About a week and a half ago, I worked up enough guts to email an organizer for The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas to see if I could come up with a press pass for the Las Vegas Classic. This website does not exist to provide a job for anybody involved, but, it’s been fun to document our thoughts about basketball, and I figured why not try to step it up to the next level. I was pointed in the right direction and assured I would have a pass in the media room on Tuesday (today). I found out on Friday. I’ve spent the last couple of days being slightly nervous about going, worried if I would fit in, what I should bring, or wear, or say, or do, or anything at all.
I secured a few tips from a hoops guru on the other side of the country, bribed my ladyfriend to iron my pants, and geared myself up with briefcase, laptop, writing pad, camera, pen, highlighter and tucked in shirt this morning to the first game of the LVC – BYU vs Nevada.
I arrived about 40 minutes before tip to find most of the seats on the press row taken. I looked for my name on a chair and found none. The above mentioned guru suggested I seek out a chair that was spoken for, but not likely to be used. These were also used up. The back row was set aside for NBA scouts, and I figured I could scoop one up a few ticks before tip, as I’m sure there would not be 25+ scouts in attendance, and previous experiences show they’d rather sit in the stands anyway. Well, these seats filled up and I started the gig sitting about 4 rows up. An organizer had another table brought out, which I nabbed a seat at, and things seemed OK. I was a bit disappointed when I found there was no internet access, unless I wanted to whip out my credit card and drop 10 bucks on a password access for 24 hours. No thanks. I figured I’d just take notes from there, enjoy the basketball game, and call it good.
BYU fans rolled up into Las Vegas quite hard, as their football team is playing in the Las Vegas Bowl later this evening. Why not come down for a double dip, ya know? Well, they had a lot of douche bag things to say and it was pretty brutal. Nevada fans were few and far in between in comparison to the legions of BYU fans that stormed the stands. Overall the game was pretty close with Nevada winning by a few buckets at halftime. The fact that Nevada has a short bench did not help in the second half. BYU was running things out of the gym. Nevada’s All-Ameircan forward, Luke Babbitt, looked gassed. Jimmer (who names their kid Jimmer BTW? What kind of crap is this? Name him Jim. Damnit) Fredette had a nice game and was the games leading scorer. BYU pulled away late by spreading the floor, getting to the hoop, and just playing faster overall.
I had plans on staying for the slate of games into the evening, but was so disheartened by all of the media wrongs with giant farts, butt cracks hanging out and unkempt manners, I decided to bounce home, eat a proper lunch, and watch WMU vs USC on ESPNU. The game I am missing is Tulsa vs Nebraska. I’ll get to watch the winner take on BYU tomorrow.
So, that is my first experience with a lanyard around my neck. I had thought and hoped it would be much more, and perhaps that is the reason for my letdown. For the fellas here at tourneytrip.com, this is a hobby. It is not a job. It is very easy and almost expected for most people to become cynical with their jobs. Working, by default, is not supposed to be a pleasurable experience. I’m sure most of these guys are going to pound a bunch of wrong meatballs, write a shitty column in three seconds, and take their butt crack exposed asses home. This game deserves more respect than I saw it given, and I think that’s why I’m so let down. I figured most of these guys would be taking things seriously, and they just weren’t.
Caveat: There were, of course, a handfull of professional looking dudes, taking notes on note cards, wearing ironed shirts, and had combed hair. Kudos to you for not pounding a bunch of skell food and farting when you walked by me. I appreciate it.
UNLV on ESPN2 tonight. WMU looking good vs USC so far. I’ll brush this up a little sometime tonight. Back to the Las Vegas Classic tomorrow.
Good Talk.
