Courtside Credentials: SIU's gone ... now what?

The SIU men's basketball team was eliminated by Bradley yesterday, so you're probably wondering why I'm still here.

Well, it's simple, actually. I like what I do. So much that I'm spending the entire weekend in St. Louis covering each and every game of the MVC Tournament. I figure I won't get this good of a job when I start out after graduation, so I might as well take advantage of having a this opportunity while it lasts.

I get to exchange ideas and opinions with beat writers from newspapers, you know, that thing you pick up at your doorstep, on a corner or at the coffee shop that you know, love and trust to get your news information.

As for media hospitality, it's exactly what you think it is.

It's a magical world where said professionals talk amongst each other and socialize. That's right. Socialize. The hot topic of last night's happenings, well, the good folks who were at last night's media gathering talked about what's up with newspapers.

What's good about the future? What should graduating seniors such as myself be worried about? What kind of advantages we have over experienced writers who aren't as technologically savvy as we are?

It's a different experience. It's an experience beyond the Xs and Os stuff you get when it comes to the day-by-day and game-by-game experience.

It's like what my buddy/boss/co-worker Jeff and I said. A little bit of hard work, persistence and marginal writing ability will take you far. Because the help of editors (God willing their saved as newspapers continue their purge of layoffs and such) helps an average writer become good. Then good writers become great. Then great writers excel to become known as elite.

Right now, I'm doing a lotta bit of that hard work and persistence thing.

The post-game blog you expected me to write but didn't write until this morning

{Ed. Note: The first of (probably) many blogs detailing what life was like covering a Division I college basketball team. This blog is about how the season ended on a sour note.]

I was tempted to write the gloom-and-doom blog about how the SIU men's basketball team built up an early 10-3 lead and watched it turn into a 15-point deficit ... then cut into said deficit but never overtake the Bradley Braves in what will likely be the last college basketball game I cover in a very long time.

But I didn't.

I sat and waited. I went and ate at Imo's Pizza -- thin-crust cheese pizza with minimum sauce that is so thin you think you're eating it off a cracker. Then I watched not one, but both of the other Missouri Valley Conference games. I capped my night by learning what "media hospitality meant." Yeah, it's a good thing that one day soon I'll be telling stories about.

But this blog isn't about that.

This blog is about the end.

And about how dreams always come to an end. Because, that was the one thing that kept going through my mind Friday afternoon as I saw the time on the clock decrease as the Salukis' deficit increase. I knew time was short. All I could do is hope. And I know that as a member of the media, I shouldn't cheer. And I've ridden people awfully hard who have cheered in press row. But on the inside, I was pulling for the Salukis. A team that I cheered when I was in high school. That for four years at SIUC, I cheered for. Went to SIU Arena early and didn't leave 'til after the game was over.

For years, I dreamt of the day I covered the SIU men's basketball team. Interviewing players such as Bryan Mullins and a coach like Chris Lowery. Sit in post-game press conferences and listen to Dana Altman. Go on road trips and visit far off lands such as Terre Haute, Ind., and Springfield, Mo., and Normal, Ill., and so-on and so-forth. For years, that's what I wanted to do with my life. Finally, in the end, my hard work paid off. I got to cover the basketball team I so desperately wanted to cover.

And for the second straight year, they flopped in their first game of the MVC Tournament. But this year, there isn't a NCAA berth. Nor is there a NIT bid. There's nothing. It's over. There is no tomorrow for my college basketball world. It's done. Fin. Fade to black.

As for the future ... I'm almost tempted to fail at life (or in my remaining classes) long enough to see this team mature into the team it could be. With Anthony Booker dominating the low-post and Kevin Dillard, Ryan Hare and Justin Bocot securing the perimeter. It is a team full of talent - but talent alone isn't enough in a conference like the MVC where experience is key. A team like North Carolina can get away with starting three newcomers because the newcomers are future NBA lottery picks. SIU can't.

My hope is that SIU head coach Chris Lowery calls me in three years and invites me to see a renovated SIU Arena to see a rejuvenated Saluki basketball team.

Now? Well, when I walked off the court and headed toward the press conference room I shook the hand of Dr. Harold Bardo - SIU folks know who he is so I won't go into detail because it's late. I shook Dr. Bardo's hand and I asked him "why do dreams have to come to an end?"

I guess I'll leave the answer to that blog for another day.