Whoever Handled The AV For The AFC Championship Game Today Is Fired
As Clem blogged earlier, this one got off to a rocky start from the get-go. Ashanti (God Bless her) had her microphone cut out in the middle of the National Anthem.
This poor girl just cannot catch a break. She should have been way bigger than she was, should still be very very relevant, and shit like this seems to happen to her every chance she does get nowadays. Her only fault was signing to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. at their peak, being synonymous with Ja Rule, at his peak, and then as a result, catching all the shrapnel when 50 Cent, Eminem, and Aftermath decided to dismantle them.
Regardless, she handled it like a class act. So props to Ashanti.
I can guarantee you (see p.s. at the bottom) that the Chiefs productions crew got their fucking asses reamed out for this mistake the second it began happening and for the entire half.
They had a chance to make up for it during halftime though. With a performance from none other than everybody's favorite pretender country star, Walker Hayes. A perfect opportunity to redeem themselves.
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Oof.
Didn't happen because somebody situated the monitors or side fills directly behind the CBS anchor desk. And had no intentions of muting them. So JB and the crew were forced to play on.
As somebody VERY familiar with cranking speaker and PA systems (even blowing a few in my day), I'm a credible source on this subject.
That said- you can always go up on sound. You can never go down.
Obviously, in the literal sense you can. But from a performance standpoint you can't. There's no going back.
You can start low, and gradually increase the sound as you go, and nobody really notices. But if you start out hot, and do the opposite, or even worse, suddenly decrease it, you're fucked.
Granted, there are worse things than not being able to hear Phil Simms rumble, bumble, and stumble over the English language like he's POTUS,
But when he's being drowned out by one of the worst songs to ever hit the airwaves, not so much.
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(I kid, I don't dislike Walker Hayes, he's actually got a decent song. Just not the Applebees one.)
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p.s. - was there anything better than the WWF period where Vince McMahon was obsessed with firing people? And has there ever been a better recitition of the phrase "you're fired" than by him?
I kill for any excuse to use that gif.
p.p.s. - I see Clem's "Mesmerize" as the greatest Ja Rule and Ashanti collab of all time and raise him "Always On Time"
p.p.p.s. - The sad thing in this entire situation is the Chiefs production team will catch all the shit for this but I would bet my life, knowing what happens in the MLB playoffs, that this was NFL productions fault. 110%. Your productions team goes all year doing this kind of shit in their sleep. Repition and practice runs HOURS before the gates even open. Mic checks up the ass. Backup mic checks up the ass. Line checks. Mixer checks. Computer checks. Run-throughs. Again, your team learns to do this stuff with their eyes closed.
But once big boy games like the AFC Championship (or NLCS and WS in my case) come to your stadium, the suits from NYC show up and fuck with everything.
All of a sudden your process isn't applicable. You need to wire in their lines, their feeds, their mics, and their truck. It's now their run of show, they book the talent (Ashanti, Walker Hayes), don't let you soundcheck, and expect you to wing it.
The fact there was no backup mic on hand to pass to Ashanti the millisecond her mic cut out is what makes me believe this wasn't Chiefs productions dropping the ball. That's day 1 stuff. It had to be the carpetbaggers.
As my main man Diddy said in the very underrated 2001 cinematic masterpiece Made -
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As for the speaker stack positioned directly behind JB that's on everybody. CBS productions included. How do you not see that pre-game, or during lead-in to your halftime show and ask somebody why that's there? Or run over once they're blasting and unplug them?
Too bad they didn't have Nick Burns there to fix the issues.
p.p.p.p.p.s. - congratulations to all the Bengals faithful. They’re years ahead of schedule, but you’ll never forget your first trip to the ship. This has been a magical season. (Granted, yes, they did get beaten by the Bears, and taken to the woodshed by the Browns) but man oh man they feel like a team of destiny. And Bengals fans deserve this. They’ve been through hell ever since Carson Palmer crumpled in a heap and all hope was lost. They’re some of the best fans on the planet. Especially our guy Welker, who went to every home game this year, and traveled to each playoff game, including todays at Arrowhead to watch the Chiefs lose in front of their home crowd in the AFC Championship. Again. Hats off Cincy. LA is gonna be a blast. Finish the job!