For a sports writer there is not a more stressful time than March. Basketball, wrestling, other sports, basketball. Champions are crowned, dreams are made, Duke is hated – so much to do, so little time.

For the avid fans, however, March is perhaps the greatest month. The weather starts to warm and they get to watch their favorite team win it all – or Duke lose. (Sometimes the latter is best.)

But seriously now, as you, the reader, enjoys sports coverage from the Big 12 tournament or any other tournament for that matter, do you ever stop to appreciate what the sports reporter is doing for you? Do you ever take time out to thank said sports reporter?

No.

After reading this column I think you’ll understand the hardships that I and others endure to bring you the best coverage possible of March Madness.

It all starts today. While you sit in class reading and learning, sports writers, like me, sit in a car, or even a bus, staring at the road. Destination: Kansas City.

You are at home, with the many wonderful things Ames has to offer, while I and others drive to the strange, foreign city.

Ames offers small-town life with big city entertainment. Not every town can host N’Sync or Tina Turner. And there are officially 10 bars here.

Kansas City only has one Iowa State bar, Kelly’s. What else are we all supposed to do in our free time?

Plus, there is all the driving just to get there. Over three hours of driving, and to make matters even worse, most of us get paid to drive there. Come on, now we have to keep track of our mileage too? This is starting to get ridiculous. The average fan doesn’t have to know how many miles they drove to see their favorite team, do they?

This is just one example of our hardship, but you’d better believe there is more.

When we arrive at the hotel, we have to check in. But that’s not all. Because we are staying at the expense of our company, we have to keep the receipt; we can’t just throw it away. Keep track of mileage, don’t lose the receipt . feeling sorry for us yet?

Here’s where it really starts to get bad. While you are at home sleeping in your warm, comfortable bed waiting for the lovely sound of the alarm to rouse you from slumber just in time for an 8 o’clock class, we toss and turn in a hotel bed.

Sometimes until the afternoon.

From personal experience I have to tell you, 12 hours of sleep in a hotel bed feels like 10 hours in a normal bed.

Then there’s the food. All of it is free, of course. Just once I’d like to be able to cook my own Ramen noodles in the hotel, but no. They insist we eat all the barbecue in the world. Ribs, beef, you name it, they got it.

There’s almost too much.

Keep that in mind while you make Aldi brand mac and cheese and you’re reading about how – cross your fingers – Duke lost.

When all the games are over, the reporters and columnists are herded into a “media hospitality room.”

Even if we wanted to enjoy whatever nightlife there is to offer in K.C. we can’t. We are stuck.

Then, as a final cruel joke, they put huge tubs of free liquor in the room.

Somewhere they watch as the journalists scramble to the Coors Light or, if you dig deep enough, the Original Coors.

They laugh as the college journalists try and impress big-time writers by fetching them alcohol. Little do the college journalists know, they are drunk, they aren’t impressing anyone.

Perhaps the biggest kicker will be this – how am I going to meet Chuck Knoblauch if I’m hung over in the hotel bathroom? But hey, maybe Christian Okoye will be the janitor.

And we have to be there until Sunday. Man.

So enjoy the coverage of March Madness, but don’t forget the rigors writers go through to bring it to you.

But don’t cry for me. When it is all said and done, I will have the comfort of knowing that I can come back to Ames, a job well done. The relief of turning in receipts and mileage will be a past memory.

Then it’s off to my own bed, waiting for the alarm, no more annoying wake-up calls, to get up for the early morning classes.

And with no “hospitality rooms” in Ames, maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a shot of meeting Justin Timberlake. Right after I get done watching Duke lose.

Jeremy Gustafson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Ogden. He is sports editor of the Daily.