I Got Media Credentials!

For many years, I have applied and been rejected for media credentials for the Oscars and Academy Awards. The Washington Nationals regularly ignore all of my requests too. My brother-in-law suggested that I go even bigger by applying for the Super Bowl, World Cup, and Olympics. My response was that maybe I should go local, so I submitted my application for a George Mason University men's basketball game. And I got approved!

On Wednesday evening, I drove to the George Mason University campus, parked in the special parking lot (away from the commoners in general parking), and entered the arena. Except that I went to the wrong door. I got stopped by security entering with my iPad, and when I said I was a media member, I was directed to another door with a clearly marked media member entrance sign. This time, I was all good and received my media badge. I was then directed to press row where I introduced myself to the Sports Information Director. He showed me my assigned seat which ended up being directly behind the Duquesne broadcasting team. There was good and bad to this. The positive was that the seat was amazing, and I could clearly hear the Duquesne coaches. I also got this inside look at a message that likely aired on the Duquesne broadcast. Happy Birthday Dan Unico!

The negative was that Duquesne head coach Dru Joyce III blocked my view throughout the game!

I was seated next to Jason, a communications major with a concentration in journalism who is graduating from George Mason this spring and writes for Mid-Major Basketball. Jason was incredibly helpful, and I enjoyed talking with him. I wish him lots of luck in the future and hope he makes it in sports journalism. I also introduced myself to the guy to the right of me at halftime since it was loud during commercial breaks. I said my name is Sean, and I shook his hand. He never told me his name (maybe he said hi?), and that was the extent of our conversation. 

There was a media room filled with water, soft drinks, and snacks. I got a bottle of water, a bag of Chex Mix (which will be part of Thursday's lunch) and a bag of Pirate's Booty. By the way, why is there only one Pirate's Booty? I guess he worked alone when he found the popcorn treasure. Seems more likely that the pirate was with others during the popcorn discovery, so it should be Pirates' Booty!

I guess I should probably share some thoughts about the game. George Mason was 20-2 entering Wednesday and were undefeated at home. With Duquesne winning 71-65, is it my fault that Mason's first home loss was the first time I had media credentials? I better not share this with Coach Tony Skinn or the SID!

Duquesne has a player named John Hugley IV who seemed really familiar (and really big in person). It's because he spent three years at Pitt. His first season was 2020-2021, so he is now in his sixth year of playing college basketball!

I really enjoyed getting the official basketball box score print-outs at halftime and after the game. In this case, the stats didn't lie. Duquesne made 16-21 free throws compared to 8-15 for George Mason. Duquesne had 9 turnovers compared to Mason's 17, which Duquesne turned into 25 points. That's the game. 

I attended the postgame press conference, and Coach Skinn was not happy with the team's turnovers and play to end the game. Mason was up 65-61with less than 2 minutes remaining, and Duquesne finished on a 10-0 run. Speaking of the press conference, I asked one question (at the 8:30 mark) about the status of Kory Mincy who left the game briefly due to an injured finger. I sounded really nervous since I was. 

Tony Skinn played on George Mason's Final Four team and is in his third season as the men's basketball coach. Being in the DC area for many years, I wanted to ask him about his thoughts about The Washington Post disbanding its sports coverage. The press conference ended immediately after he concluded answering the final question in the video, so I didn't have the opportunity.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. I don't think I embarrassed myself, and I was professional by making sure not to cheer and by introducing myself to "colleagues" and thanking the SID for the opportunity. While I would definitely do this again, I prefer attending Mason basketball games with my kids. Although our seats are significantly worse, it's a fun activity being able to see quality basketball close to home together as a family.  

Random Ramblings: March 2024

* Six-year-old Luigi is playing baseball for the first time this spring. While he is using his brothers' old helmet and bat, he got a brand new glove as well as a cup. He is completely fascinated by wearing a cup and keeps calling it his "penis cup." Fortunately, he is only using this name in the house.

* Based on the Pittsburgh Steelers off-season acquisitions, I planned a blog post about the team's 2024 soundtrack. The post was going to start with two Wilson Pickett songs in honor of the Steelers quarterback combination of Russell Wilson and Kenny Pickett. Of course, the Steelers traded Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles making the entire post moot. I guess I need the Steelers to hire retired quarterback Philip Rivers as a member of the coaching staff or organization and sign wide receiver Phillip Dorsett from the Denver Broncos so that I can created a new playlist featuring this song:

* I haven't mentioned Lucy very much since we got her in September. She constantly wakes us up around 5:00 AM but waited until around 6:00 the first few days after we moved the clocks forward. That ended. We're back to her waking us up at 5:00 again.

* I'm really happy for the Duquesne men's basketball team winning the Atlantic-10 tournament and reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977. The team hasn't been very good for most of my lifetime, so the Duquesne fans and graduates deserve to celebrate.

