Media Representation

How to Get Noticed By the Media?

Many children growing up think of one thing; stardom. It does not matter the path they choose to achieve it, but at one point or another, everyone has thought to him or herself, "I wonder what it would be like to be famous?"

Once Upon a Time

For the lucky few that get to achieve this level of notoriety, it is not always a pleasant achievement. I was fortunate enough to be a part of one of, if not the, best statistical collegiate baseball team to ever; The Trinity College Division-III 2008 National Championship Team. That team was an astounding 45-1, setting multiple records throughout the year, most notably wins to start a season (44). Outside of New England there was very little fanfare even though a baseball team, never EVER wins 44 games in a row. As a team, we were fine with the lack of publicity and teams brushed off our win-streak as having played inferior opponents or brought any number of excuses to the table.

When we ran the table at the New England Regional all of a sudden the press started to jump in on the story; 40 wins in a row up to that point, and about a 45 minute drive from ESPN may have had something to do with it. The highlight of the year up to that point was a "First Take" segment where Dana Jacobson interviewed "Mike Decker" as she called him (real name Bill), and our captain Sean Killeen. It was about a five minute segment highlighting our season up to that point with a little Q&A for our coach and captain (Coach Decker handled himself well, Sean, he needs some work in front of the camera). It was fun, maybe something to write home about, but nothing earth shattering.

To make a long story, well, it's still long, but at least a little shorter, we won our first four games at the D-III College World Series and would face Johns Hopkins in the D-III National Championship Game where one win would give us an unprecedented undefeated season in Baseball and an unprecedented NCAA national championship for the school.

We had our ace Tim Kiely pitching and it seemed like sure thing that we would win the game, and we played like we thought it was, but Johns Hopkins put up an amazing fight and clipped us 4-3, scoring on a passed ball strike three (a rarity in general, but even more so considering the stellar play of our catcher/captain Sean Killeen). Johns Hopkins made a great comeback in the first game and so (leaving out many, many details) we decided to pay them back and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth in the second game to take home the walnut and bronze.

Jubilation is an understatement, but we were literally, ecstatic and the party carried from the field back to the hotel. At the hotel we were all celebrating our win when all of a sudden ESPNews decided to show what we thought would be a highlight of our win. We all thought, "cool, a legit sportscenter highlight of our season." So about 35 very happy scholar athletes are standing, arms clasped around shoulders waiting for the highlight, when it pops us on the screen...

To display the passed ball strike three and Johns Hopkins beating us in the first game with a bottom third graphic saying "Trinity College Record Win Streak Snapped by Johns Hopkins," and then as an afterthought the anchor said, "Trinity College would come back to beat Johns Hopkins 5-4 in the second game to win their first ever NCAA Championship."

Well thanks ESPN for the plug, but, damnit all, maybe give us a little credit here for putting up the most amazing season in collegiate baseball history; the entire team was stunned and yelling at the TV, "Oh COME ON!!!," and "you got to be ****** me." That lasted for about ten seconds until one wise senior yelled, "To the National Champions!!!" and all was forgotten.
It seems that in order to get media exposure, one must toil and sweat and make all the right moves, AND THEN, do something drastic, or else the media and the viewers/readers will brush the story aside.

Trinity in the News Again

The Trinity College Men's Squash Team just sealed their 12th National Championship in a row and 224th victory in a row. However, all you will hear from the media outlets is how Baset Chaudhry, one of the best collegiate players in squash history, yelled in the face of his Yale opponent after the match and "took a run at him."

The Trinity Squash team has been detailed before by ESPN in a very positive light, and even as a cover story in Sports Illustrated, but to anyone outside of Trinity College or the squash world, that news has been brushed aside. But now, Trinity is getting more press than ever because of Baset's actions (which may have been provoked, a point that is routinely forgotten in most reports); the video is on the verge of going viral, there have been debates on "Outside the Lines," "Pardon the Interruption," and "Around the Horn."

I just think it is a sad state of media and viewership that a story about a team winning their 12th consecutive national championship would be hardly newsworthy, but a story about one guy getting in the grill of another is not only newsworthy, but forces people like Merril Hoge (not kidding) to start talking about squash. We as a culture are obsessed with the taboo, of the forbidden, of the unusual, but in this pursuit, which is only rational human behavior, we lose our perspectives and miss the true story.

Were Baset Chaudhry's actions reprehensible? According to a Hartford Courant poll, yes (my own opinion, forged from long years of ultracompetive sports, would be that if the Yalie did not want him to yell in his face, (a) do NOT let him beat you (b) you probably should not have tried an intimidation factor earlier on in the match knowing that your chances of beating him were slim).

Baset's actions are deplorable in regards to sportsmanlike conduct on and off of the athletic arena, but were his actions any more despicable than a basketball player screaming after a tough "and-1" or a football player yelling at his opponent? No. They were simply the actions of a scholar-athlete releasing four years of tension and anxiety that had been growing cause he had the pressure of a 200+/decade+ winning streak on his 6'5 frame.

Should he have acted better? Yes. Are his actions reasonable given the circumstances? Maybe, maybe not. But did he act in any way different than the hundreds and hundreds of athletes that we see on T.V and that many children look up to as role models? No.

In this day and age of media that only clutches on and highlights the evil and unfortunate, does Baset Chaudhry wish right now that he was still living in his (relative) obscurity that he was before the ten seconds after his national championship title clinching match against Yale's Kenneth Chan? That's a good question....