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In late 2024 I worked two different events at high school sports venues outside of our reading area, closer to or in Fort Wayne.
The individuals I worked with at the tables were glad to see me, and graciously helped me find buttons to press, or get answers from key people so each game would start smoothly when it was time for me to begin on the microphone.
It’s different, though, when you’re entering the venue as a member of the print media, and you’re not a familiar face (nor one they asked to help run their event in a pinch). I’ve commiserated with a handful print media people who feel the same vibe someone might get if the event management team thought we were stalkers or serial killers.
Folks, I’ve heard seasoned print media people use those terms - stalker, serial killer – and was surprised some of them were getting that treatment. As for me, since I am not covering sporting events as much as I did in 2019 through 2022, so I figured the reduced familiarity with my face and name went with the territory.
The familiar faces who commiserated with me across the last few years, though, surprised me.
Friday was a rare day where I was actually in such a good mood, I feared my disposition was too sunny to deliver a readable column during my lunch break.
Still, with the slight shift from sunshiny to partly cloudy courtesy of a typical day’s work by lunchtime, I was still in a mood pleasant enough to share some institutions who are at the very top of their game hosting and engaging with print media instead of complaining about other institutions.
Warsaw, with its variety of hospitality room and press box food offerings, is comprised of event staff who sincerely want to “get something for you” when they ask you and sensibly organize a press box layout even when media are shoulder-to-shoulder.
The food options change from week to week with one very essential – and glorious - element of consistency: those peanut butter Rice Krispy thingies with a semisweet chocolate topping are at almost every single event where a press hospitality setup is prepared.
This is not a local bias.
Other big pluses are:
The sports information director (SID) is also a journalist by profession who is deservedly decorated to boot. He also provides pronunciation guides for all press members for football and basketball games the way a college SID would for the announcer.
The athletic director (AD) runs the show like it’s a business, and he also has room in his brain to maintain a “show producer” mindset as the minutes wind down to pregame happenings. I’ve seen him and his team get their hands dirty to make some on the spot maintenance things happen like schlepping heavy duty cords and other apparatus into a press box to assure infrastructure is in place for extra-crowded events.
The assistant athletic director does not let grass grow under his feet. If you’re covering an event where he is running things, he won’t suffer any nonsense or chaos. He’ll text you officials’ names on the fly and give you heads up on any shifts in the game-day agenda.
Our event coordinator and our administrative coordinator are agile and mobile before some people clock out of their jobs make their way to the venue’s ticket gate.
Even covering a game as a print media member instead of announcing a game, I’ve received thoughtful gestures from them to make settling in easier for me.
I know I’ve probably sprinkled some of my event worker perks in my “review” of the staff, too, but our media feels welcome in Warsaw, nonetheless.
Another top tier outfit is Triton.
I prepared an inside experience story of their big media machine in a small school environment roughly four years ago in a Wednesday Times-Union feature. The media team is a separate entity from the athletic department, but they even welcome you graciously.
The athletic department’s experience in hosting varied levels of postseason events flows to the same quality and competence when a media member is covering a regular season contest.
No matter what the varied dispositions media members bring from near and far, the Triton team can put a little cheer in your mood once you arrive to either obtain postseason credentials for you quickly or to assist you in safely getting down into the Trojan Trench to your media spot.
I’ll paraphrase the Jerry McGuire movie line, “You had me at…” to add – for Triton -, “You had me at… sloppy joes.” Even when my acid reflux rages, I’ll pop an extra Prilosec en route to a Triton venue hoping those sloppy joes are the evening’s media treat.
Same goes for Mishawaka, whose AD completing his first full scholastic athletic director is former Warsaw assistant football coach Evan Fras.
I announced a sectional basketball tournament for Mishawaka last March and noticed how the team put together rows of press tables and sufficient electrical connections together (in the oldest active gym in the state) for a large concentration of media there whose attention was drawn further into the tournament because it hosted all but one team sporting either a state title defense, regional title defense, or winning records while playing some of the area’s best high school basketball.
The hospitality room kept folks happy with variety in its offerings shifting from day to day for the tourney’s schedule.
Mishawaka, too, has a media team who welcomes external media as well as event workers graciously, and makes sure you get where you need to go if you’re not familiar with the Cave.
Folks at the ticket tables, and folks managing the physical structure workings are equally glad to see and to assist everyone who enters to cover the action.
Thanks to Friday’s mood, you were furnished this topic instead of me smirking while writing 750 – 1,000 words about how the NFL really hosed NBC’s Sunday Night Football’s game offerings after the folks at NBC shifted some serious coin to NBA programming.
Have a safe… SAFE, fun Memorial day weekend.
