Halfway between the court and the postgame press conference room in the Carrier Dome is Room 007A. Room 007A is a discrete room, wedged into a corner that is normally passed by, unnoticed by those who call the Carrier Dome home.

But this past Friday, Room 007A became the most important room in Syracuse thanks to the arrival of ESPN’s College GameDay for No. 4 SU’s game against No. 7 Villanova. College GameDay is ESPN’s weekly show that previews the No. 1 game in the country. And less than 24 hours before GameDay was slated to air, Room 007A transformed into the room that played host to the production meeting. The meeting, along with the room, would lay the blueprint for ESPN’s weekend festivities.

Friday, 1:12 p.m.

It was Placid Auguste’s job, as the ESPN network technician, to make sure Room 007A was completely ready for the meeting. But Placid was running 12 minutes late. Sure, he had plenty of experience from working events such as Monday Night Football, but this weekend Placid was a late addition. He wasn’t even on the weekend’s staff list.

Heading into the biggest GameDay show of the year, Placid was the final piece thrown into ESPN’s puzzle. But Thursday’s massive snowstorm had taken a toll on Placid’s preparation.

Inside Room 007A was a group of four TV stars. Rece Davis, an ESPN anchor and expert analyst, and former Duke All-American Jay Bilas sat at a table staring at their MacBooks. Digger Phelps, the former Notre Dame head coach, sat at the table as well, trading his trademark jokes with the rest of the room; Hubert Davis, the former North Carolina Tar Heel and NBA player, secluded himself away from the three at the couch in a corner with his iPhone.

But the crew didn’t round out there. Joining the four stars were, among others, ESPN staffer Jason McCallum, makeup artist Leslie Atiles, Rece’s son, Christopher, professor Kevin Maher and Maher’s SU sports reporting class.

‘I think it takes a lot more preparation than people think, but at the same time it is not scripted. You almost have to prepare to be prepared,’ Rece said.

Friday, 1:48 p.m.

After a nearly 50-minute delay and a 15-minute disappearing act by Hubert, Digger had had enough.

‘Do you know where Hubert went? Call him,’ Digger said to the rest of the room.

Hubert arrived seconds later. With his return, Digger jokingly took a stab at him. The elder statesmen of the GameDay crew couldn’t hold back. After an hour’s worth of jokes thanks to the delay, he needed to get one more in. And it came at the expense of his tardy colleague.

‘Do you want a seat at the table?’ Digger comically asked Hubert.

Minutes later, the crew finally got to work as Hubert joined the rest of them at the table two seats down from Digger, leaving Rece’s son behind on the couch edging the room.

Just three minutes before 2 p.m. – an hour after the meeting was scheduled to begin – Digger got the point across to his colleagues. Even though he had played the role of standup comedian for the last hour, it was time to work. A big weekend lingered ahead of them.

‘All right, let’s do this!’ Digger said.

Over the next 10 minutes, joking casually continued as the crew ran down the schedule for Saturday. It quickly became clear that the main discussion would revolve around the NCAA Tournament fate of smaller Division I teams, the tournament resumes of teams fighting to get in and No. 1 seeds.

‘This is the biggest game we have been to,’ Rece said

Friday 2:25 p.m.

With the conclusion of the meeting, as the rest of the staff made their picks for who would win Saturday’s game, Digger walked out of Room 007A with his customary green Notre Dame tie. He needed to get ready for the camera, perfect his tie and have his makeup done by Leslie.

But as he passed the SU students sitting in the room, he reassured them that his Notre Dame tie would not be worn Saturday. He wouldn’t dare wear Irish green for the SU game. Not for a game with the magnitude of a showdown between the Wildcats and the Orange.

‘Don’t worry,’ Digger told the students, ‘it’s for today.’

Saturday 10:59 a.m. – GAME DAY

As if he were leading the fans in attendance solely himself, Digger screamed into his microphone ‘Do it! Let’s Go!’

Digger’s words shook the Dome. The GameDay show was less than 20 seconds from going on the air.

When the show started, the thousands of fans in attendance were finally able to break out into the raucous cheer they had been anticipating for months.

Rece’s son was joined by his mother and sister and they took seats to enjoy the show with the rest of the crowd.

Finally seeing his dad anchor one of the year’s biggest college basketball games was the exclamation point on a weekend full of highs for the young basketball fan. The day before, he had had the opportunity to partake in the Orange’s practice thanks to SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins.

‘Hopkins put him in every drill, whether it was with the managers picking up balls or passing the ball and contesting shots against Wes Johnson and Andy Rautins,’ Rece said. ‘He’ll never get to do that again. That was a real thrill for him and a thrill for me.’

The rest of those in the production room the day before had gone their separate ways as well by the time the show actually started. Placid was still running around, though. While the rest of the group took seats during the show, Placid didn’t have the opportunity. It was a flashback to yesterday in Room 007A, as again, while everyone else was sitting down, Placid was shuffling.

The Dome had become a sea of Orange. The students and fans in attendance had shifted from their normal student section behind the basket to the side of the court. Syracuse fans took up every seat in the first and second level.

Bright orange continued to seep out of the GameDay crowd to the rest of the Dome as towels spread like a horseshoe to the other end of the Dome. Areas normally barren during basketball games.

Saturday 11:13 a.m.

With the GameDay show humming along inside of the Dome, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim made his way onto the Dome floor. With his arrival, the crowd broke into one of the largest ovations of the day.

After twenty seconds on center stage, Boeheim returned to the locker room. Walking step by step next to him was Placid. The technician was still scrambling around to keep up with the ensuing commotion.

Unlike Boeheim, though, Placid had been in the Dome since 6 a.m.

But now that the show was underway, Placid had the opportunity to reflect. As one of the grunt men behind the production for ESPN, he only has so many opportunities to step out into the spotlight the Carrier Dome was able to provide Saturday. Before long he always has to return to the solidarity of areas such as Room 007A.

And as Boeheim returned to the confines underneath the bleachers, out of the sight of fans, there was Placid in his shadow, back to obscurity.

Back to Room 007A.

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on February 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm