2014 Mountain West Tournament: Heart of Media-ness Part One

There is an arena in the heart of Sin City.  A great venue where I had heard about a magnificent tournament which occurs there before the NCAA Tournament.

It is called the Thomas and Mack Center, which holds the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

I had received credentials at the grace of the Communications Oracles.  Here I would begin my journey: here I would explore deep in the heart of what the natives call "The T&M."

It was an unusually breezy day for Las Vegas on the first day of the men's tournament.  I parked my car in the approved media lot and walked towards the media-reserved entrance.  There were few others with me as we headed down the stairs into the ground level of playing area next to The T&M.

It was here where we would be allowed to work freely and post.

I set my backpack down and looked around.  This is where the different writers, journalists, photographers and other officials worked, tending busily to their Mac's and PC's.  I walked over to the media table, grabbed a soda (which I had not partaken of in three weeks) and some pretzels and walked back to my area of the multitude of tables aligned in the workspace.

The usual natives seemed comfortable here.  They were conversing amongst each other laughing and talking about the games at hand.  Even though I have covered events like these, I always seemed to be a foreigner here.

Finally, it was time to find my seat and settle myself into the row.  It would be here where I observed this strange variant of the cultured sport of College Basketball...

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO!