Covering the Badgers at the Final Four

I personally loved my time in Dallas, though we were working hard to cover all that was happening.  Susan Siman's typical day started at 3 a.m. and then she would work through the early evening newscasts.  We also had a one-hour special on Friday that kept us very busy.

It looks fun, and it is.  But, there are certainly deadline pressures that give you a stomach ache.

Sports Director Jay Wilson, Susan Siman, and Michelle

We made sure to take in the moments.  I roomed with WKBT's Leah Linscheid.  She was an intern when I first started working at WISC.  I absolutely loved hanging out with her.  She had so much good energy... and I know she's got great things in her future.

Michelle, WKBT's Leah Linscheid, Susan Siman

Dave Delozier and Brian Mesmer did an outstanding job catching memorable moments, and I loved working with Jim Rader.  He's so talented and we made ourselves have fun under all the deadline pressure.  While we were on a mission to do a good job, he also got a kick out of my mission to find free swag for the newsroom.

Dave Delozier, Jim Rader, Brian Mesmer

It's so funny because we always tried to find something decent to eat because we just didn't know when we'd eat next.  The truth is, we always found a next place...in a reasonable amount of time!

Michelle, Leah, Dave, Brian, WKBT's Gregg Wavrunek, WMSN's Kevin Lewis, WFAA's Taka Yokoyama

I learned to be quiet in the press box and in the media work room.  I mean, I don't think you have to really be silent, but some of us did get shoosh'd by a really serious print reporter while we were talking about the Badgers.  I literally wanted to kick that dude in the shins.  Here we were, getting ready for our liveshot in the next 30 minutes and some numnutz was telling us to quiet down so he could write his print story.  But, I digress.

Look below-- 1...2...3... Brian Mesmer and Mike Van Susteren like to be goofy in pics, but I finally got everyone to straighten up by #3.  Steve Koehn is our news manager, and he really gave us terrific guidance during our Texas coverage.  They're all hoots.

We did a bulk of our liveshots on this platform.  All these folks were from Kentucky... various stations.  The CBS affiliate from Lexington was right next to us!

When we lost, I wasn't sure I could keep it together.  I really wanted it for Wisconsin.  They're such a great group of student athletes and fans.  At the end of the game, we did our extended coverage for the news in Madison and went back to the hotel for pizza and beer.  And the girls cried because it felt like a bad dream.  

We had a lot of other great moments, too... just the quirky, fun things we experienced as co-workers and friends... like the Texas-sized waffles and heating up our pizza on the satellite truck's generator.  Great memories... truly!

Michelle, UW's Nate Moll, Susan Siman