17 years ago this week ...
Good job by Ross with the blog this week, I thought.
It certainly brought back some memories of life on the road as an NBA beat writer.
Except for the 1997-98 season, when I ended up covering the University of Utah's run to the NCAA championship game, I worked the Jazz beat for 15 years between 1986 and 2002. Reading about Ross' hectic week made me remember all those canceled flights, schedule-killing snowstorms and pre-dawn wakeup calls.
On the other hand, I also had a thoroughly enjoyable job and got to see a lot of my three best friends from high school -- Chicago attorney Bill Von Hoene, Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin and Denver businessman Bill Coleman. Every year, I also got to spend some time with aunts and cousins who in Wisconsin and Memphis.
(Don't worry, Ross. I won't tell them what you think of their fair city).
My longest travel day?
That's easy: March 8, 1991.
After Michael Jordan scored 37 points to lead the Bulls to a 99-89 win over the Jazz at old Chicago Stadium, I filed my stories, went to Rush Street with Von Hoene and got back to my hotel about 3 a.m.
Four hours later, I met Brad Rock of the Deseret News in the lobby, took a cab to O'Hare and flew to New York. Our flight made a stop in Detroit, however, so it took most of the day to get there and we went directly from JFK to Madison Square Garden for that night's game.
After the Knicks' 101-92 win over the Jazz, Brad and I had to hurry. Our bosses had given us permission to file relatively quick stories and fly with the Jazz to San Antonio after the game.
This was before most NBA teams flew on charters, but the Jazz did it for one of the first times in franchise history to make their long trip a little easier on the players. They were also nice enough to sell the Tribune a seat on the charter for me, so I didn't have to spent an entire day getting from New York to San Antonio.
I don't remember much about the charter flight, which departed from Newark Airport, except it arrived in San Antonio at 4:30 a.m. I got to the hotel just before dawn.
The scoreboard for the day: 22 hours, five airports, four cities, two time zones, a pair of cab rides, one NBA game and 2,700 air miles.
Brad and I have laughed about this amazing travel day a few times over the years. His best postscript to the story is waking up in the hotel in San Antonio and having to call the front desk and ask, "What city am I in?" He could not find anything in his room with "San Antonio" written on it.
-- Steve Luhm
It certainly brought back some memories of life on the road as an NBA beat writer.
Except for the 1997-98 season, when I ended up covering the University of Utah's run to the NCAA championship game, I worked the Jazz beat for 15 years between 1986 and 2002. Reading about Ross' hectic week made me remember all those canceled flights, schedule-killing snowstorms and pre-dawn wakeup calls.
On the other hand, I also had a thoroughly enjoyable job and got to see a lot of my three best friends from high school -- Chicago attorney Bill Von Hoene, Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin and Denver businessman Bill Coleman. Every year, I also got to spend some time with aunts and cousins who in Wisconsin and Memphis.
(Don't worry, Ross. I won't tell them what you think of their fair city).
My longest travel day?
That's easy: March 8, 1991.
After Michael Jordan scored 37 points to lead the Bulls to a 99-89 win over the Jazz at old Chicago Stadium, I filed my stories, went to Rush Street with Von Hoene and got back to my hotel about 3 a.m.
Four hours later, I met Brad Rock of the Deseret News in the lobby, took a cab to O'Hare and flew to New York. Our flight made a stop in Detroit, however, so it took most of the day to get there and we went directly from JFK to Madison Square Garden for that night's game.
After the Knicks' 101-92 win over the Jazz, Brad and I had to hurry. Our bosses had given us permission to file relatively quick stories and fly with the Jazz to San Antonio after the game.
This was before most NBA teams flew on charters, but the Jazz did it for one of the first times in franchise history to make their long trip a little easier on the players. They were also nice enough to sell the Tribune a seat on the charter for me, so I didn't have to spent an entire day getting from New York to San Antonio.
I don't remember much about the charter flight, which departed from Newark Airport, except it arrived in San Antonio at 4:30 a.m. I got to the hotel just before dawn.
The scoreboard for the day: 22 hours, five airports, four cities, two time zones, a pair of cab rides, one NBA game and 2,700 air miles.
Brad and I have laughed about this amazing travel day a few times over the years. His best postscript to the story is waking up in the hotel in San Antonio and having to call the front desk and ask, "What city am I in?" He could not find anything in his room with "San Antonio" written on it.
-- Steve Luhm
9:49 AM
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