ACC Tournament gets going at Philips Arena...am I the only person in Atlanta who cares?
Live from someone else’s seat, courtside.
- http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?by=1223504
- Here is a super crappy photo I took of that confused old man who thinks he’s Wake Forest’s mascot. And some cheerleaders.
I’m here at the ACC Tournament at Philip’s Arena because I care about basketball even if you don’t. Seriously guys, we’ve got a good chance of seeing another Duke/UNC matchup for the championship game of this tournament, and therefore the entire state of North Carolina is pissing themselves, Atlanta has a hometown team in the game, and no one anywhere is talking about it. I’ll never get used to a city with so much sports and so little interest.
Because I’m not really a sports writer, I might as well dispel any notion of sportswriter professionalism and go ahead and admit I’m a UNC fan, and that’s who I’m here to see. But I’m dedicated to covering Tech as far as they make it, which will probably be until about 11 p.m. tonight, at which time they will most likely lose to Miami (sorry Tech - I hope it’s not true, I really do).
But apparently the ACC takes me for not-really-a-sports-writer as well, because they didn’t get me my own seat on press row, which means I have to squat in a seat that’s not mine, which means I probably won’t get to see any of the UNC games I’m here for, because that, along with Duke, is who everyone is really here to see (in 2009, when FSU beat UNC in the semifinal, the journalists around me were palpably upset, not because like me they lurve UNC but because they’d already written the lede for their Duke/UNC championship matchup story and they didn’t want to have to think of something else).
First up: Wake Forest just crapped out completely against Maryland. At half time they were fairly evenly matched with Wake at 31 and Maryland at 36, but six minutes into the second half, Maryland had scored 20 more points and Wake had only scored 4. They never recovered, with a final score of 60-82. It’s too bad. Wake cheerleaders have by far the best outfits.
Here are some things I’ve noticed since last time I covered the tournament, which took place three years ago at the Georgia Dome:
1. The ACC gave me a seat that time. That was awesome.
2. The bands have changed somewhat in their choice of ditties. Last time Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” was a favorite. Cee-Lo is now quite popular, which amuses my fellow sports reporters a lot (tee-hee!! The F word!).
3. The ratio of men to women reporters has not changed much.
So we’ll see how it goes. If I can’t get a place to sit and see the games for much of the time I may crap out about when Tech craps out, but I hope not. You can bet those other reporters won’t be telling you anything about the confused, old man mascots, or the chill of pure evil that settles over a room when Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski enters a room, or the sad, confused crowds (you should have seen those nice Virginians on Marta!! They looked terrified!!).