By Rachel Royster | Editor-in-Chief
I’ve been in band most of my life, which translates to a whole lot of football games. Up until this year, football has left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand it, it was just that I didn’t care for it. With this year being my first not in the marching band, having the freedom to come and go as I please was a game changer for my outlook on the sport. All season, I’ve been joking back and forth with the sports editor about pulling up a chair to the media table for a game — on Saturday, I did just that.
The only thing I was told going into the matchup was not to wear black, since that’s what fans would be wearing, and not to eat before we got there. Not much as far as instructions, so I felt like I was flying blind.
Given that I’d already ignored half of the guidelines by having a big lunch at Jess Soul Food, I made sure not to show my bias towards the Bears by not wearing black like the rest of the stadium would be for the blackout night game. I left my house around 3:30 p.m. to weave my way around roadblocks towards the newsroom, where I met up with the rest of the sports guys.
We piled into two cars around 4:15 p.m. and drove over to the media lot. The light-hearted banter between the photographer, the sports editor, one of the sports writers and I quickly put my worries at bay as we walked across MLK to the media entrance. When the warm air of the media room hit me; the excitement did too. Once my bag was checked and tagged by security, I was handed my first Baylor Athletics press credential. The fun was just about to begin.
Just under two hours before kick-off, my eyes widened at the sight of the buffet table whose reputation precedes itself. The rest of the Lariat team and I set our things down at our assigned station in the press box and made haste towards the aromatic meal set out for us by the Baylor Club. We sat down, plates loaded with fajitas, tacos, chips, queso and guacamole, and enjoyed our meal together with our hopes piled as high as our plates were.
As students, fans and alumni all donned in black filed into McLane, we wandered down to the field to get a feel for the electric energy the crowd beamed down onto the turf. I said hello to a couple familiar faces in the band and the stands before finding my way back up to the top floor of the stadium. The sun was setting, the windows were opening and kick-off ensued after the Golden Wave Band and the Baylor Line set the stage for the green and gold. My view of it all was stunning.
I sat between Michael Haag, the Lariat sports editor tasked with writing a recap for the Lariat, tweeting to his personal twitter with game updates and his five key takeaways for the Dallas Morning News, and Mr. Gietzen, director of student media, who takes note of key moments in the game and helps us keep an eye out for important details over the course of the contest. My only responsibility was to take it all in and update the Baylor Lariat socials at the end of each quarter.
The Kansas State Wildcats tacked on touchdown after touchdown, and a loud quiet settled over the press, even when a glimmer of hope reappeared at Baylor’s field goal. Bogged down by the Bears’ offensive deficiency, I went down to the field and the concourse to check the pulse of the crowd. Spirits were about as low as anticipated, but as a majority of the sellout attendees dissipated, I did sight a student section bench facetiously being carried out.
By the time I’d made my way back up to the press box at the middle of the fourth quarter, it was about time to collect our things and go down to the interview room built into the field level of McLane. At the end of the night, listening to players and head coach Dave Aranda with the Lariat sports guys, I had a sense of pride in all that they do week after week across all athletic contests. Fifth-year senior linebacker Dillon Doyle said it best when talking about the family feel that forms between teammates.
“I love those guys to death, and would rather be on no other team, even tonight,” Doyle said.
