I’m not remotely sure how to describe the press box. Awesome, would definitely have to be the first word that came to mind. Loud, would certainly have to be another.
As I waited outside the press entrance on 6th street, I watched as Matt Smaby, Mike McKenna, and another Tampa Bay player stepped out of a taxi and walk into the Verizon Center. (Now you know you have it bad when you can recognize the opposing team in their civvies).
Corey met me outside, and took me downstairs to get my press pass from Paul Rovnak. Ok, I know I was only there “shadowing”, but my pass said:
Catie Kinlein
The Washington Times
…and I’m not going to lie, I felt kind of official. In the press lounge, we put our bags down, and Corey introduced me to everyone. Joe Beninati was by far the funniest. “I love your pants!” was the first thing that he said to me. “We match!” was the second. He squatted next to my chair and held his coat sleeve up to my leg. Our clothes did not look even remotely alike, except that they were both somewhat striped. As he walked away, everyone laughed, and I heard Tarik say, “You’ve got to love JoeB.”
The first thing we did was head to the locker room for a pre-game interview of Bruce Boudreau. Afterwards we had dinner in the press lounge (yum…pasta!). Then we headed up to the press box.
It was enormous, and not at all like I envisioned. I don’t know why I thought it would be old men sitting around the tables smoking cigars; I have certainly sat in the nosebleeds enough times to know that is not true. Maybe I have seen too many baseball movies?
The box was long, and had two levels. The top was for all the people with cameras, and the lover level was for the writers. We walked down a few steps, and there, in from of me was a chair…with my name on it (literally!). Well I got to feeling all official again, especially when I was included in the handing out of all papers.
I suppose the novelty has worn off for most, but for me, it was unbelievable. I got to meet media people from every aspect of the field, and there was hockey everywhere. Not only were we watching the Capitals game, but several people I noticed had Gametracker up, and were keeping tabs on various college games (the NCAA Frozen Four is at the Verizon Center in April, YAY!).
I did however, feel a little out of place when the game starting and no one was cheering. I am first and foremost a fan, and I’m afraid it showed a little. I twitched at the first few goals, but I managed to pass the twitches off as chills (it was kind of cool in there). I was able to get my twitching under control by the second period, helped partly by the fact that we did not score.
I was glad to see that a few people were heated about the Brooks Laich no-goal. Many were grumbling as the replays came on the TVs in front of us, and you could pick out all of the Tampa Bay writers by the uncomfortable looks on their faces.
After the game was over, we rode down the elevator and I tried to keep up with Corey as he literally sprinted to the locker room. When we got there, everyone was already swarming around Brian Pothier (who wouldn’t? The man scored his first goal since being out for 15 months, and not to mention it was the game winner), so we wound up standing at the back of the giant, sweating, media huddle. Actually, let me correct myself, I stood at the back as Corey worked his way to someplace where he could see and hear Brian.
The locker room was not what I expected wither. It was smaller, and although it was crowded, I somehow expected more people to be there. The media member to player ratio was about 47:1, and with only two players in the room at a time. It was a little hectic as we stood waiting for the PR guys to bring players in. There was a commotion as Ovie walked into the room, and I heard the same questions being asked over and over again as Ovie looked bored.
New players were ushered into the room, and the media’s attention shifted focus. A sea of cameras and microphone’s surrounded Mike Green and Nick Backstrom as I watched Ovie sneak off to the showers.
After completing interviews with the sweaty players, we headed back to the lounge, and into the interview room. As I sat down in the back (once again) a man walked up to me and said, “Oh, so you’re Catie from the post!”
“Uhhh…what?” I gave him a confused look.
“He squinted at my tag and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, from the times. Nice to meet you,” and turned around in his chair.
Whoa. Did I just get mistaken for a real reporter? My official feeling significantly increased, and I smiled to my-self.
Bruce diligently answered questions, and joked with the media. We went back to the lounge, and I watched Corey write and blog for a half hour, as we chatted amiably about the days events.
When I walked outside, it was raining, but that couldn’t put a damper on my spirits and I realized how cool my experience just was; thank you Corey, thanks a lot.
