Woohoo! Desert Sun sports and photo team honored by tournament with Bud Collins Media Award
The Desert Sun sports and photo teams were the collective recipient of this year's Bud Collins Media Award. The tournament honored our small but mighty squad for its work covering this event over the years.
Something pretty cool happened Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open. I got to see myself on the Jumbotron at Stadium 1. And it wasn't because I was doing a funny dance or sloppily eating an ice cream sundae like George Costanza. No, it was something to be proud of for sure.
There was an on-court ceremony following the Taylor Fritz vs. Marton Fucsovics match. Each of the seven of us — myself, sports reporters Andrew John and Larry Bohannan, sports editor Matt Solinsky and photojournalists Jay Calderon, Taya Gray and Andy Abeyta — were named by on-court announcer Andrew Krasny.
Solinsky planned to say a few words during the on-court ceremony, but because matches were running long Tuesday, the ceremony was abbreviated. I appreciated Matt stepping up to speak on our behalf. If I was the one that had to give the speech, this is what I planned to say. What I would've actually said in the nervousness of the moment, who knows.
"How's it going tennis fans? I'll make this quick because you want to see more tennis and we have to get back to work. On behalf of our Desert Sun sports team, I want to thank the tournament for this high honor. Year after year, we sit up in that press box and watch amazing journalists both national and international win this award and to be mentioned in the same breath as them is quite humbling.
(Intentionally look at myself on the big scoreboard and then say "Boy, that jumbotron really adds 30 to 40 pounds.)
"It's fitting that this sounds like an Oscars acceptance speech because covering this event is difficult because the important news out here seems to consist of Everything, Everywhere All At Once. (Wait for uproarious laughter) But it's a labor of love for us as we feel lucky that such a cool big sporting event is in our little Coachella Valley."
"Thanks also to the readers who have stuck with us all these years in the newspaper and at desertsun.com. Which reminds me. Wherever you live subscribe to your local newspaper ... especially if you live in the desert. Thank you."
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Desert Sun team earns Bud Collins Media Award
