As I walked into the McGaw Hall Fieldhouse for the Indiana-Northwestern post game press conference, I said out loud to myself, “Wow! I’ve never seen it THIS crowded before!†Immediately to my left was ESPN’s Wendy Nix who nodded and smiled. She is even more gorgeous, with her sultry and husky voice, in real life. Her smile could light up the gloomiest North Shore February day. She’s also probably the only woman on this planet who can tell me something I don’t know about the New England Patriots. Her husband Ben, the Boston Red Sox VP of player personnel, is one lucky man. When I found my seat for the press conference, I also noticed Jay Mariotti from ESPN’s “Around the Horn†and more video and audio equipment than I’ve ever seen at a presser. When the speaking began, there was a shutterbug soundtrack usually reserved for the press conferences that television stations break into live.
This was an entirely different animal from the Northwestern-University of Chicago preseason contest, (a game I dubbed the “Intellectual Invitational†because it’s a dream match-up for grad students in pretty much any academic program) where I was joined by just a small cadre of journalists. It also verified the arguments I made against my friends a couple weeks ago in a Wrigleyville pub. They seem to be amused by my presence at Welsh-Ryan Arena’s press row. Not sure if my buddies were making fun of me or of Northwestern’s lackluster history as a program (they have never qualified for the NCAA tournament) or both. One of them even said, “You should build a new site devoted to just Northwestern basketball and have discussion forums for the fans; your website would have 4, maybe 5 total readers.†How dare they make fun of “my Cats†and my Wildcat Alley media credentials! I do understand where they are coming from…but Wendy Nix doesn’t smile at them. = )
Northwestern is set to become a reverse New England Patriots, as they are 0-14 in Big Ten conference play, with just four left to play. They have an RPI of 253 which ranks well below Northeastern (192) and Northwestern St. (233) Should they fail in their quest to avoid imperfection, a winless Big Ten season (a remarkable feat during this age of parity) would complement their 2000-01 and 1991-92 0-16 campaigns. Still, like the Cubs they are “lovable losers†and covering them with the same intensity that I follow the New England Patriots (“unlovable winnersâ€) for my nfldraftblitz.com job has instilled a great deal of loyalty and perhaps even affection in me. If you mess with my Wildcats, you mess with me. With a sellout crowd of 8,117, Northwestern-Indiana was the hottest ticket in town. The first game in the aftermath of the Kelvin Sampson ousting was also the hottest media credential in town. There was overflow of press row into the auxiliary press row into the additional overflow auxiliary section.
 
Media Matters
As an Illini grad, I’ve made it very clear how I feel about Eric Gordon, Kelvin Sampson and Indiana, but attending this presser made me realize that they are human beings. Some of Gordon’s facial features up close along with the sometimes nerdy sounding tone of his voice remind me of Dave Chappelle. And it’s hard to hate someone reminiscent of another person who has made you laugh out loud so many times. I’ll be the first to admit that most press conferences feature mostly air kissed platitudes and well sanitized statements, And Jordan Crawford delivered by dumbing us all down with the typical gag inducing “we’re just focused on winning the conference right now. We’re just focused on the team goals†type cliché. However, new Indiana coach Dan Dakich’s first presser as the man with the first courtside chair was the most interesting that I’ve ever attended. The way he opened his heart and soul about what the program is currently going through in the wake of scandal and resignation was emotional and powerful. If I were not an Illinois grad and perhaps a nicer man, I’d almost consider feeling sorry for them.
Journalists are like athletes in that although competition amongst us is always cutthroat, we get the best things accomplished when we work together. Continuity- that’s what’s it all about, because in either game: basketball or journalism, it comes down to the teammates you have and how much you can trust them. When you work alongside them for long enough you can sense where they’re going to go next. Perhaps the highlight of this presser, was running into my old tag team partner from the Daily Illini, Larry Hawley. He’s now a reporter with Fox 59 Indianapolis. Even though I haven’t seen him in seven years, we talked and interacted exactly as we did in the old times. I have a sense for how his mind works and I often can anticipate what he’s going to say or write next. The same sense of continuity is present in Northwestern’s young duo Kevin (or Kyle as they called him on SportsCenter) Coble and Michael “Juice†Thompson. The latter is first in the Big Ten in minutes, third in assists; the former is on the verge of becoming one of the conference’s top scorers.
I once told Kevin Fleming from the Sports Action Team that one of the keys to the creative process is having someone you can bounce ideas off of and vice versa. Take the SportsBank team. Dave and I are from the same hometown and go way back. When we’ve attended press conferences together, I’m often correct in anticipating what decisions he’ll make. In Sarah Spain, I get her sense of humor and intelligence, so I can often spot what is being written in between the lines or know where she’s going with a joke before I even finish reading the sentence. The man behind the Soxman mask has become one of my good friends in Chicago and I usually recognize what track his train of thought is on. Continuity- feeling natural around your teammates and anticipating what they’ll do next. It works on the court for Indiana’s Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, D.J. White, Jamarcus Ellis and Jordan Crawford. It also works for the TSB team.
So stay tuned to TSB this week for
-The emotional and powerful Dan Dakich press conference. What you may have read is just the tip of the iceberg. It was a very moving experience to hear him open up on the disarray of Indiana’s program.
-The Eric Gordon interview (definitely the highest NBA potential of all Sports Bank interview subjects)Â Â
-The interview with Northwestern’s Kevin Coble, one of the Big Ten’s premier scorers and a player whose story has been featured on espn.com, USA Today, Big Ten Network and many more media outlets.
Usually, “exclusive†is how I roll, but there will be no exclusives this time, because of the reasons listed above.
very nice. I like