Just One of the Guys: My Trip Into the Nets’ Locker Room and Beyond
There would be no new tattoo-planning for me on Friday night. When I finally found my way down to the media room, I was greeted by the scene of about twenty or thirty seasoned sports writers and photographers, helping themselves to the dinner buffet that the Barclays Center provided for the cost of $10. It was all you could eat and they were offering shrimp gumbo and a bourbon bread pudding, but I skipped the food because it was only 5:30 and just had coffee to drink, which was free. A lot of the other press seemed to know each other and sat together and talked about basketball. I sat alone and started to read the press packet provided by the Nets but then put it down because it was too much to memorize and wasn’t really what I was there to talk to them about anyway.
What I was there to talk to the Nets about was simple, really. I was there to ask them the sort of fun and frivolous questions that are most associated with teen magazines. There were questions like “What’s your ideal soundtrack for a night out?” and “What’s your signature drink?” and “Are you superstitious on game days?” and
“What’s your idea of the perfect first date?” Fun, right? But I started to get nervous. Because everyone else here was only going to be talking to them about basketball. And things that were, you know, pertinent to the game that was about to be played.
When a guy sitting near me wearing a Columbia Journalism School sweatshirt and a plaid baseball cap leaned over and asked me, “You don’t usually write about sports, do you?” I laughed and then he laughed and he said, “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”
I wasn’t so sure.
That’s when the really nice P.R. guy said I could come with him to the locker room.