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MEDIA ANNOYANCE With audio recorders in hand, media members relentlessly hassle players for comments and quotes. This daily occurance results in varied responses from the Bulldog players. Ah, sports Journalists. We’re an odd bunch. We’re first In line at the food buffet at news conferences and last to leave the stadiums after games. We’re the first to break the news of latest the inju ry on Twitter and last to turn in our stories at dead line. We’re glued to our lap tops and our phones are permanently attached to our palms, sending texts messages and e-mails to our editors throughout the day. Sports information directors who coordi nate interviews and photos between the media, play ers and coaches herd us like cattle up and down the stairs, to and from the practice fields and locker rooms. We rush around as if the sports world is going to suddenly stop spinning and we won’t be able to scoop our competition or get the quote we need for our next story. We swarm coaches and players like bees to honey as soon as they enter the room and force-feed them our audio recorders. We run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to ensure we talk to the biggest playmaker of the game to deliver the best, most reliable news to readers. We chew on the ends of our pens after games and talk about how we would have called the game dif ferently had we been on the sidelines since we’re all experts. And when we're making our way into the locker room for post game interviews, it’s like the running of the bulls. “It is kinda crazy and hectic, but I guess being a football player or an ath lete growing up and stuff you learn to deal with it,” quarterback-tumed-wide receiver Logan Gray said. ’’Especially pretty much everybody here at Georgia came from big-time high school programs or had a lot of success in high ohi gpF y|| mm Si ®i ’ Jglj# ' • r .M^ i,,,; r lv > ?;'.' J 706-542-3243 or 800-877-3243 m / de.advisor@georgiacenteruga.edu HK’IHhI *y* The University of Georgia ® iJLi . Center for Continuing Education ' ™ yWM m independent and distance learning CLASSES THAT FIT Via Web bated • Correspondence TOW SCHEDULE 1197 South Lumpkin Street * Athens, Georgia 30602-3603 Got a pet? Come see us! UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA y College of Veterinary Medicine Community Practice Clinic • A full-service veterinary clinic for all small animals • Conveniently located on campus • Reasonably priced for students on a budget 0 Annual checkups 0 Dentistry 0 Treatment for minor injury 0 Nutritional consultation or sickness and pet food purchases M/KF 0 Preventative health care 0 Emergencies i m 0 Vaccinations ■Hf? First visit? Bring this ad and receive a ‘ FREE sample of puppy or kitten food! V/ob vct.uyß.cdu/CPC j jflMft Rachel G. school... it's not like you’re dealing with it for the first time so I think that’s one of the main things that makes it a lot easier when you got 20 cameras in your face and people asking you ques tions.” We flock to 19-year-old Aaron Murray after a game and shove a bazillion microphones, audio recorders and cameras in his face. We ask him about the production of his team mates, why he threw that interception when he did, if he tliinks a freshman running back will get car ries in practice that week and how he is handling the pressure of being the start ing quarterback. “Obviously when you play quarterback, you get a lot more credit than you deserve when things go right and you get a lot more blame whenever things go bad so there’s always gonna be questions and stuff because you’re the quarter back." Gray said. “You’re looked at as the leader of the offense and a lot of WHITE time the leader of the team. You’re gonna be fielding a lot of questions.” We repeat, rephrase and re-ask the same question 17 different ways, hoping a player or coach at the receiving end trips up and spits out an answer he probably shouldn’t. “I think that some of the ‘annoying’ parts about dealing with the media is not just having to meet with them, but some of the questions that you actually receive and just sometimes you don’t even really wanna respond,” Gray said. “Just kind of shake your head or something like that.” Among all the craziness of weekly news conferenc FIRST & GOtAL • 'lip |jr | m § | Wamm Smim * ■ FILE t TANARUS Reu * Black ▲ Redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Murray (center) is hounded by the media more than any other member of the football team, though he deals with the frenzy in a good-natured manner. es, daily practices and post-game interviews, we get to capture the moments in which players and coaches show their personalities ip their pur est forms. Tight end Aaron White is infamous for his silly antics with the media. The Columbia. Mo., native will stick his phone in with the rest of the media’s audio recorders, pretend ing he is recording the interview, and ask his teammate questions before sitting down for an interview of his own. Wide receiver Tavarres King is known for the same kind of shenanigans. "Some of the questions we get, I know guys get caught off guard, so I like to go in and make them laugh and make sure that the relations are good with the media,” White said. Though safety Bacarri Ram bo said he crosses his fingers hoping his name doesn’t get called to talk to the media after practic es and games he has gotten used to coming up the elevator of the Butts- Mehre building to meet with the media in the hall way on a regular basis. "I like coming up here. I just like opening up and Just talking,” Ram bo said. “At first when I first got here I just didn’t like to talk. I was shy. I didn’t know what to say. But now since I done got older and mature, I just say what’s on my mind and just speak good about everyone. I don’t say nothing bad. I try to keep things funny. I like to make people laugh and smile, too.” Running back Washaun Ealey said after he emerged as an offensive playmaker and got over the initial shock of having to deal with the media's hounding that dealing with the media tomfoolery has gotten easier. “Before I came up here, I didn’t really know what it was like, but then I had , a nd °Pm n sweet ipeppersl : ■ __ ’ ' DELI: • • sandwiches, paninis, wraps, nachos, soups, loaded potatoes BL Come out and watch the! jk games with us on our ! pr SCREEN in our parking j lot! Game is inside too! j fBEER SPECIALS downtown corner of ; 1 pgp $2 \ % Broad and Pulaski : |f D 'ifc , c ■ (Nsxt to Qameday ! yL.* 1 Condominiums! • Terra Din $3 s 296 w * Droad : ~ M V 706.354.6728 j The Rkd a Black | Friday, November 5, aoio [ started coming up here constantly and it kinda got overwhelming, kinda got a little aggravating. I didn't really wanna walk all the way up here,” Ealey said. “But I guess just letting Bulldog Nation know what’s going on at practice and what’s going on with the guys, I guess it’s good.” Linebacker Christian Robinson said taking time out to do interviews can be "a little bit stressful” just because of the rigors of a football player’s schedule, but the redshirt sopho more said he likes being a voice for his team. “A lot of times during the week, it’s just work and for [White and King] to joke around and mess around and people to see our personalities we’re not just dumb football players,” Robinson said. “There’s a lot of very smart people on this team and a lot of funny people and being able to get outside Just putting a helmet on and throwing a ball around I wish people would see that a little bit more.” When personalities shine through and when we get to know the player underneath the uniform those are the story lines that make all of this hoop la worth it. “As good of people we can be, all the good we can do, it doesn’t matter what people think at the end of the day because every body’s not gonna be around to see that in Athens, Ga.,” White said. “It’s how you guys portray us, so I think it’s good to have a healthy relationship with the media and always be presentable and always come across as a good pro gram and a good person.” Rachel G. Bowers is the First & Goal editor for The Red & Black 5B