The audio crew is responsible for placing the speakers around the football field for the pre-game show. Sounds simple, yes? There is a cart that's about 5 feet wide by 8 feet long and on it is a tower of speakers that has to be precisely placed in a designated spot. It's on wheels and very heavy but fairly maneuverable. Once they are maneuvered into place, the top speaker must be lifted on top of the other three and it's VERY heavy. Once the top speaker is in place, the cable is run from the sideline to the cart. Pretty simple, yes? There were 40 people accepted for the audio crew. There is a total of 4 carts per quadrant and each team has a quadrant. Theoretically, that means 10 people per quadrant. We rehearsed twice and by the end of the second rehearsal, felt pretty confident that we had it down pat.
We started with 10 team members and ended up with 6 as of game day. That meant that we didn't have two teams of five each, we had one team of 6. Thus, we had to make some changes at the last minute. No problem. We had four people to roll the cart out and position it, two of the four to lift the top speaker and two people to run the cable out to the cart. I was in charge of the cable, along with my partner, Pam.
We had congregated at a high school and had been given a box lunch, a rain poncho and earplugs. We arrived at the stadium tonight via school bus, laughing and having fun the whole way.
We had a short briefing telling us that if it rained, we would NOT be setting the speakers out. As we walked into the stadium (single file with an escort) you could just FEEL the excitement in the air. We walked into the tunnel and out onto the stadium - right by the player locker rooms. And it was drizzling. And the speakers had nylon covers on them, which we removed. When the signal was given via radio to our team leader, we worked exceptionally well as a team. By the time the first cart was in position, my partner and I had the cable pulled and it was plugged in.
One thing I haven't yet mentioned is the SIZE of the cable. It is about the size of my wrist. The first three carts are no more than 30 to 40 feet from where the cable is coiled on the ground. However, the fourth cart is in the end zone, right by the goal post. I am going to guess that the last cable is approximately 150 feet long. The longer it gets, the harder it is to pull it, so my partner and I had told the other team members that we needed help pulling the last cable and everyone agreed that it would take more than four people to pull the cable from cart #4.
The other thing I haven't mentioned is how many people are on the sidelines. Between cameramen and other media people, NFL guys, security personnel, cheerleaders, mascots, emergency personnel, etc. the sidelines are PACKED. And nobody cares that you have a job to do. PLUS - the grass is wet and silky smooth. It takes quite a bit of coordination to just stay on your feet. (Which I, of course, do NOT have.)
So, setting up the speaker carts was a piece of cake. We stood on the sidelines and watched as the band (Honor Society) played, the "flag people" came out and the players were introduced - to fireworks. We were told that we would be retrieving the carts immediately after the national anthem. The team leader told my partner and I that he was going to be unplugging the cable from the third cart, as it was tangled with the fourth cart - the one in the end zone.
We were trained that getting the carts and cable OFF the field had to happen as quickly as possible so that the coin toss could happen next. Well, here I go - running through the end zone to pull the cable from cart #4. In horror, I watch my partner pick up the cable from cart #3 by mistake. It was instinctive for her to see cable being unplugged and assume that it needed to be removed. The problem is that here I am stuck with a cable that's 150 feet long ALL BY MYSELF. What you have to understand is that the longer the cable, the heavier the cable. I heaved it over my shoulder and proceeded to try and get this massively heavy cable to the sideline by myself. I got about 30 feet and the cable became so heavy that I could barely move. Here I am, all alone in the end zone with a cable that I am incapable of moving by myself. Fortunately, the team leader saw my predicament and ran out to help me. Rather than coiling the cable as we had rehearsed, we just drug it out of the way and hoped that nobody tripped in it before we could pull it all the way in.
Well, I guess it wouldn't be memorable if there wasn't a glitch, right?
By the time we were finished putting the carts and all the cable away, the game was in progress. (Not that I cared about the game) The noise was unbelievable. Thank goodness for earplugs - I didn't need to be any more deaf than I already am.
The bus that was to take us back to the school was parked exactly one mile away. How do I know that? Because, when I'm on the treadmill, walking at 3 miles per hour, it takes me 20 minutes to do one mile. It was a mile.
We were all tuckered out, so the ride home was much calmer than the ride to the stadium. It might have been sad to leave all the great new people that I had met but I'll be seeing them again on Tuesday night at rehearsal for the Superbowl.
Speaking of Superbowl, it is going to be incredible. I'm not going to break the rules by saying anything about it. All I can say is that there is a LOT of pressure because it is an operation that takes an amazing amount of precision and teamwork.
Here are pictures from the ProBowl. I call the cheerleaders "Breck Girls" because they swing their hair around like it's a commercial for Breck shampoo.
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