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Back from the Dance


March Madness has been upheld as a copyrighted phrase in federal court and basketball fans around the US understand the reference to conference championships and the NCAA tournaments. What most people do not know is the depth of the madness portion of the NCAA tournament experience by players, coaches, athletic departments, and associated media. For the last week, I received a heavy dose of absolute madness as part of the 91 official, traveling contingent from Belmont University. Don't get me wrong, the experience was incredible...it was, however, more than any of us understood ahead of time and a little overwhelming some of the time.

Here is just a taste of some of the events:

  • Imagine the logistics involved to make air travel, hotel rooming lists, ground transportation, and meals arrangements for 91 people - with a 36 hour deadline staring you in the face.
  • Imagine having the media hanging around at every turn, asking questions ranging from good to awful (i.e. What is Vince Gill's golf handicap?), taking pictures, capturing video interviews, and pressing for that one sound bite that would make headlines.
  • Imagine a media area with 20 rows of tables, each with 25 (or more) journalists glued to laptops, uploading stories, editing images, talking on cell phones, grabbing junk food on the run, and racing back and forth to the floor while games are in progress.
  • Imagine security so tight, that your head coach (a relative unknown in NCAA ranks) gets stopped and is not allowed access to the arena.
  • Imagine the incredible pressure created in the schedule when a couple of bomb sniffing dogs alert on a hot dog stand. As a result the between game schedule is compressed, the entire arena is still evacuated between each game, and an an even more compressed schedule is in force to keep television broadcasts from rolling into the wee hours of the morning.
  • Imagine a half-inch thick booklet that spells out where, when, how long, and who you can videotape of your own basketball players...and the penalties for violating the rules.

    The Belmont Bruins in the Spotlight
    What is not difficult for me to imagine is the incredible manner in which the Belmont Bruins men's team represented themselves and their university in spite of being under the media microscope. At more than one press conference, the media present expressed how impressive these men are...how well spoken and composed they are when the lights come up and the microphones are on. That part wasn't news to me at all, it just happens to be news that the rest of the world hadn't heard before.

    All of us would have been happier with a different outcome from the game, especially the players, and particularly the seniors. The defeat at the hands of a talented UCLA Bruins' team is in the record books. The experience of the madness is a new taste for Belmont, and it is one that has a certain addictive quality. Let's hope that is the case and prepare for another run in 2007. Go Bruins!

    Coverage from Campus
    If your interested in the tournament coverage from Belmont's perspective, Bill Hobbs was at the helm of the media coverage and dealt with an abundance of the madness with a blog that inlcudes stories, videos, and images from the week. Media Studies students also did their fair share of reporting...that activity may be viewed at BelmontVision.com .

    I'm Back!! (I think)
    It is good to be back on campus... sensing that now that I'm back in my regular job, I can finally get some rest *grin*.


    • Posted by Paul Chenoweth on March 20, 2006 10:15 AM |

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