Making the Rounds at Media Day

Wednesday afternoon Vanderbilt seniors Tina Wirth and Jen Risper traveled to Birmingham for SEC Media Days. VandyMania's Whitney D followed them as they made the circuit through their media obligations and shares these photos from the afternoon.

One of the signs of the approaching basketball season is the changing color of the leaves around campus. Also, the days are getting shorter and cooler, and the squeaks of sneakers on the hardwood can be heard in Memorial Gym. Yet another sign of the coming season is Tipoff '08, this year's name for the SEC's annual basketball Media Days.

Media Days give all the media that cover the conference the chance to talk with coaches and players from all of the member institutions. Media attendees include representatives from TV stations, radio stations, TV networks that cover the SEC, newspapers, and Internet web sites.

The Media Days schedule is divided into four sessions. During each session, representatives from three schools rotate through a variety of rooms set up to accommodate different types of media outlets. School representatives include the men's and women's basketball coaches and one or two players from each team.

For many of the schools in the conference, Media Days also marks the inaugural appearance of the school's media guides for the year. Often the production timeline is so tight that the media guides are shipped directly from the printer to the Media Days hotel. So it's not surprising that in the brief moments between media obligations, players, coaches and SIDs are eager to get their first look at the finished product.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vanderbilt head coachs Kevin Stallings and Melanie Balcomb, as well as Tina Wirth, Jen Risper, and A.J. Ogilvy made the trip to Birmingham. Whitney D. followed Tina and Jen as they made their rounds and shares these photos from the afternoon.










































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Photos copyright 2008 by Whitney D for VandyMania.com