The Carroll News offers countless opportunities to those willing to step out of their comfort zone. With the help of the student newspaper, I was able to acquire a media pass with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Through this avenue, I can apply for media credentials on a game-by-game basis.

So far, I have had the honor of acquiring media passes for two games, both of which were games against rebuilding teams, the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. There are only so many spots available when it comes to the media passes, so when a good team comes to town, the slots fill up instantly with people from ESPN, TNT, etc. Although the games I covered are not as highly regarded, the experience I gained in this short span is substantial.

This is an opportunity that I want to share with other students and I think the most beneficial way to highlight this experience is to provide a play-by-play of the game against the Pistons and to share how other students can apply for this unique opportunity.

I started my day by arriving two and a half hours early at the arena, right when the media entrance opened. The staff checked my laptop bag, gave me my personal media access lanyard and also gave me a voucher for a free meal from any stand in the arena. I quickly weaved through the crowd of workers setting up for the game and made my way to the staff elevators that took me to the Event Level. From there, I walked to the Fred McLeod Media Room, which is situated in the tunnel near the players’ locker room, to get comfortable before the pregame interview with the Cavs’ head coach, JB Bickerstaff.

While setting up my laptop to look at pregame notes on the media website, I got to introduce myself to fellow reporters and help myself to the free popcorn and refreshments the team provides for media members. About five minutes out from the interview, I headed to the Media Workroom which is attached to the Media Room. This workroom is where all the pregame and postgame interviews are held. I took my seat and looked over my notes and questions on the chance I got the opportunity to speak.

Sitting in a room with so many professionals and well-known Cavs media members was surreal. I sat next to Cavs legend Austin Carr as well as Cavs Sideline reporter Serena Winters. I kept telling myself to pay attention to these professionals to learn from the very best in this business.

When Coach Bickerstaff arrived for the interview, well-known reporters like Winters were called on to ask questions about the players’ health statuses, opponents and overall game strategy. Although I did not get called on to ask Coach Bickerstaff a question, it was a great learning experience. For example, I learned that when you get called on, it is the expectation that you will have a follow-up question ready to go once your first question is answered.

Once the pregame interview was finished, I headed back up the elevator to the Street Level to go find my seat for the game. The Cavs offer everyone with a media pass a free ticket to section M104, the reserved media seats section. This section boasts personal TVs so you can watch another game or sport but I ultimately decided to have it set to the channel with real time updates on the game’s statistics. I was able to watch both teams warm up after grabbing a quick bite to eat and before I knew it, it was game time.

The actual game experience is not much different from attending as a fan. However, after every quarter, a member of the media personnel would print out a sheet detailing stats from the game. This was nice to have, as it was very easy to compare quarter to quarter what was happening in the game.

The Cavs were able to weather a valiant effort from the Pistons to secure the victory. With everyone in great spirits, I headed back down to the Media Room to prepare for Coach Bickerstaff’s postgame interview. After the interview with him, I stayed put in my seat as we were expecting one of the Cavs players to enter the Media Room next for their interview.

Luckily for me, we were allowed to go into the locker room to interview various players. This is something that is usually not allowed for people with game-by-game media passes like me, so I did not take it for granted. I was able to hang around all of the players as they cracked jokes and talked about the game. After sitting in on the interviews of Sam Merrill, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, my media experience had come to a close and it was time to call it a night.

This experience was everything I dreamed it would be and I eagerly await the next game I get approved for a media pass.