Media Day

Once or twice a week, the local Nashville media comes to Memorial Gym before one of our practices. They come to interview the players and Coach Stallings about past or upcoming games, and to shoot some video as well. Yesterday was like any other day for the media. They came to the gym, interviewed our players and coaches, but then they asked our Sports Information Director, Andy Boggs, if the program had any seniors. They knew we didn't have any senior players, but were wondering if there was anybody who was going to be honored at tomorrow's game. Boggs replied that there was a manager (me), who was a senior and the media expressed an interest in speaking to me. They had no clue what they were in for.

I have always been a big fan of media and multimedia. I wrote for my high school newspaper, write for The Vanderbilt Hustler, and interned at Dime Magazine in the summer of 2010 and still write for them today. I'm also pretty big on Twitter and have always loved reading the newspaper and magazines. However, up till today, I've never really been featured in media, so this was big for me. I wasn't nervous though because I have always been a natural on camera, dating back to home movies from my toddler years. I was such a cute kid, the signs of future stardom were always there. I also am never at a loss for words and love to tell stories, my friends consider my stories to be some of the best they've ever heard, so I was ready for my moment.

I got up in front of the cameras from Channel 2, Channel 4, and The Tennessean's Jeff Lockridge, and was an immediate hit. I'm not the type of person to give tired platitudes or use cliches, I just go with my gut on what to say, so I was honest with them and they ate it up. They asked how I got into mopping and why I enjoy it. They asked about my major and if I provided any type of leadership to the younger guys on the team. We covered a wide range of topics and I'm not going to lie, I had a blast.

It was a lot of fun, and a nice change of pace. The season can be a grind for players, staff, and coaches. It's long and a lot of the time the days blend together and you get into the same routine day after day. It can be overwhelming at times, and doing the same thing day after day is something I'm just not great at. I need to change things up and keep them interesting, otherwise you lose sight of the fact that this is just a job, and in the grand scheme of things basketball really doesn't matter much. It can be easy to get bogged down in wins and losses or the daily tasks that come with being a manager, but you have to keep perspective and remember that basketball is just a game. It's supposed to be fun, so I had some fun today.

Check out the finished product from Channel 4 News. Thanks to Chris Harris for the feature. Then there is the nice feature in The Tennessean, courtesy of Jeff Lockridge.