertisements up on the outfield wall to prepare the field for tomorrow’s Opening Day game. But inside and up a few flights of stairs, Chiefs broadcaster Jason Benetti was just as busy.
First on Benetti’s to-do-list was attending Media Day today with Chiefs coaches and players. He said he would also have to do plenty more research on the Chiefs opponent, Lehigh Valley, before he’d be ready for tomorrow’s game.
Tomorrow should be just as demanding for the SU alum, with TV promos to do for Time Warner in the morning and then some final preparations before his two o’clock TV broadcast.
Sounds pretty hectic, doesn’t it? Not to Benetti. The young broadcaster says he doesn’t mind the pressure. “I think in order to be in radio and TV you have to enjoy the white-knuckled nature of it or else you wouldn’t be doing it,” said Benetti. “I enjoy stress.”
As confident as he sounds, tomorrow should still feel a little different for Benetti, who is used to doing radio play-by-play announcing. “The one difference for me personally is that I have to put on make-up. I have to do TV tomorrow instead of radio,” he said.
Benetti, who is entering his first full season as the team’s lead play-by-play announcer, says he’s as excited as anyone for tomorrow’s season opener. “I think on Opening Day there is an excitement that the season is building. It ends up being less than one percent of the season but it feels like more.”
Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow but if it holds off, at least for a few hours, it should be a pretty special afternoon for Syracuse baseball.
(Photo taken from http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2009/03/20/QMoLz4oT.gif)
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