Football League Contenders Face Off on MHSAA.tv, Bally Sports Detroit, State Champs! Sports Network

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

October 6, 2021

A trio of Friday (Oct. 8) football games with likely league title implications highlight another full week of broadcasts on MHSAA.tv and the NFHS Network, and MHSAA media partners.

In the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference, two of the three teams sharing first place face off as Stevensville Lakeshore (5-1) travels to St. Joseph (5-1). In the Kensington Lakes Activities Association East, tied-for-second-place Dearborn Fordson (5-1) will host first-place Livonia Churchill (6-0) in a matchup that could see the latter claim a share of the league championship with a victory. Both of those games will be streamed live on MHSAA.tv, with kickoffs at 7 p.m.

This week’s Bally Sports Detroit live cable game features the leaders in the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red as Caledonia (6-0) goes to Rockford (6-0). That game will be broadcast on BSD’s primary channel as well as online and on the BSD app. State Champs! Sports Network also will stream live on its website a meeting of league leaders Saturday as Warren Michigan Collegiate (4-2) hosts Harper Woods Chandler Park (4-2) for first place in the Charter School Conference East. Both games kick off at 7 p.m. on their respective game days.

Week 7 of the football regular season will see more than 175 games broadcast on MHSAA.tv, with more than 120 boys soccer games broadcast during the final full week of that sport’s regular season and more than 300 volleyball matches streamed live as that sport moves into its final month before District play begins.

See below for links to a number of notable events on the Network this week:

FOOTBALL
Oct. 8, 6:50 p.m.: Birmingham Groves at Rochester Adams
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Davison at Midland
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Stevensville Lakeshore at St. Joseph
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Utica Eisenhower at Macomb Dakota
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Portage Northern at Portage Central
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Holt at East Lansing
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Novi at Howell
Oct. 8, 7 p.m.: Livonia Churchill at Dearborn Fordson

VOLLEYBALL
Oct. 6, 6:15 p.m.: Flushing at Fenton
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: White Lake Lakeland at Walled Lake Northern
Oct. 9, 10 a.m.: Bronson at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

BOYS SOCCER
Oct. 6, 6:45 p.m.: Grand Rapids Northview at East Grand Rapids
Oct. 6, 7 p.m.: Walled Lake North at South Lyon
Oct. 7, 7 p.m.: East Lansing at Okemos

Click the links below to see all three sports’ listings in full:

Football VolleyballBoys Soccer

NFHS Network subscriptions begin at $10.99 per month. Subscribers have access to all live video and streaming statistics across the country. School Broadcast Program participants benefit as a portion of every subscription sold by a school goes to benefit its program.

More than 400 MHSAA member schools are participants in the School Broadcast Program, now in its 13th year, producing games using traditional hands-on student crews or via Pixellot cameras installed at stadiums and gymnasiums across the state. A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA Website. 

Grisdale to be Honored for 40 Seasons on Call for Cheboygan Football

By Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com

September 13, 2024

When Jason Friday was in high school, there were two types of football fans in Cheboygan.

Northern Lower PeninsulaFolks either went to watch the Cheboygan Chiefs play under the lights, or they listened to the game on the radio called by play-by-play announcer Mike Grisdale.

Well, not much has changed. Friday, a 1992 Cheboygan grad, is now the school’s athletic director. And Grisdale is in the middle of his 40th season on the air.

What is changing tonight, though, is Cheboygan will officially dedicate the stadium press box to Grisdale in a special pregame ceremony before the Chiefs (1-1) take on Elk Rapids (1-1).

Former Cheboygan coaches, Grisdale’s family and people who have worked with him on the radio over the years will be on hand for the ceremony.

“We were able to get Dan Miller, George Blaha, Ken Kal and Dan Dickerson — radio broadcasters for all four Detroit sports — to record statements that we will play over the public address system,” said Friday. “Mike will be presented a smaller version of the plaque that we will be hanging in the press box, and he will have a chance to talk.”

Naming the press box after Grisdale has been in the works for more than a year, Friday noted. Grisdale first learned of the plan when he was interviewing Friday during halftime of a football game last year.

