One Last Basketball Post

So far we've seen the before and after of basketball. I've posted about the anxiety and stress I feel when these events are on the horizon and I've posted about the sense of relief that I feel when it's over. Most of what I've written so far is pretty negative so I feel like I need to talk a little about some of the other interesting and (gasp) fun aspects of a big basketball tournament.

These tournaments are LONG. The ACC & SEC tournaments have eleven games. That's four games each for Thursday and Friday. The gates are open for almost twelve hours on those days. That's usually after having worked ten to twenty hours a day for the four preceding days so yeah, we're all very tired when we finally go home Friday night (or Saturday morning if we go a little long).
The thing is though, there are loads of people in the same boat. All the tournament staff, the TV crews, sports writers, photographers, police, and lots of building staff have been working many of these same long hours too and there's a bit of a sense of brotherhood that comes with getting through it together.
You get to know the people too because they're often the same faces year after year. The SI photographers, the local TV crews that follow the teams, the tech managers from the regional sports networks, decorators, stats crews (the KY crew is known for bringing snacks!), scoreboard operators, and the audio guys in the CBS truck, are all friends to me even if I only see them once or twice a year.
When Saturday comes, we all know that there are only two games and with any luck, we'll be home or in the hotel by 7 or 8. That extra couple hours of sleep does everybody good and Sunday, with only one game, has the promise of being a cakewalk. When it's over, everybody is getting their stuff packed-up and trying like heck to get out of town but most of the time the friends you've made will stop to say goodbye, thanks, and congratulate you or commiserate with you.

I am always impressed by the vast amount of work that is put into these events by the TV crews and the photographers. I like to talk to these guys and see how they've set themselves up to cover the event. The camera angles, lens choices, microphones placed around the court, miles and miles of cables strung around the court, and all the interesting new technology that keeps popping-up year after year intrigue me. For a keen photographer, live sound guy, and TV production hack like me, could there be a more interesting place to be in March than court side at the sweet 16 or Final Four? Probably not.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fan of the sport of basketball. I don't really like the frequent whistles. I can rarely ever see just what was done to warrant a foul. The time outs towards the end of the period can drive a person insane. But... There is a real sense that these guys playing in these tournament games, especially the really big games like the Final Four are giving everything they have and working as a team to achieve a goal. I do see the purity of sport here most of the time and I respect that. I can certainly get excited about a close game being played near the known limits of ability. The young men and women on our court can do some pretty fricken amazing things from time to time and being fifteen feet off the court is a fun thing when that's going on and the crowd is going crazy. As our COO says from time to time, "If that didn't get your heart going, you better check into the morgue."

There's also a certain sense of accomplishment to be had when you successfully move over a hundred thousand people through your building over four days. When it all goes well, it's very satisfying to know that all those people came and had a good time, even if their team didn't win. It's the whole reason our building and the staff are there, after all. And when it's done well, it's a thing of beauty.