* Fun fact: Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot's son Robbie Dambrot plays for the Loudoun United soccer team.

* There is now a hawk living on our street. Oh, it's not Dominique Wilkins. I don't know when the hawk moved in, but our neighbor noticed him/her on Saturday. I'm now completely fascinated by this and really want to get some pictures and videos. This is my second attempt which isn't terrible. 

* The best view of the hawk would probably be from my kids' bedroom per the picture above of Lucy looking out the window. With the nice weather recently, the cherry blossoms have started to bloom almost earlier than ever blocking any possible view of the nest. This is clearly a first-world problem since the cherry blossoms on my street are beautiful and don't last more than two weeks. 

Sean On Sports

I root for multiple college basketball teams. My favorite team is the University of Pittsburgh based on following them while growing up in Pittsburgh. I’ve probably written about this before, but I also support The Ohio State University, San Diego State University, George Mason University, University of Rhode Island, and several others to a lesser degree. One of those other teams is Duquesne University based on growing up in Pittsburgh and knowing people who graduated from there. It’s nice seeing the team doing so well at 7-0 to start the season, and I think their annual game against Pitt should be outstanding this year. Oh but they aren’t playing this year. I know Pitt has won 29 of 30 or some ridiculous number, but it’s a travesty that these two teams aren’t playing.

DC area pizza chain, Paisano's needs to find new athletes to be in their ads. Take a look at this picture.

Santana Moss has been out of the NFL since 2014. Josh Doctson was recently released...by the Minnesota Vikings. André Burakovsky plays for the Colorado Avalanche. That's three of the five guys on this ad. No Nationals even after they just won the World Series? What about someone on the Wizards? The pizza company probably can’t afford Bradley Beal, but promising rookie Rui Hachimura would be good for them.

The Moose calls Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Devlin "Duck" Hodges, "The Duck." I don't think he's trying to be funny; I think he thinks the nickname really is The Duck.

Speaking of the Steelers, take a look at this:

* Ben Roethlisberger: 2 games started with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception
* James Conner: 8 games played with 390 yards (less than 50 a game) and 4 rushing TDs
* JuJu Smith-Schuster: 10 games played with 38 catches for 524 yards and 3 receiving TDs.
* Back-up QB Mason Rudolph got benched for an undrafted free agent.

If I told you all of this before the season, what would you think the Steelers record would be after 12 games? 3-9?

Even though I admit that I don’t follow the NBA that closely, it still seems extremely odd looking at the Western Conference standings (as of Wednesday morning) and seeing Golden State, San Antonio, and even Portland and Oklahoma City doing so poorly.

I’m a fan of Sheffield Wednesday in the English Championship League, one step down from the Premier League. I don’t have ESPN+, so I don’t get a chance to watch any of their games, but I follow along on Twitter to see whether or not they are winning. With that written, I don’t understand anything that is happening off the field. Apparently, the team (and/or owner) put the sale of the stadium as revenue for one season instead of for another season and this is bad. Now, the team may lose points or get relegated to English Football League One, which is the third tier. I’d love for some English football (soccer) expert to explain what’s going on and what might happen.

Finally, he Carolina Panthers fired long-time coach Ron Rivera with a month left in the season. From this ESPN article, Panthers owner David Tepper said the decision to fire Rivera now -- instead of letting the organization's winningest coach and a two-time NFL Coach of the Year finish the season -- was made so that Tepper could move forward with finding a replacement without going behind Rivera's back.

"I thought it was time,'' Tepper said. "Why specifically now is I was informed of other teams doing different types of searches out there, and I'm not going to start a search and not tell Ron Rivera I'm starting a search. Too good of a man.''

I don't buy this. Let Rivera finish the season. I'm sure that the owner could have told Rivera privately that he was going to hire a new coach after the season. Plus, is there really that big of a different starting a search now than in 3-4 weeks?

Duquesne's Exquisite Mustache

A few years ago, the winner of one of my fantasy football leagues asked that we donate to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh rather than to send him money. This was even tax-deductible! This donation also put me on Duquesne's mailing list, so I now receive the Duquesne University Magazine. I recently received the Winter 2016 edition which features a story about Ken Gormley, the School of Law Dean who will become the 13th President of Duquesne University in July.

I don't know anything about Gormley or his qualifications , and while we don't know much about anything here at Sean's Ramblings, we certainly know good mustaches. And Gormley has a solid 'stache.

While the magazine includes a section showing quotes from various figures such as U.S. Congressman Mike Doyle, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, Frank Coonelly, President of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, praising Gormley, none of these folks referenced Gormley's mustache or how his mustache is part of his leadership skills and abilities. I hope the Duquesne University Magazine has a separate feature once Gormley becomes President about his mustache.