Getting back from Atlanta, I arrived at my apartment and crashed. I was drained from the past four weeks. When people ask me about 2018 March, I always answer their questions about being media at the games and tell them all of the highs. I'm not as quick to mention the lows because I would never want it to come off like I'm complaining or not grateful for the opportunity I was given. However, behind the scenes, there definitely were lows.
I was missing more classes than I could count and was drowning in work; I was fighting for a show to get to continue to travel; I was lacking sleep, missing out on opportunities to apply for internships because of a lack of time; and honestly, dealing with the drama that comes with being in college.
I will never forget when I called my best friend Blaise Radosevic in tears back in Atlanta. I was running on empty and couldn’t handle how harsh and rude one student was being. Blaise, who was out with friends at the time, stopped and took the time to immediately cheer me up and it reminded me how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life (even as I type this blog, he is texting me and raising my spirits after a rough day.)
It was so much fun running into familiar faces in San Antonio, like Emily Morgenstern. She had graduated the year prior and was a former RSL member!
I woke up on Monday and was told by my advisor that four students would be going to San Antonio for the Final Four and to put in the credential requests. I went back into the routine I had done the past several weeks with requesting credentials. This time, however, there was the added question of whether or not we would stay to cover the National Championship if our team did not advance. I wasn’t quite sure what my advisor’s answer to the question was, but I had a feeling I should say yes.
We landed in San Antonio on Friday ahead of the game on Saturday and went to dinner downtown. While downtown, a reporter from the Kansas City Star interviewed us and wrote a piece on how we had been the only people covering the team before all this frenzy.
I wish I could say how incredible it was to be interviewed, but honestly, I wasn’t interviewed. I have one quote in the piece and that’s because my Co-EP Henry Redman basically forced the interviewer to ask me a question. I was sitting at a table with two male student journalists, I had just as much experience and knowledge as they did, and frankly, a higher-rank than one of them, and the interviewer didn't want my answers. This was my very first time ever being looked down upon because of my gender. It was sad to me, I felt like this guy didn't think I had the expertise to be quoted because I was a female. I am, however, very thankful for Henry and his efforts to include me in the interview.
A picture I took from my press seat. It was crazy seeing the stadium packed with fans and realizing how grand the situation was.
Being a female in sports is hard. A few years back, I interviewed WGN sports reporter Lauren Magiera on this topic and she told me how unfairly judged she can be. When a male makes a mistake it's because of x, y and z circumstances, but when she makes one it's because she’s a girl. I am thankful for the women who have paved the way for me and I like having something to prove (even if I shouldn't have to.)
The next day was the day of Loyola’s Final Four game against the University of Michigan. We had received our credentials and found a spot inside the media room to set up our camp. Right off the bat, I could tell what a huge deal this was just by the size of the media room alone. It was four times bigger than the previous locations. The entrance to the arena didn’t open until about an hour later, but when it came time to walk around on the floor, that moment is something I will cherish forever.
When people ask what my favorite memory of March Madness 2018 was, I always initially answer sitting press row for Donte Ingram’s buzzer beater three. However, it was actually simply walking around the court at the Alamodome when it was still dark and no fans were in sight.
You see, traveling like we did that month and balancing everything else in our lives, didn’t give us the time to process. It was one thing after another after another, and it doesn’t hit you how crazy it is that Loyola kept winning. But in that moment, it did. I saw how huge this stadium was, the court (which was literally raised to a new level,) I saw people standing in for the starting line-up as they walked through the production that would take place in a matter of hours. I finally realized where I was, all that my show had done in the past month, and what was to come in a matter of hours. Walking around the arena with Henry we were both pretty quiet, and I have a feeling he was experiencing the same thing I was. It was emotional and while I held back the tears, I wasn’t able to stop the goosebumps on my arms from appearing.
We might have lost the game, but there were no tears for these two Rambler reporters.
The game started and all was looking great for Loyola, but if you’re reading this blog, I’m sure that you already know that the road did in fact end that night for the Ramblers. Despite entering the half with a lead, Loyola lost to Michigan 69-57. I remember receiving texts afterwards along the lines of “Hold your head high, Loyola has so much to be proud of” or asking me “Are you upset? Can you hold it together?” But, honestly, I was fine. The sports reporter in me kicked in and I didn’t see MY team losing, but a team losing. I had a story to report on and went after it.
We got quotes from the press conference and sound bites from the locker rooms and Henry and I filmed the analysis for the game. We went home that night and I think we all breathed for the first time. The next day was Easter and instead of it being another media day, it was our first day off in weeks. (Please don’t think this was the outcome we wanted, we all would have gladly given the day off back for Loyola to have been in the Championship.)
My brother, David, and I outside the restaurant we had a very ‘festive’ Easter lunch at.
While I was over a thousand miles away from my family’s Easter celebration in Naperville, Illinois, I was only an hour away from my brother David, who lives in Austin, Texas. David drove to me and we got lunch together. While having tacos and margaritas is not the usual ham and Easter egg hunt, it was the perfect meal and I got to be with family after all.
On Monday, we went back to the stadium and covered the National Championship where Villanova beat Michigan 79-62. I covered the biggest game in basketball while being a junior in college. The “March Madness” chapter ended when we got back home the following day and we got back to our usual college routines.
The rest of the semester went by quickly, and honestly, the whole year did. As I write this blog, Virginia has been named the 2019 March Madness Champion only a few hours ago.
Several people asked me if I missed traveling and covering March Madness this year, and obviously I would have done it again in a heartbeat, but it was also nice to sit back and watch this year and really realize how insane it is that Loyola made it to the Final Four.
Loyola may not have walked away champions of the tournament last year, but they were certainly victorious. No one can ever take away their 2018 Final Four run and no one can ever take away that I got to cover it.
We came, we saw, we Final Four’d. I love seeing all the confetti on the court from Villanova’s celebration.
I often think about all that the Ramblers did that month. They accomplished individual goals and team goals. They brought an entire city together to cheer them on. The John Hancock building was maroon and gold, pop-up shops were opened to get Loyola merchandise out in the quantities being requested, alumni who haven’t had an interest in the team in years came out of the shadows. They made headlines around the country and turned Sister Jean into an international name…. And they gave me, a 21-year-old student journalist, the experience of a lifetime. And for that, I am eternally grateful.