Super Saturday
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 1:50PM Don't have a ton of time to post today, but would be remiss if I didn't throw a few lines on the blog about my experience Saturday.
Marqus Blakely celebrates in the final minute of the Cats' 83-70 win over Boston University in the America East championship game. Had the good fortune to be part of a four-man crew - reporter John Fantino, blogmeister Alex Abrami, photog Ryan Mercer and myself - cover the UVM men's basketball team's America East championship game at Patrick Gym on Saturday.
Some folks have emailed to say the saw me during the ESPN2 coverage of the game - not too surprising - I was on the endline and nearly got bonked with a botched alley-oop by Nick Vier to Marqus Blakely in the first half.
It was a singular thrill to be a part of that environment. Short of an airport, Patrick Gym had to be the loudest place in Vermont on Saturday and with good reason - the Cats led from start to finish, although there were some tense moments in the second half.
I helped fill a photo gallery online from the game, had a shot on the cover of the sports section, another inside, a cover shot on the Vermont section and a full page of photos in the Vermont section. I also wrote a short sidebar story about Evan Fjeld, the junior who lost his mom to cancer earlier this week.
I make go into a greater detail after a Freeps desk shift tonight and post some photos.
For now, I want to give huge kudos to my mates at the Freeps - as a temporary part-timer I don't always feel a part of things, but they were nice enough to include me in the coverage and I as honored to be a part of the finished product. Also, heavy kudos for behind-the-scenes folks like Kevin Commo and Doreen Wright who handed the editing and designing of the printed product. People love to bash the Freeps now and then - and sometimes rightly so - but love em or hate em you have to respect the work they did covering the game yesterday - from the online stuff, to the paper to the blogs inbetween and during games.
Two final shout-outs - great to see ex-Channel 5 guy Chris Kelley manning the camera on the endline for the Deuce. Chris is a top-shelf newsie and an even better chap. I'm in his NCAA pool each year and he always lets me slide on the payment until the last minute - thanks pal!
Finally, Alex Abrami not only covered the men's tournament game with tons of blog updates, he raced to Hartford and covered the women's game. Not bad for a soft Rice guy. But seriously, great effort Double A.
If you are intersted in seeing the work these guys put together, here's a link to hoops coverage on the Freeps site.
If you want to see some of the photos I took, here's a link to a photo gallery - my shots are near the end, but Ryan's are well worth a look, too.
Finally, I took over 1,500 photos from the game, from Fan Fest at 10 a.m. to cutting down the nets and EVERYTHING in between. I will post them soon and let you know when I do.
