shootingshooting

Did I mention that access to the roof required scaling a vertical fire escape ladder? This is certainly not fun for anyone even remotely afraid of heights (read: me). I didn't have much of a choice, though, so I sucked it up. I was familiar with it from Saturday night, but it still made me nervous. The ladder even wobbled a bit because the bolts securing the top of the ladder to the building were loose and embedded in bricks that had holes and cracks.

After feeding an on-scene every hour leading up to the game, the reporter Jessica and I had a bit of free time. There wasn't much to do during the game, so we grabbed a beer at the only place we could find a seat (a seemingly forgotten hibachi place right near the truck) and watched the first few minutes. After halftime, we made our way back to the roof to make sure we were ready for the live shot.

Now, any synopsis of the night would be incomplete without mention of Jessica's intense fear of heights. She had never covered anything from that location, so she thought we would have access to the roof from an inside stairwell or something of the sort. No one told her anything about ladders, so imagine her surprise when she saw the narrow, rusty ladder she'd have to climb. I completely understand, and if it wasn't for my boss being on the roof the first time I made my up there on Saturday I imagine I would have been a huge baby about it. However, with me right behind her assuring her everything was ok and that she was doing great, she made it up the ladder. I was proud of her.

Now, in case you haven't heard, or are still in denial and unable to accept it (this means you, fellow State fans), UNC beat Michigan State and won the NCAA Championship for the second time since Roy Williams assumed the job of head coach six years ago. In fact, they didn't just beat Michigan State, they absolutely destroyed them. The final score was 89-72, but even that 17 point margin understates how dominant the Tarheels were.

The scene on Franklin Street after the victory was insane. The celebration after UNC's victory over Villanova two nights earlier was a joke compared to this. The crowd was estimated to be between 60,000 and 80,000 people. Immediately following the final buzzer, fans poured into the streets. I saw thousands of fans running up Columbia Street to join the throngs of people who were already partying in the street. Seeing so many people in normal clothes headed in the same direction in a full sprint was reminiscent of something from a modern zombie movie.

The trend at UNC after such a win is to set fires in the street. Apparently the best way to celebrate your team winning a National Championship is to jump over a small bonfire. The fires weren't very big, but people colliding into each other and falling onto burning embers is a bit of a problem. I even saw a couple presumably hammered "bro's" doing pushups on top of the fire while being cheered on by the masses. The crowd would yell the number of pushups, so reveling fans would try to one-up the previous idiot by doing more. I counted 8 from a skinny shirtless kid who looked like Trevor Moore.

Once again I saw the dudes from the the Daily Tarheel out there setting up for a time lapse. It turns out that Saturday was just practice for them. Apparently they were confident that UNC would win it all. Even though they knew I was previously a photo editor for the Technician, they were still really nice to me. The time lapse that they did turned out pretty good. Here is a link to it, I suggest you check it out. It was even featured on the front page of CNN.

Aside from a few photographers, I also was sharing the roof with some police who were keeping an eye on things. Despite being vigilant in monitoring the situation below (and being armed with rifles), they were still able to enjoy the moment.

After my live shots were done, I again assumed the task of breaking everything down and getting it off the roof. After standing in the cold wind for a few hours, my hands were almost numb. Climbing a treacherous ladder was definitely the best thing to be doing. By the time I had cleaned up and helped Jessica finished her package it was about 3:30 in the morning and time to head back to the station. I clocked out at 4:15am, drove all the way back home to Chapel Hill and was asleep by 5:30.

We went into a few bars during the game to get fan reactions. After halftime we made our way back to the roof to make sure everything was situated for out live shot immediately following the game.

Aside from Ilin and I, there were a few others on the roof. Some Daily Tarheel staff photographers were up there trying to set up a time lapse. I felt a bit guilty because I was directly in the spot they wanted to use, but they were nice guys and were certainly willing to work with me. None of us knew how much time was left in the game, but we certainly knew when the game was over.

Ilin had to hold the mic almost at her mouth because the noise from the streets below was overwhelming. I was standing 6 feet away and couldn't hear a word she was saying. She had to use hand gestures during the live shot so I would know when to pan to the crowd.

Ilin is a professional, which is fortunate for me. As soon as she was done with her live hits from the rooftop, she descended the ladder and grabbed her gear to shoot the last remaining shots needed to finish her package. This allowed me to stay on the roof and could keep a live shot of the street for the producers to cut back to. After Sports Night was over, I broke everything down and brought it back to the truck, where she was just finishing. We ended up leaving for the station around 1:45 or so in the morning.

It was a long night, but a good experience for me. It was my first time operating the stinger (a portable microwave transmitter that allowed us to have a live shot from the rooftop), and it was also my first time on top of Spanky's, but it felt nice to be trusted with such a major event (News 14's news director being a UNC alum may have added a bit of pressure).