Covering in the big leagues.

Well, I have finally made it into the semi-big leagues.  I have covered four games featuring the University Of Tulsa Golden Hurricane dating back to October of 2013.  Most recently I covered a game between TU and the Oklahoma Sooners, and it was, in a word: AWESOME.

Most of my friends know me as a one trick pony when it comes to sports writing.  Hockey is where I cut my teeth as a writer and it is indeed my first love, but exposure to a first class operation like what I experience at TU games is nothing less than thrilling.  The picture I posted above is my view, from my position in the vast press box and though there are writers who eschew the box out there, I love this perspective and that is a big change for me because as a fan the closer was usually the better.

Not trying to impugn or say that any of the other teams I cover are not doing their jobs when it comes to the things they provide working press.  Well, I am but the apples and oranges theory applies.  In college football it is obvious that there is a lot of information coming at the writers during the game so it would stand to reason that any help that teams can provide increases the visibility for the university and makes for a better story.

On Saturday I felt like a pro.  Like I did what I was doing for a living.  The fact that the game was nationally televised helped.  There was one other game, where TU played Tulane and it had the same feel but it was much more of an "event" on Saturday, but one has to take into account that a small school like the University Of Tulsa does not host games against top-25 opponents very often and seeing the Sooners is usually a once every five to seven year thing. 

I am not a fan of any of the in-state college football teams, though I will jump on a bandwagon as a fan with wild abandon at bowl time.  I think it gives me an advantage in that I can be completely neutral when I cover the teams here without letting emotion get in the way.  At the end of the day,I feel like if I were ever offered a job in which I could cover sports as a means to make a living I could do it, but I have to define what kind of writer I want to be.  Sure, it's easy to watch and write what you see, but there are storylines outside of the box that are open to exploration.

We'll see how the whole thing plays out.  This might lead to something.