George Guido: Football’s back, but will the fans be?

By: George Guido
Saturday, August 21, 2021 | 5:21 PM

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The stage is set for the start of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s 123rd football season Friday as all 13 local schools will see Week Zero action.

That’s a far cry from last season when the start was delayed two weeks because of the covid-19 pandemic. The season was reduced to seven regular-season weeks when the originally scheduled Week 9 games became Week 1 contests Sept. 11-12.

Thus far, no area schools have notified our office of any attendance restrictions like last year when families and few others made it through the turnstiles.

Fans complained loud and long about the restrictions, but it made me wonder where all these people were in the pre-pandemic days. Were they just complaining for the sake of complaining last year? If all the wailers and whiners actually care, the stands should be packed this season.

But don’t hold your breath.

Football attendance, with the exception of some pockets, has been poor for some time now. A lot of people in these parts like to TALK high school football, but when it comes time to reach into their pockets and buy a ticket, alligator arms prevail.

Media coverage

It’s amazing how far high school football game coverage has come since 1973.

Springdale was playing its home games at Tarentum’s Dreshar Stadium while its own field was being renovated. I can recall climbing a utility pole and broadcasting the games from a gondola on WKPA radio with Bob Tatrn and Joe Falsetti.

The late Ralph Conde of Greensburg’s WHJB radio would do games at the former Trafford High School from a woman’s third-floor attic across from the Tomahawks stadium because the facility had no press box.

Now, many schools are offering streaming video of their games, something unheard of in ’73. We also have games on the Internet. Trib HSSN plans to carry an average of 35 games per weekend on the ’net, streaming video and through an affiliation with 17 radio stations.

After the games, Don Rebel will host the scoreboard show from world headquarters in Tarentum — just a few blocks from Dreshar Stadium — on both the Internet site and on many of the radio stations.

For the 21st consecutive season, Mike Pavlik and Mike Choma will be bringing Highlands football games on Comcast Channel 190, replayed every Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

The Golden Rams also will have next-day coverage on YouTube. Just punch in Highlands High Football. Just don’t get it mixed up with the Highlands High School in Kentucky.

Brennaman to do high school sports

Former Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Lanny Frattare won’t be the only ex-MLB announcer doing high school sports this fall.

Former Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman will be calling high school events on Chatterbox Sports, a subscription-based service in southwestern Ohio.

Brennaman resigned from Fox Sports Ohio last September, weeks after he was suspended for using a homophobic slur on a live microphone before opening a broadcast.

He is the son of Reds hall of fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman.

The most famous game Thom Brennaman broadcast was the big Boise State upset over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

Frattare has been doing high school sports on Trib HSSN and its predecessor, MSA sports, for a number of years after leaving the Pirates broadcast booth in 2008.