We’re well into the dog days of summer, and the kids are getting back to school. It wasn’t much of a summer vacation for PSSI Global Services, but that’s the way we like it. Now the fall sports are starting to fill up our already action-packed schedules. Our shops are getting older trucks upgraded and new trucks on the road, and we are more than ready for the busiest fall season we have ever had.
We are tackling some football, to be sure. It’s NFL preseason time, and we are coast to coast at all the biggest games:
- Mike Lemieux and C42 were at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Thursday for Eagles at Patriots.
- Steve Hagerty in K18 and Todd Harvey in C43 were side by side at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Thursday for Steelers versus Packers.
- John May with CK48 and John Poss with K17 will be teaming up at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, for Saturday’s 49ers versus Texans game.
- K22 and Rick Kolinek are taking a break from soccer at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday for Jaguars at Vikings.
- Dave Mitchell’s at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, for Bills versus Browns on Friday night.
- Mark Huss is in the LA Sprinter at StubHub Center in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday for Seattle Seahawks at LA Chargers.
- John Jennings and the Midwest are up the road at the LA Coliseum on Saturday, when the Oakland Raiders take on the LA Rams.
- And Wes Hill and K19 are at Sports Authority Field in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday for Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos.
Whew!
We also had a little bit of college football on our schedules this week, but unfortunately it wasn’t for any kind of big game. News veteran Mati Kerpen hopped into his truck in a matter of minutes Thursday night to head down to College Park, Maryland, for the breaking news story involving the death of Maryland Terrapins offensive lineman Jordan McNair.
That wasn’t the only news we covered this week. PSSI News Group’s Scott Garber has been in D.C. covering the Paul Manafort trial for several days. No verdict as of this writing, but you can bet Scott will be live when the jury decides the case.
Columbus-based Bill O’Toole made his way to Detroit for CNN’s coverage of Aretha Franklin’s death, as well. At our live shot studio in downtown Pittsburgh, Shelby Schmidt managed six consecutive live shots on Wednesday that PSSI International Teleport distributed to several major news outlets, including CNN.
This week there’s also a whole lotta golf in the wake of the exciting conclusion of the PGA Championship last weekend. Our golf pros are plenty busy on the courses this weekend, and as you can see, they have plenty going on afterwards, as well!
- Blake Blomstrom was at Cattails at Meadowview Golf Course in Kingsport, Tennessee, on Monday for the Long Drive World Series. From there Blake headed to Vegas to join his brothers Paul and Brian to work on some truck upgrades—more on those efforts to come!
- Mike Howley and C24 are at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, New York, for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open this week. Mike then advances the truck to Pittsburgh for a couple of Steelers games at Heinz Field in the weeks to come.
- Larry Sheets and C45 are at Brickyard Crossing in Indianapolis, Indiana, this week for the Indy Women in Tech Championship. Larry then heads up the road to Columbus, Ohio, for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at the OSU Scarlet Course.
- Chris Golden is at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the Wyndham Championship. From there Chris heads down to Biloxi, Mississippi, for another 4K fighting event — more on that to come next week!
- Steve Chaisson and the Atlas truck are at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon, this week for the WinCo Foods Open. Steve will leave the truck in the Pacific Northwest for the next tournament, but Steve will be back in the Bay Area for some NFL football next weekend.
We’re still in the thick of a busy racing schedule for our friends at NASCAR. Ben Bradshaw and Kyle Meyer are at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. There’s rain on the forecast in Thunder Valley Saturday night, but our guys will be around for the big race no matter when it happens.
Rick Ball’s back at Virginia International Raceway for this weekend’s IMSA racing. The headliner is Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge, but it’s a long weekend of racing for which Rick will be putting up so many multiplexed video and audio paths that we lost count! Everywhere he goes, Rick’s setting the standard for what broadcasters can achieve over satellite.
Speaking of racing, we are continuing an impressive run of bicycle racing in beautiful Colorado. Bike racing veteran Tracy Michaels has risen through the ranks and is now the tech manager for the entire race, just as he was last week in the hugely successful Tour of Utah. Tracy’s joined by senior project manager Eric Hall, who will be managing the various domestic and international transmission paths, while Wes Hill and Mike Sheehan — multiyear race veterans, themselves — handle uplink duties in Vail and Denver. Senior engineer John Bright is getting in on the action as the guys pull off a few complicated remote transmissions along the course. The finish line’s in Denver on Sunday, and Tracy and company will enjoy a well-deserved cigar and a good night’s sleep after two solid weeks of racing.
Steve Toth and C23 are in Lauderhill, Florida, at the Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium for the Caribbean Premier League cricket tournament. Steve’s event coverage will include the match on Friday between the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Guyana Amazon Warriors and the match on Saturday between the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Trinbago Knight Riders. Coverage for Steve and C23 will continue next Wednesday when the Jamaica Tallawahs take on the Barbados Tridents.
Then a little bowling. Once wrapped at Lambeau, Steve Hagerty hit the road to Columbus, Ohio, for the Nationwide Professional Women’s Bowling Association Columbus Open on Saturday. It’s a big night for the ladies at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl!
Basketball? Why not? Joe Cox finds himself at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, for Fox’s broadcast of Ice Cube’s BIG3 basketball on Friday night. We’ve been at several of these entertaining hoops events across the country, and we’ll be at the last one of the season next week at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaking of Barclays, CK30 mobile teleport driver Joe Kelderhouse made his way up I-95 to get there last night for what will be a heckuva few days of wrestling as WWE takes over the borough. WWE stalwarts Zane Michaels and Logan Schinto are setting up as we speak for the big NXT show on Saturday night and the SummerSlam pay-per-view on Sunday night. Wrestling fans around the world will be able to see all the action from Barclays thanks to our team’s expertise. PSSI International Teleport will also be involved with some distribution and recording services for our friends at WWE, who we are so fortunate to work with each and every week. Zane rounds out the Brooklyn run with Monday Night Raw and Tuesday’s SmackDown before Joe takes CK30 into Canada for the next events.
Just down the road in beautiful Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jim Flowers is setting up C41 at the Ocean Resort Casino for Saturday night’s big Top Rank fight, which will air on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. It’s a three-channel mux for Jim, who will broadcast a full night of exciting undercards leading up to the co-main events Jennings versus Dimitrenko and Hart versus Gavronski. Jim is a world traveler with more airline miles under his belt than almost anyone in the company, but he always jumps at the opportunity to make the short drive to AC for big fights like this one.
All the way back on the West Coast, we’ve got another three-channel mux at a boxing event. This time it’s Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN, once again live from the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Chris Hovden and Nathan Holsey are there in the beautiful CK35 mobile teleport for what’s sure to be an exciting night of boxing. It’s Cancio versus Zenunaj headlining, with a great lineup of local fighters filling up the undercards. From Indio, Nathan takes CK35 down to Phoenix for next week’s boxing event (and maybe a little WNBA action along the way).
On any given day of the week, odds are you will see one of our beautiful satellite trucks rolling down the highway to the next big live event. Look out for a big announcement next week as we introduce still more state-of-the-art uplink facilities into the PSSI Global Services fleet, already the biggest in the world.