Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Late Night Team Spirit

Continuing with our colleges of San Diego road tour. Moraga, California, is 20 miles, 20 years, and two climatic zones east of San Francisco. Moraga has a population of 16,000 rich white people and is home to St. Mary’s College of California, a small (2500 undergraduate students) Catholic university, member of the Western Athletic Conference, lately known for its successful basketball program.

Tonight, St Mary’s plays San Diego State University in the second game of ESPN’s experiment with national sleep deprivation, aka ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. The network will televise live college basketball continuously for the next 24-plus hours. Our game starts at 11:00 p.m. PST.

At this moment I’m being held in the penalty box of the St. Mary’s athletic department media relations office. Said office is located in a double-wide trailer, out the back door of McKeon Pavilion.

I’ve asked athletic department media relations guy, Rich Davi, for a press pass. He looked up from his desk, insulted that I would make such a request two hours before game-time. He says it’s very difficult to get a pass under these circumstances.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Yes, indeed, it’s probably true that a midnight Monday-night game in Moraga usually calls forth a throng of reporters. Davi asks me to take a seat in the trailer lobby. I do, and begin writing notes. Twenty minutes go by (about what I’d figured), and Davi appears and hands over a red press pass.

Normally I’d pay the $15 for a ticket. I’ve never liked all the palaver that the sports industrial complex requires in return for a lousy comp. Since I spend my time walking around the arena/stadium/playing field looking at the crowd, looking for a face, for a story, watching the game from every angle I can find, I have no need of a seat. But tonight, for the weirdly compelling reasons that it’s been so long since I’ve used a press pass, coupled with this festive made-for-TV occasion, I decide to acquire the certificate need or no.

And now it’s time to take a constitutional around campus. I love small colleges. No moon. Black sky. I walk past and through graceful Spanish colonial-style classrooms, student center, and chapel. Impossibly quiet.

I read what’s posted on bulletin boards. Here’s one: “Beyond Back and White, the 2009 Diversity Dance.” At the Marriott, of course. And another: “St. Mary’s College Dance Company is performing Altered States, Fabulous Shoes.” And let’s give it up for the winner of the most-depressing-sign-taped-on-an-office-door prize: “Career Options for Liberal and Civic Studies majors: Banker. City Manager. City Planner. Volunteer. Writer. Sales. International Sales. Law Enforcement. Lobbyist. Grant Writer. Real Estate…”

I return to the gym at 10:30. St. Mary’s students are here along with the inevitable cluster of males with bare torsos and bare faces painted red. On my right I spy ten SDSU fans. Two wear red wigs, one has donned a Vikings helmet with horns attached, one is inside a green Kermit the Frog–looking costume, and two have on SDSU jerseys.

Meet Marty Presser, 19, business-finance major. There are only two questions to ask. Why? How?

Presser says, “After the great game last year in the semifinals of the NIT and the game at the John Wooden Classic, we felt we had to come up. It’s a rivalry now; the games are great. We’ve got a good team this year. We’re excited to see them play.

“We left yesterday at 5:30 p.m., drove into the Bay Area at 2:30 in the morning. [We’ve been] hanging out with some friends, getting some good food, and playing some football. We’ve been here since 9 o’clock waiting for the doors to open.”

I say, “The game will be over by 1:00, 1:30. What then?”

“We’re driving straight home. My buddy has a midterm at 11:00. I got a midterm at 2 o’clock.”

I look over to the press section. Apparently they did find one seat for me at the last moment. No doubt the other 40 empty seats are filled in spirit.

Now comes the Aztecs team led by eight men in suits. Dear Reader, you don’t want to read about the game. San Diego was beaten every way you can be beaten, save for lethal injection. The agony ended right at 1:00 a.m.

Head coach Steve Fisher was not hands-on tonight. Fisher got up and down from his courtside chair and looked annoyed when called upon. During time-outs, his assistants carried camp stools onto the floor for players and a folding chair for Fisher. Everybody sits down, takes a load off, and Fisher instructs. That’s about it. San Diego State 58, St Mary’s 80.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Three nights of Mission Bayfest bring bliss

“This is a top-notch production.”
Next Article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1

Continuing with our colleges of San Diego road tour. Moraga, California, is 20 miles, 20 years, and two climatic zones east of San Francisco. Moraga has a population of 16,000 rich white people and is home to St. Mary’s College of California, a small (2500 undergraduate students) Catholic university, member of the Western Athletic Conference, lately known for its successful basketball program.

