Tuesday, August 26, 2008

DAY 15: THE END IS HERE/IT WAS A GOOD RUN

Alas, the end is here, my last day on the job. It began by showing up to the Nest at 10 a.m. to cover the football final. (I'm not in the U.S. It's football.) As it turns out, the football staff didn't need me or any of the other athletics volunteers to help. Our head supervisor, Emily, told me and whoever wanted to stay to find seats and just enjoy the game. That's exactly what I did. A few of us went to the ONS seats in the press tribune only to get kicked out. So we went to the stands up top behind one of the goals and the view was still pretty good. The gold medal match between Argentina and Nigeria kicked off and we sat back and enjoyed. 

The scene wasn't overly exciting, but there were pockets of hardcore fans. There was a Nigerian section of musicians who played drums and trumpets for seemingly the entire match. Fenn, Jamie and I are all well-established trombonists of course, so we were feeling the groove. I even thought about going over there to join in the fun. None of us went over there, yet we still found a way to upgrade at half time. 

Justin and Jamie found some empty seats in the upper section of the press tribune. It was certainly closer to the action and meant not having to get up every 10 minutes for a new fan to sit down. We all sat there the rest of the match and watched Argentina score a great breakaway goal. It was one-on-one and that never spells good news for the goalie. Nigeria had its fair share of chances in the second half but couldn't get the ball in the net. The game ended 1-0 and Argentina took home the gold. 

There were seven medal events tonight. That's a lot for a video FQR to handle. I didn't have that job so I was able to breathe easier, though it would have been cool. Sandie had the microphone for the session and handled herself like a champ. Nicely done. I, on the other hand, was assigned to cover the Men's 800m and Women's 4 x 400m Final in the regular mixed zone. It went smoothly. I got my quotes and frankly now I'm tired. So that'll be all. It was a good run. I had a blast and am honored to have been a part of it. Maybe I'll post one more time with a wrap up of some sort. Thanks for reading. Feel free to contact me about anything. Saijian.

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