Savage Words: Baseball scores at City Council

When I cover a Brandon City Council meeting for the Journal, I usually have a pretty good idea what topics I’ll be writing about for the paper.

A glance at the meeting’s agenda earlier in the day, you get a feel for what’s going to be newsworthy. That’s not always the case, but for the most part, you know what’s going to rise to the surface throughout the meeting.

When those topics are being discussed, I perk up for sure, take a lot of notes, and listen intently.

Last Monday was no different. I knew I’d be writing about the signage issue for the new Kwik Star at Brandon 90 Plaza along Interstate 90. And I was right. The Council, members from Kwik Star and Brandon’s Planning and Zoning Commission all talked at length about regulations surrounding the new signage.

Then, things started to drift towards the end of the meeting. I knew there was nothing left on the agenda that would need my attention for my story.

I’m a sportswriter by trade, but I get my fair share of non-sports assignments sent my way from the Journal. I like that. It truly has opened my eyes to so many more things, and I’m astounded at times when I’m talking with someone intelligently about property easements, the core of engineers, or zoning codes. I sometimes catch myself when I’m sounding all smart and stuff.

But the sportswriter is always in me.

I’ve done this in the past, and I’m sure I’ll do it again, but I’ll be more careful next time. At the last City Council meeting, I made a blunder.

When the meeting was winding down and I had a pretty good feeling that what I needed to cover was already behind me, I opened a new tab on my laptop at the back of the Council chambers.

I was looking at ESPN.com, checking out some baseball scores. There were a lot of games in progress, and I sometimes like to look at how things are shaking out.

It’s not a video of the games that I’m looking at. Instead, it’s just the score with a simulated pitch-by-pitch account of the game. It’s actually kind of boring to look at, but again, I’m a sports nerd and I dig that kind of stuff.

At this particular City Council meeting last week, I was using a different laptop than my normal one. When I have my regular laptop, I’m sure to mute the sound. Between innings on ESPN.com, a commercial comes on and it’s actually a little startling, even when you’re looking at home, or in a coffee shop, or especially in a City Council meeting in southeastern South Dakota.

As one of the council members was speaking, a Ford F-150 advertisement came blaring from my laptop. And I mean blaring. Obviously, the mute wasn’t on, and I was scrambling in the back of the room.

There was an obvious look of panic on my face as I scoured the keyboard for a mute button on this foreign laptop I was using.

I saw none. The F-150 ad just kept blaring.

I closed the laptop, hoping that would resolve it.

It did not. It kept blaring the advertisement, and every eyeball in the place was now giving me a stare.

And understandably so. I was truly interrupting a public meeting, and no doubt I was a nuisance at that point.

Thankfully, after three lonnnnnnnnnnng seconds, the advertisement ended with the laptop closed.

I looked up, and saw a lot of people looking at me.

I had to make the best of it.

“Sorry,” I said. “But for the record, the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies are in a tussle in the bottom of the fourth.”

That was met with a couple of grins. Just a couple.

A few people slapped me on the back after the meeting. Some just laughed and shook their heads.

So, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, Brandon city staff, and everyone else in the crowd last Monday: Sorry about that.

And if you’re wondering, the Phillies scored three times in the final three innings to win 5-2.