Rockin' 30 ROCK!

It's always fun to return to the Big Apple, especially when it's to perform on the 'big stage' of NBC!

I spent the weekend anchoring 'Sports Update' for the 'Peacock', and it was good to be back at Rockefeller Plaza. You are walking the same halls that many of the biggest celebrities in news, TV, and sports frequent on a daily basis. NY in the summer is absolutely chock-full of tourists, and it was fun to people-watch while i wasn't on the set. Perfect weather this weekend as well- in the mid-80's, but in the low 70's in the evening (which is when i finished work).

Let's talk about the weekend's sports for a moment. The fun thing about doing 'Update' is that it's a full-speed, distilled version of what's important in sports at that given moment. The producers, and everyone working on the show, have to be on their toes constantly, in case something happens that needs to be included in the highlights.

A fun, and informative, aside to that is that they have approximately 50 TV screens, all tuned in to different events. It's definitely sensory overload, but once you get used to it, the information is all there for the taking! You want to watch the Yankees? Bam! Red Sox, no prob. Pre-season NFL, there it is! Tennis? Track and Field? Tiger at the PGA...just look to the left or right. Really spectacular.

The sporting highlight of the weekend was Usain Bolt CRUSHING his own world record in the 100 Meters at the World Champs in Berlin. Final time- 9.58 seconds! The Jamaican was still pulling away from Tyson Gay as he crossed the finish, and what's even more amazing is that one of the researchers here at NBC found an article from December 31, 2008 where Bolt and his coach talked about how it was 'possible' to go 9.58 at Worlds. OK, can you say "Nostra-BOLT-us?!"

My FAVORITE part of my two days here was getting to talk about Lance Armstrong winning Leadville. It was not going to be something we highlighted, but it turned into a story the producers wanted to do- we even tried to get Lance on the phone- and i think it provided an opportunity to raise awareness of the sport of cycling, outside the parameters of the Tour de France.

A late-night plane flight back to Maine, and then two weeks off of work...i'm not going to know what to do with myself. Correction...i'm going to know exactly what to do- spend time with the family, spend time on the bike, and spend time gearing up for a hectic week of WEC and PBR at the beginning of September! Until then...