Steve Peed, F&M's director of athletic communications, at work online.
All sports, all the time.
For Franklin & Marshall College's sports information department, that's about what the job has evolved into.
And Steve Peed loves it.
F&M is one of the leaders in the country for providing video or audio Web casts of many of its sports.
Of the 28 sports offered at F&M, video is available — via pay-per-view — for 18 of them. Baseball and softball have live audio and 12 of those 18 sports also have live statistics.
"The Web has leveled what (sports information) used to be and replaced it with something that's entirely, entirely new," Peed said, able to enjoy some downtime over the summer months.
"It's almost a Web arms race in a sense. Everybody has to have this (information) out there to keep up with the Joneses. ... Our goal here at F&M is to be the Joneses — to make them keep up with us."
Athletic Director Patty Epps, contacted at an NCAA convention last week in Minneapolis, said talk there was about Web broadcasting as the wave of the future.
"And here I am from little F&M and we're already doing it," she said.
Peed has received backing from everyone at F&M, including president John A. Fry. The college made the extra commitment, including the addition of Jill Yamma, a former sports information director at Ursinus and assistant at Gettysburg who was hired as F&M's SID.
Peed, the SID at the time, then received the title of Associate Director of Athletics-Director of Athletic Communications.
The life of an SID at a Division III college has always been labor-intensive. So much so that "there are a lot of good people who have left," said Peed, who came to F&M from McDaniel College in Westminster, Md.
He was ready to be one of those who left when F&M came calling. His intention was only to finish out the 2006-07 season, but then-athletic director Tim Downes and Fry continued to woo him and eventually made it attractive enough for him to stay.
Peed had started the idea of Web casts at McDaniel, but while listeners' response was positive, the college wasn't as enthusiastic.
F&M was different.
"When I got here, there was no live stats or anything really on the Web," said Peed. "I told them I don't really want to provide (just stories and scores), that's the old model and won't serve much of a purpose. They just sort of let me run with it."
Now, in part thanks to Peed, most all Diplomats' athletes can be tracked via the Internet.
"Our biggest fears of paying $6 to watch were totally unfounded; people will pay $6 to watch," said Peed. "That price actually kind of puts students out of it because they still want to come to the game."
"B2 Network is who we do our broadcasts with, and we're their largest partner," Peed continued. "No one does as many sports as we do — and that's all divisions, I, II or III."
Of course, it's not a simple task to make it all work.
"The Web has made it almost a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week job," said Peed. "It kind of doesn't turn off anymore. ... We now have to be there running live stats, or training kids to run live stats, at seven different fields on a given day."
Peed admitted there were glitches at times, which weren't unexpected.
"But we had 2,000 viewers in the first year," he said. "People like it."
"That's the goal (to have all the sports available online)," said Epps. "Some sports have some challenges. ... It's hard to get everything."
Despite the fact that F&M faithful can get just about as good of coverage as is available, there are still some who want more.
"It's really a matter of trying to please everybody all the time," Peed said. "I know that's never going to happen, but that's the end that we work to."
The high visibility of the sports is a plus in several ways. Coaches are happy to tell recruits that their parents can see or hear their son's or daughter's games. Alumni can keep closer tabs on how their alma mater is doing in whatever sport they're most interested. Students and faculty also have an easy way to keep informed.
"We had a swimmer from Bulgaria, and his parents got to watch all the meets," said Epps. "Just something like that warms my heart."
F&M made no financial commitment. B2 Networks provided $15,000 of equipment, and all the sales go toward repaying the equipment.
"Probably in another year or two, we'll pay that all off," Peed said.
F&M, its alumni, its coaches and its athletes have already seen the benefits.
Sports writer Philip Glatfelter can be reached at pglatfelter@LNPnews.com or 291-8777.
