- livingthedash.tv

Last night I had the opportunity to “work” for ESPN at the Monday Night Football game between the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.

When ESPN comes to town to broadcast Houston Texans’ games they round up some local guys to assist the on the field camera men.  Through one of those ‘friend of a friend of a friend’ deals, I am fortunate enough to be one of the guys they call.

The work is quite easy.  Just follow a camera guy around on the sideline and make sure he has enough cable to get the shots that he needs.

The experience is quite amazing.  Watch players and coaches arrive at the stadium.  Roam the field and get shots of players as they warm-up during pregame.  Rub shoulders with VIPs on the sideline.  Get a behind the scenes look at some of what goes into a NFL broadcast.  And watch the game from the best seat in the house.

Here are a few pics I snapped from the field.  Not the best pics, but these were undercover iPhone pics since we weren’t supposed to take pictures from the field.

I ran across this great quote the other day……..

Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.

- John Gardiner

Are you feeling the tension?

This afternoon I had the opportunity to take a behind the scenes tour of Reliant Stadium, the home of the Houston Texans.

Special thanks to my good friend David for asking me to join him for this experience.

A few observations……

- Reliant Stadium is big.  Really, really big.

- The Houston Texans organization only has about 125 employees (not counting players).  I thought that number would be much higher.

- It takes over 4000 people to make a Game Day happen.  Tons of stuff going on behind the scenes that you never see when watching on TV or from your stadium seat.

- The Houston Texans weight room was amazing. Check out the pics below.

- The Houston Texans take care of their people.  And not just the players and coaches.

- The Houston Texans haven’t experienced much success on the field……yet.  They will.  The Houston Texans organization is top-notch.  I could tell that excellence is expected as I walked through the stadium.

- I love their Mission Statement…….

Our mission is to build and maintain the most respected, most valuable professional sports franchise in the world.

Here is a slideshow of some behind the scenes pics……..

While in Sacramento, CA this past week for business, I squeezed in a quick trip to Lake Tahoe.

I only had a couple of hours to see the lake and the mountains before dark, but I was able to drive along and make a few stops on the eastern side of the lake.

A couple of hours was long enough for me to see that Lake Tahoe is a special place.

I wish I would have had a better camera for this shot of the sun’s rays breaking through the clouds onto the lake.

I’m going to be in the Sacramento, CA area this week for business and I am hoping to check off two of my travel goals.

I am going to try and squeeze in drives to the Golden Gate Bridge and Lake Tahoe.

I say squeeze in because I probably won’t have more than an hour or two to spend at each destination.

But that’s ok…..I’m thinking that a mini-check mark next to a life goal is better than no check mark at all.