ESPN windbag Brian Windhorst didn’t pre-book a hotel room in New York City for the NBA Finals, which he was reminded of Friday night walking back from Madison Square Garden, after the Knicks eliminated the defending champ Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“This is how I vote, with my mouse. I decide that a team has a chance to win the title when I book hotel reservations in that city,” Windhorst revealed last month in an appearance on the “Pardon My Take” podcast.
His pre-bookings this year: Boston (out), Cleveland (out), LA (out), OKC and Denver (both facing a Game 7 on Sunday).
I fully endorse this strategy, and just wish I had the chutzpah (and expense account) to do it myself.
You wouldn’t think it, but yes, sportswriters get screwed when the teams they cover advance in the postseason.
I ran up thousands of dollars in expenses covering the UVA Basketball run to the Final Four in 2019, paying through the teeth for last-minute flights and hotel rooms in already overbooked far-away locales.
The NCAA tries to help by giving us access to media rates at the hotels, but has no sway with the airlines.
And even the media hotel space is limited, which I found out last year, when the UVA Baseball team made a surprise run to the College World Series.
A mix-up between the PR people at UVA Athletics and the NCAA didn’t get resolved until after the media hotel in Omaha was fully booked, leaving me on my own.
My first choice was an absolute dump of a place – I checked in after midnight, and the room still had trash and clothes from the previous occupant, and reeked of cigarette smoke.
I got out of that one (didn’t get the refund until months later), and my second one was in a rough neighborhood backed up to the interstate.
My first morning run had me take the hardest fall I’ve ever experienced in my life – damn tree root jutting up through the sidewalk.
I hobbled through the rest of the week, and paid $1,500 for the privilege.
The scars on my knees will be a lifelong reminder of Virginia going 0-2 and going home early.
Windhorst noted that you can cancel most hotel reservations, which, true, but most hotels charge a higher rate for the ability to refund, so, there’s that.
That’s no issue if the bean-counters at ESPN are in charge of approving the expense.
My expense account at AFP comes out of my own pocket.
Such is life in fringe media.
I’ve done the CWS in Council Bluffs, the ACC Tournament in Reidsville, the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament at a Days Inn by the Waffle House.
The Final Four had me a half-hour train ride away in Bloomington.
I’m tempted to start Windhorsting it.
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Chris Graham