As I waited outside the press entrance on 6th street, I watched as Matt Smaby, Mike McKenna, and another Tampa Bay player stepped out of a taxi and walk into the Verizon Center. (Now you know you have it bad when you can recognize the opposing team in their civvies).
Corey met me outside, and took me downstairs to get my press pass from Paul Rovnak. Ok, I know I was only there “shadowing”, but my pass said:
Catie Kinlein
The Washington Times
…and I’m not going to lie, I felt kind of official. In the press lounge, we put our bags down, and Corey introduced me to everyone. Joe Beninati was by far the funniest. “I love your pants!” was the first thing that he said to me. “We match!” was the second. He squatted next to my chair and held his coat sleeve up to my leg. Our clothes did not look even remotely alike, except that they were both somewhat striped. As he walked away, everyone laughed, and I heard Tarik say, “You’ve got to love JoeB.”
The first thing we did was head to the locker room for a pre-game interview of Bruce Boudreau. Afterwards we had dinner in the press lounge (yum…pasta!). Then we headed up to the press box.
It was enormous, and not at all like I envisioned. I don’t know why I thought it would be old men sitting around the tables smoking cigars; I have certainly sat in the nosebleeds enough times to know that is not true. Maybe I have seen too many baseball movies?
The box was long, and had two levels. The top was for all the people with cameras, and the lover level was for the writers. We walked down a few steps, and there, in from of me was a chair…with my name on it (literally!). Well I got to feeling all official again, especially when I was included in the handing out of all papers.
I suppose the novelty has worn off for most, but for me, it was unbelievable. I got to meet media people from every aspect of the field, and there was hockey everywhere. Not only were we watching the Capitals game, but several people I noticed had Gametracker up, and were keeping tabs on various college games (the NCAA Frozen Four is at the Verizon Center in April, YAY!).
I did however, feel a little out of place when the game starting and no one was cheering. I am first and foremost a fan, and I’m afraid it showed a little. I twitched at the first few goals, but I managed to pass the twitches off as chills (it was kind of cool in there). I was able to get my twitching under control by the second period, helped partly by the fact that we did not score.
I was glad to see that a few people were heated about the Brooks Laich no-goal. Many were grumbling as the replays came on the TVs in front of us, and you could pick out all of the Tampa Bay writers by the uncomfortable looks on their faces.
After the game was over, we rode down the elevator and I tried to keep up with Corey as he literally sprinted to the locker room. When we got there, everyone was already swarming around Brian Pothier (who wouldn’t? The man scored his first goal since being out for 15 months, and not to mention it was the game winner), so we wound up standing at the back of the giant, sweating, media huddle. Actually, let me correct myself, I stood at the back as Corey worked his way to someplace where he could see and hear Brian.
The locker room was not what I expected wither. It was smaller, and although it was crowded, I somehow expected more people to be there. The media member to player ratio was about 47:1, and with only two players in the room at a time. It was a little hectic as we stood waiting for the PR guys to bring players in. There was a commotion as Ovie walked into the room, and I heard the same questions being asked over and over again as Ovie looked bored.
New players were ushered into the room, and the media’s attention shifted focus. A sea of cameras and microphone’s surrounded Mike Green and Nick Backstrom as I watched Ovie sneak off to the showers.
After completing interviews with the sweaty players, we headed back to the lounge, and into the interview room. As I sat down in the back (once again) a man walked up to me and said, “Oh, so you’re Catie from the post!”
“Uhhh…what?” I gave him a confused look.
“He squinted at my tag and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, from the times. Nice to meet you,” and turned around in his chair.
Whoa. Did I just get mistaken for a real reporter? My official feeling significantly increased, and I smiled to my-self.
Bruce diligently answered questions, and joked with the media. We went back to the lounge, and I watched Corey write and blog for a half hour, as we chatted amiably about the days events.
When I walked outside, it was raining, but that couldn’t put a damper on my spirits and I realized how cool my experience just was; thank you Corey, thanks a lot.
Wow, I'm impressed. Congrats on going with a good republican newspaper btw lol. I'm going to stop typing now before I go all conservative on you, but wow, this is really cool.
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