I was born in the month of March and as a result it’s always been my favorite month. Looking back at past years, my Marches have always been memory-filled and fun. However, nothing can compare to my crazy, busy, tiring, yet completely amazing March this year. I took 10 plane rides, lived out of a suitcase, turned a milestone age, and only the last was expected. However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let's start with March 1st and the first of five trips I took that month.
A view of downtown St. Louis from the top of the Arch. Who would have thought that wouldn't end up being the scariest elevator ride of my day?!?
I woke up early the morning of March 1st to finish packing for my trip to St. Louis. The School of Communication (SOC) was sending the Rambler Sports Locker (RSL), a student-run sports broadcast that I executive produce at Loyola, to the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament. I was beyond excited to be going. I saw all the work that the group who went in 2017 had done and wanted to get in on the action. The fact that Loyola was the regular season champions and predicted to walk away tournament champions was an added bonus.
I wasn't just going to Arch Madness though, I was actually leading the group with my co-executive producer Henry. We had worked together to hand select the four other RSL members that would be joining us and were excited to see the team in action. What I wasn't as excited about was the fact that I had woken up to pouring rain outside and had to get myself, my suitcase, two tripods, two cameras, two handheld microphones…. Let's just summarize for your sake and call it a bunch of equipment, all the way to the L train. Despite the weather, I wasn't going to let it rain on my parade, even if it literally was raining.
A quick train ride and a short walk later and I was waiting in the lobby of the SOC for one of our advisors to arrive with the van. A little bit later we were all loaded up and ready for our five hour car ride to St. Louis. I had imagined that the ride would be filled with naps and headphones for the six of us in the van, but I was surprisingly wrong. I spent those five hours laughing and jamming to music with my fellow classmates and getting to know them better through “road trip questions.” Seriously, the questions were the result of one of the best google searches I have ever made. We went from mundane questions like “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” to heartfelt ones like “What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?” I left that car ride much closer to these people than I had entered it.
We had a quick pit-stop at our hotel to change into professional clothes and drop off our suitcases, but then we were quickly off to the Scottrade Center, now named the Enterprise Center, to cover day one of Arch Madness. We arrived at the venue, went through security, grabbed our credentials and then went and ate at the media dinner. It was there that Henry and I discussed what everyone’s roles would be for the night and made sure everyone was happy and confident in their job.
The Arch Madness basketball court at Scottrade Center. It was exciting to see Loyola play on such a big stage. Our home court, Gentile Arena, seats only about 5,000. This was definitely different.
That first night was the easy night with only two games that needed to be covered. The first game I sat press row and live-tweeted for our show’s Twitter account and afterwards immediately went to the press conference and heard from the winning coach. I then went onto the floor and filmed a stand-up that would be used in that night’s broadcast. The second game I edited SOTs (sound-on-tape, basically an on-camera soundbite) we had taken of Loyola’s head men’s basketball coach Porter Moser and key players earlier in the week.
After both games had ended for the night, I hosted the game-recap show. We filmed it and then packed up and headed back to the hotel where we all got together in the girl’s room and edited the show. We took the game-recap show and added in the SOTS, highlights, a package, and the two stand-ups for the night, posted it to our YouTube channel and called it a night at three in the morning.
The next morning we were up and ready by eight. Friday is always known as the intense day of the tournament as there are four back-to-back games and RSL produces two shows for the day. We spent Friday switching off roles of live-tweeting, editing, filming highlights, taking pictures on the floor, hosting the show, analyzing the games and filming stand-ups. We wanted everyone to get an equal chance on-camera and I think we did a great job making this goal come true.
We survived Friday and left the venue 15 hours after we had first entered. The day had come and gone and we didn't see much sunlight. I was tired and hungry and yet I was at my happiest. The long hours and meeting deadlines was something I was thriving on.
Saturday we had the morning off as there were only two games that day and the first didn't start until the afternoon. A normal person would take this opportunity to sleep-in and attempt to get more than the five hours we were living on, but that's just not me. I had never been to St. Louis before and wanted to go and see the famous Arch before we left the following evening. I somehow convinced the rest of my group to also get up early and go.
The elevator ride-up to the top of the Arch ended up scaring me way more than I had expected. There are plenty of Snapchats and Instagram stories of me panicking in my tiny little space capsule and concerned over every screech. We made it to the top and back to the bottom safely, but not without a few “we got stuck in the elevator” jokes on our advisors.
We walked back to the hotel and changed again into our professional attire and headed to the venue. We arrived at the center and were taking the elevator up to the media meal when those jokes we had made earlier came back to haunt us. The elevator stopped between floors four and five and we were actually stuck. Now, I’ve never experienced this before, but there was no question in my mind when the contraption jolted — we needed help.
We waited 30 minutes to be “rescued” by two workers who dropped a ladder from the ceiling. I always choose to laugh through life and this was no exception until I remembered I was in wedges and a short skirt and was about to climb up a ladder. After being pulled up and out of the elevator shaft, cleaning my feet and hands, and laughing/processing what had happened, it was time to cover those games.
(Left to right) RSL Member Conor Bergin, myself, and my Co-Executive Producer Henry Redman recording our Championship game recap and analysis. It was an exciting day to be a Rambler-- I even snuck-in a little Maroon with my skirt.
We went back into our routine to produce the best content possible. When the first game ended, I went to the press conference. I was sitting there waiting for Moser to speak about his win and making it to the championship game, when I came to a realization--I didn't want this to end. I loved the chaos. I loved producing the shows and coming up with a rundown. I was obsessed with live-tweeting the games, attending press conferences, taking that content and turning it into a standup, editing the show, etc. I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. But, the tournament was ending the next day and I just thought about how I would miss it and would hopefully have the time next year to come again. In reality, I was doing it again much, much sooner, but that's for another blog.
Sunday was a day that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Loyola did in fact win the tournament and took home the championship for the first time since joining the MVC back in 2013. I got to be one of six Loyola students who covered the game. I was on the court during the celebration. We filmed our championship show and then headed back to Illinois. There was a lot of traffic and the trip took closer to seven hours. My dad picked me up at my apartment in Chicago and took me to our home in the suburbs as it was now my spring break. I edited the show in my bedroom and posted it to our YouTube channel around two in the morning and then took a quick nap before heading off to the airport for my second trip of the month. It was time to fly to West Palm Beach.
Stay tuned for part two!