2:31: Another call. “Hi, do you have the De La Salle score?” 2:34: Another call. “No, sir, the game doesn’t start for 4 1/2 hours. Please call back.” 2:35: The Drill decides it’s a good idea to send all incoming calls directly into voice mail with the following message: “Hi, thank you for calling. Tonight’s De La Salle game will begin at 7 p.m. and we will have our first update at 7:45 p.m.” 3:40: The phone keeps ringing. Even when our calls go into voice mail, there’s a quick, shrill “brrring.” It starts to sound annoying after awhile, sort of like a swarm of mosquitoes seeking refuge in your ears. 6:00: The Drill checks the voice mail. There are 22 messages, which is about 21 more than we usually get by this time Saturday. Most are quick hangups. Coincidence? 7:00: Kickoff time. Forget the mosquitoes. By this time, the “brrrriiing” sounds more like an alarm clock with no off button and no volume control. 7:01: “Hi, Mike? Steve Trosky, calling from the De La Salle game. Hey, just wanted to let you know, kickoff ’s been moved back to 7:30.” 7:02: First update. “Hi, thank you for calling. Kickoff time for the De La Salle-Mater Dei game has been moved back to 7:30. We’ll have our first update by 8:15 p.m.” 7:15: The phone keeps brrrinnngging. I’ve heard Pete Townshend hears that noise in his head all day long, and he’s probably never even heard of De La Salle football. 7:35: Time to check messages again. There’s 32. Thirtytwo! The Drill quickly learns that when someone hears the
De La Salle message, and doesn’t hang up quickly enough, they end up in voice mail. 7:36: Begin deleting messages. Hear disillusioned people say “Kickoff ’s moved to 7:30” 32 consecutive times before hanging up. 8:05: Brrrrinnngg. We have an update. De La Salle off to quick 14-0 lead. Brrrrinnngg. 8:20: The Drill deletes 27 more messages. Most of them consist of a loud voice, in a loud, crowded room, screaming “It’s 21-0!” to the sounds of uncontrollable laughter in the background. Those Spartans fans, they love their team and they love to party. 8:42: Mater Dei is coming back. It’s 21-14. The Drill is getting punchy. “The score is now De La Salle 21, Mater Dei 14, with five thirty-sex left in the first half.” 8:43: “Uh, Mike, you just said thirty-sex, not thirty-six,” points out the Big Boss Man. “You should start charging $1.99 per minute,” says copy editor Dave Taxier. 9:11: The ringing never stops. The Drill adds up the voice mail count. It’s 221, roughly 100 higher than the decibel level in the Drill’s ears. The next update says, “At halftime, the score is De La Salle 21, Mater Dei 14 and 221 readers have called the Times to ask. Thank you!” 9:12: Begin deleting 35 more voice mails from callers who didn’t hang up fast enough. The Drill hears voice after voice say “Hey, 221 people have called! Hahahahahahah “ 10:09: Voice mail count is over 280. The Drill’s recently broken left finger, strained by constantly erasing voice mail messages, has swollen to approximately twice the size of
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Terrell Owens’ head. The game is coming down to a field goal attempt. It misses. One more update 10:11: Final update for the night. Now the phone really starts ringing. You know that annoying car alarm that keeps going off in the middle of the night? You get the idea. Brrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnngggg. 11:02: The first edition of the Times is out, and the Drill pauses to clear the voice mail again. News of the final missed field goal attempt, which would have tied the game, seems to unnerve the Spartans faithful. There are more than 40 new messages, most of which sound something like this: “Oh ohhhh . wow oooohhhh OOOOOHHH ... (click).” We’re starting to think maybe we should have charged $1.99 per minute. 11:22: The phone stops ringing. Just for a second. We’re momentarily concerned that the power is going off. False alarm. The phone rings again. And again. Brrrrinnnnnggggg. Midnight: The Drill clears out. A final tally of the voice mails for the evening: 436. And that’s just from the callers who didn’t hang up fast enough. No telling how many times the phone actually did ring. A couple thousand seems like a safe bet. ✪ Comments? Call Mike Wolcott at 925-566-8500. If you get sent into voicemail, just leave your name, number and ask if we’ve heard anything about the De La Salle score. August 26, 2010
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