Inside The Huddle

If you've ever seen NFL films where you get to hear what the players and coaches are saying during a game, you notice that not much is actually said in the huddle. Because the team is so well practiced, all the quarterback has to say is something like "45 moose tooth double wingnut left on 3" and that's enough for 11 guys to know what they have to do.

On "normal" days, our morning show doesn't huddle. Erica comes in loaded with her stuff, and I come in with mine. Jay and Zack provide us with more material plus celebrities and other guests. It's up to each show member to think on their feet to quickly (and hopefully entertainingly) respond to what we've chosen to talk about. I call it "planned spontaneity you've come to expect to be surprised by." 4 1/2 hours later we pitch all the stuff we didn't get to, and then spend the rest of the day filling our heads with material for the next day.

Then there are those mornings that aren't normal.

The past several days we've needed to suspend some of our silliness and publicly work through Central Florida's feelings about the shootings at Virginia Tech, and the Don Imus controversy. The massacre in Blacksburg has touched us and our listeners deeply, and talking it out has hopefully helped a little. It's an interesting process behind the scenes because, while our show is usually a blend of Regis & Kelly, The View, and The Tonight Show, we can't ignore the pink elephant in the middle of the room all morning on breaking news days. The trick then is to negotiate how to be relevant while offering an alternative to people who are burned out on the 24-hour news channels' constant rehash of the big story.

On trouble days we spend about 3 seconds in a huddle and either decide on "normal", "talk mode", or "information mode." With choice three you won't hear us talk about American Idol, but you will be able to find out where you can get bottled water and sandbags. Option 2 is our usual fun 'n games MIXed with Essence Of Wolf Blitzer folded into the batter.

The feedback we received last week using play number 2 has been very favorable. However, we have heard from a couple of people who've told us they were turning us off for the morning because they weren't getting what they came for. I always appreciate calls like that because it means they thought enough of our relationship to tell us they were tuning away. I'd much rather have an angry friend clear the air, than me wonder why we don't hang out anymore.

Obviously we prefer to do our normal shtick. It's more fun, and it means there hasn't been a tragic incident in the news. Plus Jay doesn't always understand the difference between huddling and cuddling.