Tyler Young Talks 2020-2021 Sports Recap And COVID-19 On The 8th Day

Marquette, MI – April 4th, 2021 – Todd Pazz of The 8th Day sat with mediaBrew’s Tyler Young to wrap up the 2020-2021 sports season. They also touched on the difficulties during the abbreviated seasons, and the obstacles Tyler faced calling games without a studio producer.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic mediaBrew was short staffed for the 2020-2021 sports seasons. That meant that Tyler, who calls the games for Ishpeming High School regularly, had to essentially pull double-duty. He was responsible for getting himself on and

off air along with making sure all of his ad spots were being played.

He explained that is usual routine of calling games would become interrupted when faced with the challenge of going completely solo. Admittedly there were mistakes made, however small, sometimes would ruin the flow of the broadcast. Then again, that’s live radio and you have to sometimes just roll with it.

Some of the other pressures Tyler and other broadcasters faced were the uncertainty of the schedules. Games could be added or cancelled at the drop of a hat. During the season mediaBrew was able to find more studio producers, and make the broadcaster’s lives a little bit easier.

The extremely compressed training process of studio producers was touched on briefly. Tyler was happy that, even though the training time was short, things ran smooth during broadcasts.

Todd asked about Tyler’s thoughts on how he thought the seasons went considering the difficulties broadcasters faced. “It went pretty well. There weren’t any major shutdowns due to covid. There were a couple of schools that had issues, but really we didn’t see it. Especially around the teams that we cover.” He did bring up that the only real team interruption he saw was with the Ishpeming boys basketball team. They had to end their season early, because they faced a team who had an athlete with a pending test that later became positive. While waiting on results the athlete had competed against Ishpeming. Which meant, due to protocols Ishpeming had to quarantine which cut their season short.

Tyler also talked about teams purposely cutting the last game out of their season. He brought up Marquette dropping the last game of the season. The final game didn’t effect playoff seeding and was basically an exhibition game. Both Marquette and their opponent decided to forgo the game to avoid potential exposure. Which would lead to the inability for either team to play in the playoffs. There were multiple U.P. schools who did the same thing leading to the postseason.

Todd brought up a general discussion about vaccines and getting vaccinated. Tyler mentioned that he had to prove vaccination as a college student to be able to use certain amenities on campus. They talked about the public perception about vaccines, along with their own personal opinions on the topic.

They both expressed their views on the importance of knowledge about the vaccine at the community level. Tyler brought up the point that the vaccine conversation is an uncomfortable one. However, it’s a topic that needs to be discussed. Without knowledge on the issue it has the chance to continue effect, not only everyday life, but on the schools and school athletics. Tyler really reinforced the mantra, “think globally, act locally.” When we think big and act in a more intimate way with our communities it can only to be beneficial to one another.

Todd brought up the importance to keeping a broad horizon. Not only listening to what we want to hear, but how important it is to take in the information you don’t want to hear and listen to everyone. He explains it’s important to do what makes sense, not just want you do or don’t want to do.

They eventually got back on the sports track, and brought up how football is looking for the 2021 season. Tyler talked about how Ishpeming didn’t field a varsity team this year, and that he doesn’t believe it was covid related. The JV team played three games and did well. He believes the Hemitites will field a pretty decent varsity team this year.

Tyler touched on his favorite soccer team, AFC Wimbledon. They aren’t having the greatest season as of now, but Tyler is holding out hope that they can turn it around for the last part of the season.

Todd got back on the vaccine talk and the importance of getting vaccinated. Not only against COVID-19, but against all other major diseases and viruses. They reminisced about life pre-covid, specifically going to the movies. Tyler brought up the feeling of going to a packed theater on opening day of a highly anticipated movie, and how he can’t wait to get back to that. Todd mentioned a couple of “older” movies, dating himself a bit, and the lines that would go all the way outside and around the corner. They are both hopeful to get back to that feeling and experience.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW

Default Meida Player: 37min .mp3

mediaBrew! Media Player: 37min .mp3