On Mondays, Aaron Reiss, one of The Star’s Mizzou beat writers, will offer a digest of thoughts on the Tigers and MU story lines to follow.
Media’s access to college athletes can be so limited that even the smallest gesture is enough to qualify a football player as a “nice guy,” or a basketball star as “really cool.”
Players often talk to reporters while sitting on a dais, or in a scrum setting for five minutes after a game, while a bus is waiting. Those setups can prevent athletes from getting to know the people who cover them, so when an athlete addresses me by my first name, I’m always a little surprised.