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Oswego’s Jeff Blanton calls his 1,000th sports broadcast: ‘It means a lot’ · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego's Jeff Blanton calls this one thousandth sports broadcast it
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  Speaker 1: means a lot. Written by Joshua Welge, this article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Blanton has joked to his wife that nobody is
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  Speaker 1: watching as we Go High school games because he's announcing them.
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  Speaker 1: They tune in, he says, because they want to watch
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  Speaker 1: their child or grandchild play. They would be watching if
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  Speaker 1: anybody was doing them, Blanton said. Typical Jeff Blanton mild, modest,
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  Speaker 1: and understated. Blanton would never be the kind of person
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  Speaker 1: to call attention to himself. He's simply the voice in
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  Speaker 1: the booth. Blanton's been that voice for over a quarter century,
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  Speaker 1: and on May thirteenth called his one thousandth Oswego High
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  Speaker 1: School sporting event when the softball team hosted Manuka. I
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  Speaker 1: certainly didn't think I would get that many, Blanton said.
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  Speaker 1: It means a lot. Blanton, Oswego class of nineteen eighty three,
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  Speaker 1: reflected recently on his first day of high school, way
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  Speaker 1: back when, not knowing where he was going, not knowing
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  Speaker 1: what was going on. If you would have told me
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  Speaker 1: years later, I was doing this, I would have laughed,
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  Speaker 1: Blanton said. Nobody would have believed that. Blanton, who has
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  Speaker 1: worked for twenty years in accounting for Encourse Home Solutions
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  Speaker 1: in Naperville, got a degree in communications at Quincy University.
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  Speaker 1: He worked at a number of radio stations, most, he noted,
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  Speaker 1: do not exist anymore. When I worked in radio, I
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  Speaker 1: did news. There was not the opportunity to do the games.
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  Speaker 1: Blanton said. I was the producer back at the station
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  Speaker 1: doing the pregame and postgame show. I was not doing
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  Speaker 1: the play by play until a few opportunities showed up.
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  Speaker 1: He first did Oswego games for Aurora Community Television during
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  Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety eight to nineteen ninety nine school year.
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  Speaker 1: He did Canland and Little Ten Conference games for a
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  Speaker 1: Sugar Grove station from nineteen ninety nine until two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and nine. In twenty thirteen, he was called by George
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  Speaker 1: Bailey and said they were going to stream Oswego games.
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  Speaker 1: He has broadcast games on the NFHS network since we
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  Speaker 1: started football and expanded into basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball.
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  Speaker 1: We do seventy five eighty games a year. Blanton said.
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  Speaker 1: We don't do every sport but we do quite a few.
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  Speaker 1: It's fun. I enjoy it. Blanton tries to keep his
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  Speaker 1: broadcast simple, not a lot of in depth stuff. He
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  Speaker 1: just tells viewers what is going on. He is not
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  Speaker 1: opinionated and tries not to be too much of a homer,
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  Speaker 1: even as he calls games for his hometown in Alma Mater.
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  Speaker 1: I try to keep it as down the middle as
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  Speaker 1: I can, Blanton said, but there are times that I slip.
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  Speaker 1: Blanton never did care for over the top rooting during
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  Speaker 1: broadcasts that he's tuned into. I never liked that. I
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  Speaker 1: am rooting for Oswego, but I am going to recognize
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  Speaker 1: good performances for the other team, Blanton said. If they
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  Speaker 1: are doing a good job, I'm going to let people know.
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  Speaker 1: We try to keep it pretty much to hear this
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  Speaker 1: is what's going on. Blanton pretty much does all home games,
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  Speaker 1: does not travel or go on the road, whether in
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  Speaker 1: the basketball gym or football field. Blanton tries to keep
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  Speaker 1: things positive. I always tell people these are children, they
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  Speaker 1: are doing their best. They're going to make mistakes, and
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  Speaker 1: things are gonna happen, Blanton said. I try to remember
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  Speaker 1: that all the time. If there is a mistake, this
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  Speaker 1: is all part of a learning experience of being a student.
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  Speaker 1: Blanton has plenty of memorable games that come to mind.
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  Speaker 1: A Crosstown Baseball night game at Oswego where hordes of
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  Speaker 1: MLB scouts came to watch Aswego East pitcher Noah Schultz,
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  Speaker 1: Aswego Football's semi final win over Lockport last November. And
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  Speaker 1: Oswego basketball win in overtime where Zach West made a
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  Speaker 1: big shot. And sometimes memorable games in not necessarily memorable seasons.
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  Speaker 1: I remember a girl's basketball game they were down and
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  Speaker 1: won it at the buzzer and to see the excitement
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  Speaker 1: the boys this team was in the gym. You can
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  Speaker 1: see in the broadcast the boys getting on the bleachers
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  Speaker 1: getting excited running around. Blanton said, there have just been
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  Speaker 1: so many over the years. His wife has been to
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  Speaker 1: a few games over the years, but Blanton would not
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  Speaker 1: call her a sports fan. She came to a football
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  Speaker 1: game a few years ago with some friends visiting from
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  Speaker 1: South America. He said, they were not sure what was
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  Speaker 1: going on. They thought the band was great. Blanton's is
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  Speaker 1: a unique perspective on Oswego High School athletics now and
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  Speaker 1: from yesteryear when he was a student. Blanton is humbled
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  Speaker 1: to have been inducted into the Oswego Athletic Hall of Fame.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Swego was very different when I was in high school.
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  Speaker 1: He said. The football program was down. Carl Honke's was
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  Speaker 1: hired the first year I was in high school, and
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  Speaker 1: things really turned around from there. I didn't go to
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  Speaker 1: many games, kept stats for the baseball team, and went
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  Speaker 1: to a few basketball games. I don't think sports was
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  Speaker 1: as big as it is right now. Football was a
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  Speaker 1: big deal. Women's sports were not as big of a
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  Speaker 1: deal as they are now. It was forty some years ago.
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  Speaker 1: To see the growth in the girls' sports is just incredible.