“Jason surprised me on the air,” Grisdale recalled. “I was shocked, but honored and thankful.”

The Cheboygan stadium press box will be dedicated to the longtime broadcaster.Grisdale, a 1979 Cheboygan grad, is humbled noting there are so many people who contribute to the radio broadcasts and football program. He remembers listening with his father to Jorden James and Bob Martin call Chiefs games when some of the older kids from the neighborhood were playing high school football.

“I have just been so fortunate to do it for this long and have become the go-to guy for historical information and perspective,” Grisdale said.

Grisdale, who has also done nearly 1,000 Chiefs basketball games on the air, along with some hockey and soccer, said his interest in sports goes back to his childhood.

Grisdale grew up in Cheboygan with three brothers in a neighborhood full of kids. Sports were a big part of their lives — collecting baseball cards, listening to the Detroit Tigers on the radio, and playing basketball, kickball and wiffle ball.  

Grisdale, who also hosts a Saturday morning radio show from a local restaurant called “Coaches Corner,” vividly recalls trying to keep a scorebook while listening to high school basketball games on WCBY radio and dreaming of becoming the next Blaha, or Ernie Harrell, Bob Ufer, or Bruce Martin - four legendary broadcasters of Michigan professional and college sports.

While at Central Michigan University earning a broadcasting degree, Grisdale got extensive of on-air experience on student stations. He worked on Cheboygan radio stations during summers.

Some of his fondest memories of Chiefs broadcasts have come from the locations where they’ve played.

“I have enjoyed having the opportunity to cover games at places like the Pontiac Silverdome, Palace of Auburn Hills, Crisler Arena and the Breslin Center,” Grisdale said. “You remember the exciting moments and big games”

Grisdale is on the call for another Chiefs game. The 40 years on the air, along with earlier turns covering Marshall and Albion football and basketball games, are really just a blur to the highly-revered radio personality.

“The seasons just seemed to run together,” Grisdale said. “There were many, many times when the weather and the long road trips took their toll.”

Grisdale played football at Cheboygan High School and was an offensive end and a defensive safety on a 9-0 squad his senior year in 1978. He caught three touchdown passes that season. He also held for extra points, collecting snaps from his brother Mark, the Chiefs’ long-snapper.

Mike Grisdale doesn’t hesitate to point out the best player he covered was fullback Shannon Scarborough from the 1991 team that reached the Silverdome – “The all-stater was strong and fast and played both ways,” he noted. But Grisdale has loved all the players and teams over the years. “I do it because I enjoy promoting the kids, keeping the traditions alive, seeing the community come together, good sportsmanship, and being part of a team.”

Friday, who also has broadcast multiple games alongside Grisdale over the years, has enjoyed Grisdale’s efforts to promote every player.

“Kids always love to hear their name on the radio,” Friday said. “What I think he does better than anyone is to make sure the offensive and defensive linemen are consistently mentioned — those boys in the trenches often get overlooked, but not with Mike on the call.”

When Cheboygan installed NFHS Network cameras, the athletic department sought to successfully connect Grisdale’s radio broadcast through the video feed. 

“That has been a huge bonus and something that many community members have told me they appreciate,” Friday said.

Grisdale, who also works part-time for Black Diamond Broadcasting in its Cheboygan studios and serves Mackinaw Health System based in St. Ignace as its marketing director, has no plans to end his broadcasting career.

“As long as our local radio station can keep the tradition alive and I am still around, it would be my privilege to keep it going,” Grisdale said.

Cheboygan High School games are carried on WCBY (Cheboygan) 1240 AM, 100.7 FM and 98.1 FM, and streaming at BigCountryGold.com.

Tom SpencerTom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Mike Grisdale, right, and partner Nate King broadcast a Cheboygan game from Central Michigan University. (Middle) The Cheboygan stadium press box will be dedicated to the longtime broadcaster. (Below) Grisdale is on the call for another Chiefs game. (Photos provided by Grisdale and the Cheboygan athletic department.)