Saturday, March 4, 2017

On The Beat With The DePaul Blue Demons

I graduated from DePaul University 30 years ago (in June).  I attended several DePaul games then and more over the years, but none was quite like the game I attended last Saturday.
I was not sitting in the student section.  I was not sitting in the regular fan section either.  I was sitting in Press Row.  I was sitting two seats to the left of the north end basket!  This was going to be cool.
My recap of the day is on the Patch at On The Beat With The DePaul Blue Demons.  It is also the subject of my latest online contribution to Global Traveler,
Here though, I want to go beyond the numbers and the box score.  I'm going to discuss the giddy kid in me sitting almost on the basketball court.
This strikes me deep from two ends.  First, as a lifelong sports fan, it was so cool to sit this close to the action.  I even got my hands on the ball twice, when it came sailing into the press table.  Much like the feeling of standing on a Major League Baseball field, I couldn't believe I was so near an NCAA court.
Actually, I was even on the court prior to the game.  I talked to a few of the players, along with DePaul Coach Dave Leitao and Seton Hall Coach Kevin Willard.
The other part of this coolness was that I was actually part of the Press.  This never ceases to amaze me.  I always wanted to be a writer, but life took me in another direction.
I occasionally wrote a guest feature at Lerner Newspapers.  I also wrote a couple articles for Global Traveler magazine and became a regular online writer for GT.  I started a blogsite and also begane writing for other sites (like The Patch, WrestlingFigs, TruSchool Sports and more).  Somehow, it all seems to add up to a decent resume.  At least it adds up to enough to get media credentials.
So there I was with my media crednetials sitting in Press Row.  It really doesn't get much better.  Thank you to DePaul University for their hospitality.

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