Thoughts from the home front

When the buzzer sounded, the pressure was all gone.

On me, that is.

For those of us 'lucky' DP staffers who held down the fort at 4015 Walnut this week, Penn's loss at least had the benefit of relieving us from another few days of NCAA Tournament coverage.

Can't imagine why we wouldn't want that. I mean really, who wants to spend more than 20 minutes awake and in your own room every day.

But now that I'm back here, sitting at my desk with my shoes off, after a week of endless phone calls, redesigns, edits, pizza and proofing, I'm starting to realize that maybe the job that had seemingly taken over everything was not so much a chore as an opportunity. A sports editor around March is like kid in a candy shop, even if the kid is sweating vigorously under deadline.

It's easy to neglect the rest of your life as a DP editor. But what makes the Tournament week special is that, for once, it's completely justified. This is what the people in the business wait all year for. And no amount of arguments over headlines or sleepless nights can make it any less worthwhile.

So when the buzzer sounded, the fun was all gone too.

And to those responsible for giving us the chance to cover the NCAA Tournament in the first place -- the players themselves -- thanks for a great year. And many thanks, as always, to our readers.

Incidentally, you can find that coverage here, here, here, here, here and here, and in much more aesthetically pleasing form in the print edition.