The day I began to feel like a real Journalist
As the beat reporter for the Michigan State woman’s basketball team, I have had the opportunity to travel to some unique places this season. I can still remember the late drives back from Purdue, Northwestern and Notre Dame after the games concluded. This spring break provided me with a wonderful opportunity to travel with my beat members to the Big Ten woman’s basketball tournament in Indianapolis. The ride down was quite manageable, because there is absolutely nothing of substance or intrigue in central Indiana. The fun really arrived when we tried to check into our hotel later that night. The clerk wouldn’t let us complete the hotel reservation because none of us were 21. It was at that moment that I realized we were screwed. Hotel hopping in the middle of the night in an unknown city is truly not my idea of a good time. After sitting in the car for an extended period of time and calling many different hotels, we were able to acquire a reservation at a Best Western that was on the other side of the city. After another half an hour hike, we arrived at the Best Western. Little did I know that the room we were staying in had two queen beds and a pullout. I chose the pullout, because it was in the other room and had its own TV. This afforded me the opportunity to conduct some research for the game tomorrow since I would be on the radio call. After a restful night of sleep, the three of us got up, enjoyed a subpar continental breakfast and embarked for Bankers Life Fieldhouse. As a man who has been to Ford Field and Bank of America Stadium, the site of driving past Lucas Oil Arena blew those two stadiums out of the water. The stadium was absolutely gorgeous from the inside out. Fortunately, the traffic on the way down was quite manageable and as such, we were able to arrive at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with time to spare. After checking in and having our equipment searched throughly, we finally had the chance to go to the media room. It was at that moment that I felt like a real journalist. That media room is where all of the Pacer beat reporters spend a large amount of time doing work and now it was my turn to enjoy the scenery. Seeing the largeness of the room and the assortment of food made me realize that I truly had chosen the right profession to go into. Stepping foot on the arena floor was also quite the magical moment. Having the opportunity to just stand at the baseline and look up and see all the sights made my throat recede into my chest. Me and my two coworkers watched warmups, exchanged pleasantries with the SID of the team and found our seats. I could tell that the players knew we were there as well. I have no concrete proof of this assertion but it was just a feeling that I can't explain. Me and my radio partner who were on the call then found our seats after warmups and boy did we get a wonderful vantage point. Despite being several sections up, we had an unobstructed view of the entire court and the benches. This of course makes it significantly easier to call the game. After setting the equipment up to go live, we were finally ready to get the show on the road. We did a quick pregame to summarize where each of the teams were at and than waited for the game to start. Once the game finally got underway, it became abundantly clear early that the Spartans were not going to win the game. Starting Center Kayla Belles was out with a leg injury, which was a double whammy because Purdue’s best player is Ae’Rianna Harris who happens to be a center. Harris ate reserve Taiyier Parks alive in the opening two possessions. Despite a barrage of early Nia Clouden buckets, MSU would predictably go ice cold from the floor and fall behind by double digits early. The hardest part of doing the call was trying to sound upbeat and keep the audience engaged even when the game was going down the drain. It’s really hard to try and stay neutral in these kinds of games because you get to know the players on a personal level and you get to know their stories and hardships. How can you not cheer for a team that has been absolutely decimated with injuries all season long? It becomes even harder to stay objective when a team who has won five out of their last six games (MSU) gets destroyed in the first half by a team who had lost three in a row coming into the contest. (Purdue). Seemingly every time the Spartans would make a run, Purdue star Karissa Mclaughlin would make a deep three to keep MSU at arms length. This trend continued until the fourth quarter when the Spartans were able to trim the deficit to six thanks to a pair of Shay Colley and Taryn McCutcheon timely buckets. The late surge would prove to be too little too late however, and MSU would be defeated yet again by the Boilermakers. As this was the last guaranteed game of the season, I knew that the players and coach Merchant would not be in the best of moods. My suspicions were confirmed when I went into the locker room and I saw thirty pairs of eyes piercing into my soul. Merchant and the players were very gracious in terms of answering all my questions, but it wasn't hard to see that they weren't in a mood to talk. Secretly, I really wanted the team to win as well, because it meant that we would be able to spend another day in Indianapolis. I guess the joys of travel in journalism giveth and they also taketh away. After doing a quick video standup and exiting the arena, me and my two partners walked back to the car in a glum mood and prepared for the long ride home. Now as I write this blog, I am currently stuck in a wait and see pattern with the team regarding a possible postseason berth. Any hopes of making the NCAA tournament as an at large team were extinguished long ago, but the team still is currently in the running fora possible WNIT berth. I would love nothing more than for this team to make the WNIT and make a bit of a run at the Breslin Center. I have greatly enjoyed covering this team since late November and I really hope that the Purdue game was not the last memory that I will have of this season. I also remember thinking on the way back about the huge strides that I had made this season as a budding journalist. From getting to know everyone involved with the team to traveling to faraway distances, it truly was an experience that I will never forget. This was the year in my college career that I can truly say I began to feel like a true journalist. The immense joy that I feel every time I walk into any sports arena to cover this team confirms that I have chosen the right career path. In a weird way, doing things like this doesn't even feel like work. I cannot believe that there might come a day when I actually get paid to watch some of the greatest athletes in the world perform. I know that as long as I stay hungry and humble, I too can establish myself as one of the premier journalists in the entire sporting community someday.
