JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: BROADCASTER BACK IN JETHAWK BOOTH.Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer LANCASTER - JetHawks broadcaster Dan Hubbard was a fixture for the first six years of the franchise's existence. Now, after a two-year hiatus, the popular voice of the JetHawks is back in the booth many JetHawks fans wish he'd never left. Hubbard, who left the franchise after the 2001 season, when management made the broadcasting job seasonal, has remained in the broadcasting business, calling televised UC Riverside basketball and baseball games, and Long Beach Ice Dogs The Long Beach Ice Dogs were a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They had suspended operations at the end of the 2006-2007 season. The Ice Dogs trace their origins to the San Diego Gulls, a team in the now-defunct International Hockey League that began play in 1990. minor-league hockey games. He's also done fill-in work in the California League The California League is a minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth for the Bakersfield Blaze The Bakersfield Blaze are a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California, USA. They are a "high-A" class team in the California League, and are a farm team of the Texas Rangers. The Bakersfield Blaze play home games at Sam Lynn Ballpark. , Lake Elsinore Storm The Lake Elsinore Storm are a minor league baseball team in Lake Elsinore, California, USA. They are a "high-A" class team in the California League, and are a farm team of the San Diego Padres. and High Desert Mavericks The High Desert Mavericks are a minor league baseball team in Adelanto, California, USA. Their Major League parent club is the Seattle Mariners. They are a "high-A" class team in the California League, and had been a farm team of the Kansas City Royals since 2005 before the switch. . He worked alongside long-time Inland Empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. broadcaster Mike Sager Biography Mike Sager is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist. He has been called "the beat poet of American journalism, that rare reporter who can make literature out of shabby reality."[1] Currently he is a Writer-at-Large for Esquire. for most of the second half of last season. Hubbard admitted he felt the opening-day jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics on Thursday, his first game back with the JetHawks since early September 2001. ``I found myself kind of tongue-tied the first couple of innings,'' Hubbard said. ``I just had to relax and go back to doing the things I know how to do and things started to fall back into place for me.'' A 7-3 JetHawks victory over the High Desert Mavericks made his homecoming that much more enjoyable. ``I've really been looking forward to this for the last couple of months and the way things turned out with the win, I couldn't have asked for more,'' he said. ``It was a very satisfying evening.'' A smooth delivery, knowledge of the Cal League and an ability to weave anecdotes into his play-by-play coverage has made Hubbard a fan favorite. If this year's team goes at least two rounds into the playoffs, he'll have a chance of broadcasting his 1,000th JetHawks game. Going into this season, he'd already broadcasted 853 JetHawks games, meaning that if broadcasts a full 140-game season this year, he'd need just seven more games to reach that milestone. ``Right now I'm really not thinking about that,'' Hubbard said. ``I imagine if it gets a little closer I'll start thinking about it, but right now I'm thinking more along the lines of (the JetHawks) going over two million fans,'' which they're expected to do sometime next year. Hubbard is committed to just one season with the JetHawks, and although he would like to remain with the team, he has other contractual obligations, including a contract to broadcast Ice Dogs games next year. ``If coming back in 2005 is an option, I'd certainly love to do it,'' Hubbard said, ``but right now I'm just taking it one day at a time One Day at a Time is a long-running American situation comedy that portrayed a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters (Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli) and their building superintendent (Pat Harrington, Jr.). , so we'll just have to see what happens next year.'' --McIntosh is back: Also back with the JetHawks this season is trainer Troy McIntosh. McIntosh, the team's full-time trainer from 1997-2000, when they were a Seattle Mariners affiliate, remained in the Antelope Valley after the affiliation change, where he's been working for Athletic Injury Management (AIM), a Lancaster-based physical therapy and training center. McIntosh, who serves as AIM's director of sports medicine sports medicine, branch of medicine concerned with physical fitness and with the treatment and prevention of injuries and other disorders related to sports. Knee, leg, back, and shoulder injuries; stiffness and pain in joints; tendinitis; "tennis elbow"; and and performance, is the JetHawks strength and conditioning coach- a part-time, non-traveling position. Until earlier this week, he hadn't been in the JetHawks' clubhouse since September 2000. ``I like the area and I like what I'm doing,'' McIntosh said. ``I had pretty much made up my mind that that was it for baseball, at least for about 15 or 20 years until I got my kids out of the house.'' Gideon Rubin (818)713-3607 gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com |
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