SPOKANE, Wash. — One year ago today is a day I’ll simply never forget.
Midway through the day the NCAA announced that the Tournament was canceled, culminating a 48 hour period that changed the world forever.
I was in the center of the college basketball universe-- at least in the center of the west coast’s college basketball universe-- Las Vegas, for that time span.
Before all the craziness of March Madness begins in a few days, I want to take today to talk about what it was like to be in the middle of last year’s version of March Madness.
I think to really illustrate the picture, you actually have to back track to March 10th. That was when Gonzaga won the WCC Tournament.
You look at this now and you wonder what exactly everyone was thinking. Shoulder to shoulder on the court, not a care in the world and celebrating. Not knowing that the world would be turned upside down shortly there after.
The next day brought a slew of announcements of fans being banned or limited from sporting events.
That day I was covering Washington State in the Pac-12 Tournament and by the time the game tipped, I was fairly convinced that by the next day there wouldn’t just not only be fans in the stands at T-Mobile Arena, there wouldn’t be any games either.
Of course, I was right.
The next morning though was when things really got crazy, and I had a pretty unique experience.
I woke up early to do live shots for our morning show. When I got to the plaza outside of T-Mobile, I noticed that I was the only journalist there. I also noticed workers outside starting to take down Pac-12 Tournament decorations. It was about 6:15 in the morning, and I knew this was an awful sign.
What was even more ominous to me though was that as I set up for my live shot, a security guard came out and told me I wasn’t able to shoot my live shot where I was because I was on private property. The night before dozens of TV stations had been in the plaza and had had no problems. That’s when I knew there was a really an issue.
I tried to move across the street and was instructed that I was still on a private sidewalk. Shortly there after, I was asked to leave the premises entirely.
An hour later I went back to T-Mobile to ask when they were going to allow media back into the arena—which never happened because the Pac-12 Tournament was canceled shortly thereafter. I had a conversation during that time though that I haven’t forgotten.
As I left T-Mobile I started talking with a worker taking down Pac-12 Tournament paraphernalia. He told me that that was what he did for a living- setting up and tearing down events in Vegas. We chatted for about 15-20 minutes about the uncertainty of the future.
I often wonder about him and what happened in the months after, as his livelihood was most certainly taken away from him. I was able to get on a plane that day and continue to do my job. His job? Well, I can’t imagine he had many gigs for awhile.
So many lives were changed that day, but I think we all too often forget about people like him. The people who make the events possible that we so yearn to go to now. The people who provide the sweat so we can work up a sweat cheering.
So that guy-- That’s who I’m thinking of today, and hoping that he’ll have a lot more events to set up in just a few months.