Kevin Jackman
Multimedia Editor
Josh Barlog sits courtside at the scorer’s table inside Wheaton College’s crowded King Arena as a newcomer to the booth.
To his left is experienced senior play-by-play man Jeremy Rushing, a member of the WONC Sports crew for the last four years.
Noise is a constant rumble you can feel pulsing under your feet inside this tiny stadium filled with 391 fans and more continuing to enter.
The smell of popcorn wafts away from the concourse through the beach -themed student section along the far-side baseline only 50-feet away.
As a 4-year-old boy, Barlog knew he wanted to be a sports commentator when he grew up.
Now a junior at North Central College, Barlog is starting to see his dreams become reality. Except, Barlog can only partially see his dreams become reality.
Barlog was born with the ability to only see shadows.
After undergoing countless surgeries he was given vision in both eyes, not perfect, but good enough to get him by in the classroom and in the booth.
For a while everything was OK, but with one year remaining of high school his left eye took a turn for the worst.
“The summer before my senior year the pressure in my left eye, which is supposed to be between 10 and 20, was 50,” said Barlog. “It tore apart the blood vessels connecting the retina to my eye, which totally wiped out all my vision. Basically, things you can see 500 feet away, I would have to be 50 feet away.”
Four years after essentially losing half his vision, Barlog prepares himself to assume the role of color analyst for the first time.
The job description normally requires an individual with quick sports wit, a deep knowledge of the game, and one would think, the ability to see.
Barlog certainly has the first two qualities, coming from years of playing the game, but he had to find a way to approach the visual component.
“The one thing as a color commentator is that I have to diagnose plays, not so much see personnel, which is a challenge” said Barlog.
That is where Rushing comes into play. With dozens of basketball broadcasts under his belt, Rushing understood the need to raise his own level of performance to ensure success for Barlog.
“Josh did a great job,” said Rushing. “His knowledge of the game of basketball is broad and he was able to provide a lot of insight. Personally I just had to be more descriptive in terms of who had the ball at what time.”
While experience is important in the booth, chemistry between partners is even more essential to a good broadcast.
The give and take between the play-by-play man and color commentator is a delicate dance of rhetoric that has to be cultivated long before the mics go live.
In between watching the road and cursory glances in the side and rearview mirrors, Barlog and Rushing coordinated the night on the drive over.
“On the way to Wheaton he asked what would be challenging for me,” said Barlog. “I told him, ‘well, personnel probably would be the most challenging.’ So he told me he’d make sure to express who has the ball, who is coming off the screen and obviously it was a huge help.”
Even after the Cardinals suffered a blowout loss at the hands of the Thunder, a sense of satisfaction was achieved on the sideline near mid-court for Barlog.
A night of many firsts ended with a performance to be proud of for the duo, one Barlog sees as a beginning to an improbable but imaginable journey.
“Honestly, it might be a cliché but anything is possible,” said Barlog. “Coming here I knew that some people would doubt me, which is totally understandable. But my job was to get the chance to do the game and show everyone that even though I have this impairment, it doesn’t affect my performance on air.”
With more than a year left at WONC, the idea of leaving behind a legacy becomes more realistic to Barlog, but he would want it to leave out one important detail.
“I would want it to be without the impairment; just hard work, dedication and loving what I do,” said Barlog.
The night ends, Rushing and Barlog are packing up along with those crazy Wheaton fans 50 feet away.
Those hula-skirt-wearing students may appear 50 feet away to Rushing, but to Barlog they seem 500 feet away.
Much like a cursory look into a car’s side mirror, the dreams and aspirations that are in front of Barlog are much closer than they appear.
