Newsroom celebrities

Monday is already edging out all other days as my favorite day of the week not beginning with "S". Take, for instance, my online producing shift, my only class of the day. If you take away the producing aspect of the shift it's quite fun. It boils down to four hours of leering at attractive female passersby, rocking out to my iPod on shuffle (currently Deadsy's rendition of Rush's immortal "Tom Sawyer"), and watching our new wall-mounted flat-screen TV's. The TV's, however, attract droves of viewers as Hurricane Katrina continues to pummel the Gulf Coast, leaving me feeling like a zoo animal on display.

So far I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the crowds. Last year we had TV's, although few people noticed them, and very few people ever stopped to watch. My initial reaction to the new screens was to dream about watching March Madness during my newsroom shift. Although I won't be here for the spring semester, I can already envision crowds lining the glass from one side to the other, which would make working on scripts directly in front of the glass offputting to say the very least.

March Madness, however, is carried only by CBS. Thinking on the present gives me a great idea: newsroom football parties. Each screen can handle at least four different channels simultaneously. This means we can have ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox Sports Net, NBC, and ABC all running games at once, with the premiere game of the week on full screen. Come one, come all, journalism students, to "study" in the newsroom on Saturday mornings. Bring water bottles full of "water" to dilute your orange juice or preferred drink*. I think all of us could better handle the pressures of being on display if we were rewarded with football parties on the weekends. We truly have the coolest classroom on campus.

*Producer's note: this is only a dream. do not come to the newsroom on Saturday.