State tournament time. Is there a better time of year?
Covering high school sports for you, the fans, is something we take very seriously here at IdahoSports.com. Maybe 'seriously' isn't the right word because we have way too much fun doing what we do to have time to be serious. Whatever it is though, we've been doing it a long time - since 1997. Some of the kids playing in these tournaments have never lived in a world without IdahoSports.com. Every year, we try to come up with new ideas for better coverage and, we think, we do a pretty darn good job of it.
The team here at IdahoSports.com is a pretty mixed bunch, which helps us give you better coverage. We have former band geeks, state champions, soccer moms, wrestling dads, all-star quarter backs, varsity coaches, school paper editors - we even have a Canadian, eh. And Lorin. Not sure where he fits in all this, but he's here anyway.
This group of misfits and high school sports junkies come together to create the best state tournament coverage in Idaho year in and year out. Here's what we are doing this year:
1. Live Tournament Broadcasts - All 132 state boys and girls basketball games will be broadcast live on IdahoSports.com. So will both days of state wrestling, the State-Wide All Star games and State Dance and Cheer. Since 2005, we have held the exclusive Internet broadcasting rights for these games and have added more and more coverage every year. Now, our broadcasts are available on your mobile devices as well! Here is who we have at the girls games next week:
5A @ Ford Idaho Center
Gary Jones & Glenn Jones / Paul Kingsbury & Lorin Jensen
4A @ Mt View
Scott Burton & Mike Savage
3A @ Middleton
Vince Trimboli & Josh Byers
2A @ Kuna
Matt Harris & Tyler Belnap
1AD1 @ Columbia
Del & Braeden Gray
1AD2 @ Nampa
Lance Taylor & Sven Alskog
5A 3rd place @ Columbia
1:00pm – Del and Braeden Gray
5A Consolation @ Skyview
1:00pm – Clint Leech & Nick Dhaenens
2. Action Photographers - We have the BEST action photographers posting galleries on IdahoSports.com! If you have never checked out their work, you owe it to yourself to look at what these 'masters of the camera' do week in and week out. Every single team that comes to state will be in at least one photo gallery, most will be in several. Our photographers do this on their own dime and only make money when people buy prints from them - they keep 100% of everything they sell. Hint hint.
3. Social Media - Over 5000 of you have 'liked' us on Facebook and over 2,000 of you follow us on Twitter. If you haven't done it yet, do it now. We have added two Social Media experts to the state tournament team this year and their sole job will be to tweet and post updates on all the games going on around the entire tournament. Follow us on Twitter @IdahoSports and on Facebook.com/IdahoSports so you won't miss anything. We are also going to have special contests and give-a-ways available only to our social media followers.
4. Live Wrap-Up Show - Every night after the tournament games are over we'll be doing a 30 minute wrap-up show live from the Ford Idaho Center going over what happened that day at all the different games. We'll chat with a couple of our ace broadcasters to find out what they saw and maybe even have some interviews with some players and coaches. Fans can reach us during the show through email, Twitter and Facebook too. You can watch it online on your computer or on your mobile device at home or in the hotel room.
5. Blogs and previews - For some reason you all really like our state tournament previews and predictions. We got lots of comments last year and we have been getting emails already this year asking when they are coming out. Well, we are all a bunch of people-pleasers so we will be doing it again.
Watch next week for the first ones to come out and then every morning of the tournament to see who we think will be moving on and why.
Of course, the best place to be during the winter state tournaments is AT the games. Support your local schools, teams and athletes and drink all the chocolate milk you want courtesy of the our title sponsor and official State Tournament sponsor, The United Dairymen of Idaho. Show your support today and go kiss a cow.
See everyone at state!
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