Don’t skimp on the confetti
Published 1:00 am Saturday, March 23, 2024
- Big Red makes a “confetti angel” on the floor after WKU won the conference championship in 2013. Friday’s game with 2nd seed Marquette was WKU’s 24th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2013.
It’s March Madness and I am lost. Not lost like the Big Blue Nation fans are after their 80-76 loss at the hands of the hot, three-shooting of Oakland’s Jack Gohlke. I am lost because I am not on the baseline with cameras pointed toward armpits and refs’ rears.
As I watched the University of Kentucky make an early exit from the NCAA Tournament, I wasn’t focused on the lack of defense, coaching or clock management, nor the 6th year senior putting on a shooting clinic with 10 3-pointers. I was watching the baseline crammed with photographers stacked three deep moving their cameras in unison with the action on the court.
I counted at least 8 of the roughly 24 shooters that I knew, had worked with or shot beside in years’ past. As Tracy would yell at the TV screen “did you see that!?,” I would have to admit, I missed the play because I was trying to see what the shooters were pointing their cameras at or what cameras and lenses they were wielding.
I am jealous, but a little bit relieved that during this March Madness I am just a fan watching from afar. I am used to being “hoops blind and basketball deaf” after shooting 31 games in 9 days during my sports heyday.
It would start with the shooting the Sun Belt Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the Daily News, the Sun Belt and the Associated Press, then driving all night to get to Diddle Arena for the start of the KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 for the paper and the AP.
After the championship game in Little Rock, I would make my way up to the rafters to retrieve my strobes (lights) and remote cameras, hurriedly haul tens of thousand of dollars of gear to the floor, then pack up and leave as the confetti was being swept up. It was a strain each season – the older I got the longer the drive back to Bowling Green seemed.
I didn’t even stop by the house to see my basketball-widowed wife, I just drove straight to Diddle to do battle for space with the cheerleaders on the baseline. Looking back on it, I really miss being where the action and excitement are. That’s why I shoot, to be in the thick of things … to witness history.
My time behind the desk has made me long for being in the trenches again, especially for March Madness. Looking at Grace Ramey’s visual coverage of the Hilltoppers and hearing Jeff Nations’ grousing about the logistics and travel woes of tournament time are music to my ears. If I can’t be on the floor, which is the best seat and the only way I will watch a basketball game, I’ll have to settle for streaming on my laptop or following Jeff and Grace on X (formerly Twitter).
As I pound the keys of my laptop knocking out this column, the Hilltoppers are getting ready to battle Marquette in the first round of the “Big Dance” in Indy. My deadline keeps me from writing with certainty that the Hilltoppers pulled an Oakland and sent a higher seed packing. I am hopeful however, and will be rooting for the Steve Lutz-led Hilltoppers to take it a step further than they already have by winning an NCAA tourney game. That would be icing on the cake for the first year coach and a fan base that deserves it.
When the Hilltoppers punched their ticket to the Big Dance, my son shared a photo of Big Red laying on the hardwood making a “confetti angel” after their last conference title 11 years ago. That post of one of my favorite photos I have taken was the idea for this week’s column.
Grace made a similar photo last week when WKU won the CUSA title but the conference looked like they skimped on the confetti budget. If they had put a little more in the celebration coffers, the photo would have been the same. Just like WKU passing the torch onto Lutz, Grace now carries the photo torch for the Daily News. I couldn’t think of a better photojournalist to take up where I left off.
– Daily News General Manager Joe Imel can be reached at (270) 783-3273 or via email at joe.imel@bgdailynews.com.