Tonight, St Mary’s plays San Diego State University in the second game of ESPN’s experiment with national sleep deprivation, aka ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. The network will televise live college basketball continuously for the next 24-plus hours. Our game starts at 11:00 p.m. PST.

At this moment I’m being held in the penalty box of the St. Mary’s athletic department media relations office. Said office is located in a double-wide trailer, out the back door of McKeon Pavilion.

I’ve asked athletic department media relations guy, Rich Davi, for a press pass. He looked up from his desk, insulted that I would make such a request two hours before game-time. He says it’s very difficult to get a pass under these circumstances.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Yes, indeed, it’s probably true that a midnight Monday-night game in Moraga usually calls forth a throng of reporters. Davi asks me to take a seat in the trailer lobby. I do, and begin writing notes. Twenty minutes go by (about what I’d figured), and Davi appears and hands over a red press pass.

Normally I’d pay the $15 for a ticket. I’ve never liked all the palaver that the sports industrial complex requires in return for a lousy comp. Since I spend my time walking around the arena/stadium/playing field looking at the crowd, looking for a face, for a story, watching the game from every angle I can find, I have no need of a seat. But tonight, for the weirdly compelling reasons that it’s been so long since I’ve used a press pass, coupled with this festive made-for-TV occasion, I decide to acquire the certificate need or no.

And now it’s time to take a constitutional around campus. I love small colleges. No moon. Black sky. I walk past and through graceful Spanish colonial-style classrooms, student center, and chapel. Impossibly quiet.

I read what’s posted on bulletin boards. Here’s one: “Beyond Back and White, the 2009 Diversity Dance.” At the Marriott, of course. And another: “St. Mary’s College Dance Company is performing Altered States, Fabulous Shoes.” And let’s give it up for the winner of the most-depressing-sign-taped-on-an-office-door prize: “Career Options for Liberal and Civic Studies majors: Banker. City Manager. City Planner. Volunteer. Writer. Sales. International Sales. Law Enforcement. Lobbyist. Grant Writer. Real Estate…”

I return to the gym at 10:30. St. Mary’s students are here along with the inevitable cluster of males with bare torsos and bare faces painted red. On my right I spy ten SDSU fans. Two wear red wigs, one has donned a Vikings helmet with horns attached, one is inside a green Kermit the Frog–looking costume, and two have on SDSU jerseys.

Meet Marty Presser, 19, business-finance major. There are only two questions to ask. Why? How?

Presser says, “After the great game last year in the semifinals of the NIT and the game at the John Wooden Classic, we felt we had to come up. It’s a rivalry now; the games are great. We’ve got a good team this year. We’re excited to see them play.

“We left yesterday at 5:30 p.m., drove into the Bay Area at 2:30 in the morning. [We’ve been] hanging out with some friends, getting some good food, and playing some football. We’ve been here since 9 o’clock waiting for the doors to open.”

I say, “The game will be over by 1:00, 1:30. What then?”

“We’re driving straight home. My buddy has a midterm at 11:00. I got a midterm at 2 o’clock.”

I look over to the press section. Apparently they did find one seat for me at the last moment. No doubt the other 40 empty seats are filled in spirit.

Now comes the Aztecs team led by eight men in suits. Dear Reader, you don’t want to read about the game. San Diego was beaten every way you can be beaten, save for lethal injection. The agony ended right at 1:00 a.m.

Head coach Steve Fisher was not hands-on tonight. Fisher got up and down from his courtside chair and looked annoyed when called upon. During time-outs, his assistants carried camp stools onto the floor for players and a folding chair for Fisher. Everybody sits down, takes a load off, and Fisher instructs. That’s about it. San Diego State 58, St Mary’s 80.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Goose may have indie vibes, but they’re still a jam band

Fans turn out in force for show at SDSU
Next Article

Jayson Napolitano’s Scarlet Moon releases third Halloween album

Latest effort has the most local vibe
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader