One of the Good Guys

Working sports or entertainment by necessity means we spend a lot of time at the job when the fans are available. Usually that means evenings and weekends and unfortunately, the Houston Rockets have a standing New Year's Eve game every year.

For the last five or six years, I've had the distinct pleasure of getting to work that night and bring in the New Year with others that would probably rather be somewhere else having fun instead of working.

This past year was no exception and when I got to the production truck I saw that Andy Benz was mixing audio. I've known Andy for quite a few years and he is truly one of the good guys that works hard and enjoys himself along the way.

We got the show ready to go and were waiting to start so we could finish and get home by midnight to celebrate - the mood was kind of ho-hum.

So, as we were waiting to get started, Andy started playing Lyle Lovett's "Church" which is a rousing, gospel-styled, ditty that instantly put a smile on my face and made everyone in the truck feel a little better at least until the Rockets stopped playing well. As it all worked out, the Rockets did beat the Mavericks that night and we had a good day thanks to Andy.

If you are at a Baylor Bears, Rockets, Spurs, or Mavericks game, there's a good chance that Andy may be working behind the scenes. He has the I-35 corridor down. You'll never see him, but the producer and director are happy because of it.