New Gamblers coach Rud anything but

The Gamblers hired a new head coach this past week - Eric Rud. His last name is pronounced rude - with a long u. I got the chance to spend a few hours with him on Wednesday taking him on a media tour - FOX 11, WIXX, Y100, WNFL (John Maino) and WDUZ the Fan. As a PR guy, one of my concerns with any coach will be how he deals and relates with the media. If Wednesday is any indication, Eric will be great. Former coach Jon Cooper had a gift for that (I hope he never reads this because his head is big enough). Another former Gamblers coach, Mark Osiecki, was also good. I would say Coach Rud is a cross between them. He's a hockey guy no question, but he gets the other part of the job too - relating to the fans, season ticket holders and the media!

Coach Rud had a lot on his mind besides taking the new job. He also has a wife and 3 kids to think about - kids that will start school in the Green Bay area September 1! Before he left Green Bay that day, he and his wife had to have a pretty good idea of where they were going to live and which school district he would send his children to. While Eric was with me, his wife stayed behind at the hotel and worked the internet looking at potential places to live and they were meeting with a realtor to look at those potential areas. He is very open to doing unique things with the media this season, so hopefully we'll come up with some creative things to showcase the Gamblers maybe in a different light.

Next Thursday, September 2 is the last Leicht at Nite of the season at Leicht Park. Big Mouth is the band. It's been another huge success this year and Leicht Park is becoming the place to be on Thursday nights in the summer! I, however, won't be slinging drinks Thursday. No, I'll be traveling south to check out Lady GaGa at the Bradley Center that same night. You can bet you'll hear from me on that one. I hear it's quite a spectacle!

Tall ships make great TV

I was able to assist with some great TV live shots this past weekend for the Baylake Bank Tall Ship Festival. I had early morning TV with FOX 11 on Friday and with CBS 5 on Sunday. Both stations were on the ship Bounty as it has one of the best stories to tell. The ship was used in many movies including the last two flicks of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was built for the 1962 movies Mutiny On The Bounty and its helm (steering wheel) was used in Hollywood sound stage. The Captain says John Wayne, Clark Gable, Charlton Heston and Johnny Depp are among those who have used it.

In any case, for the Saturday morning live shot on FOX 11 the Captain wondered if Angela Kelly might like to shoot off a cannon live on TV. The answer was a resounding yes. He wondered if it might be too early to do at 8:15am but we all said heck let's go for it. I've heard the cannons and know they're extremely loud. He said Angela had to wear ear protection. When she lit it I was about 5 feet behind her and felt the impact in my chest when the black powder went off. Incredible feeling. On Sunday morning, Hilary Golston of CBS 5 climbed up the side of Bounty and did a live shot from the ropes hanging over the Fox River. She was going to climb all the way to the top of the eagle's nest (I think that's what you call it), but then changed her mind. I didn't blame her!

It's these unique opportunities that make my job fun. Seeing what's possible and seeing what the reporter is willing to do. Both were great live TV. During the course of the weekend, I helped with stories on ship security, two additional stories on the Bounty, a story on the Sisters Under Sail program on the Unicorn and did countless other interviews. Working the festival all 3 days gave me a good feel that those who attended really had a good time. So did I!

Cooper scuttles schedule

Well, leave it to former Gamblers Head Coach Jon Cooper to put a crimp in my schedule on Monday. It wasn't intentional of course. After taking a few days off at the end of the previous week and putting the Dinosaurs to bed, I was getting psyched to dive head first into what needs to be done for the Baylake Bank Tall Ship Festival coming up this weekend. PMI Entertainment Group is producing the festival. I got a hint something was up late last week while on vacation and it turned out that a good portion of Monday was dealing with the announcement that Cooper was leaving the Gamblers and heading to Norfolk to head up the Tampa Bay Lightning's top minor league team.

The beauty of my job is to never plan on anything, but plan for everything. Media interviews and PR stuff was begging to be dealt with Monday morning and instead the day became a juggling act. Juggling interview scheduling for the Cooper announcement and for the tall ship festival. In fact, at one point I had two FOX 11 crews here, one for sports to talk Gamblers and another for news to talk about the festival. Cooper's leaving is bit of a surprise this late in the game. He basically said the timing wasn't right to leave Green Bay after the end of last season, but this huge job came out of nowhere. So now we move on and as Gamblers President Brendan Bruss says..."we keep the train moving." We already have a LOT of interest from prospective candidates.

Meanwhile, the ships will be moving/sailing into downtown Green Bay this weekend. Watch for live news coverage early Friday morning on FOX 11 and then Sunday morning on CBS 5. It'll be my pleasure to get up early with those folks. There's something cool about being next to tall ships and the river at sunrise. I just hope it is cooler because this hot and humid weather stinks - at least for me. Check it out this weekend, it's a very unique event!