Iowa's Student Sports Journalists Don't Get The Ending They Wanted
They thought they would get a last game to cover.
Pete Ruden and Lucy Rohden were looking forward to the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, and then the NCAA tournament.
Kimberly Bates was preparing for the Big Ten baseball season.
Instead, for three senior sports journalists at Iowa, their seasons came to an end when the college sports schedule for the completion of the winter season and the rest of the spring season was canceled because of concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Their final classes have gone online. They won’t get a graduation ceremony.
And their search for a full-time job after graduation is on hold.
“There are so many stories I would have liked to have told,” said Bates, a sports reporter for DITV, the student-run TV station. “I was really looking forward to this last season.”
“It’s been the same for me as it has been with everyone,” said Rohden, who is looking to continue her television career. “In a lot of ways, it’s life-altering.
“My spring break was supposed to be the Big Ten tournament, and then the NCAA tournament. All of the sudden it went to, ‘‘I have no idea what I’m going to be doing.’”
“It was pretty disappointing,” said Ruden, who was the Pregame editor for the Daily Iowan student newspaper during football season while also covering the Iowa men’s basketball team. “The way I thought about it was I would always have another game. Then when it came to that point, I would look back and reflect on the past four years and what I had been through.
“I wanted to end it on my own terms, which was kind of the worst part about it.”
Bates was covering Iowa’s home baseball game against Kansas on March 11 when she saw on Twitter that the Ivy League had canceled the rest of its seasons in all sports.
“I thought about all of those athletes that had worked for their senior season, and then it was all gone,” she said.
A day later, the Big Ten made the same decision.
“I wasn’t even thinking about me,” Bates said. “And then I got a text from someone saying how sorry they were for me, and that’s when I realized that my season was done too.”
Ruden and Rohden were in Indianapolis for the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.
“On our drive over, the first news we were hearing was how everything was getting canceled,” Ruden said. “And then we were in Indianapolis, we heard (Utah Jazz player) Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus, and then we heard the NBA had shut down their season.”
Iowa was supposed to play in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday. But minutes before the first game of the day was going to be played, the conference canceled the rest of the tournament.
“We were getting dressed, getting ready to head over to the arena when we heard,” Ruden said.
“It wasn’t even scary, because it was so unbelievable,” Rohden said. “I didn’t really kind of digest it.”
All three are back in Iowa City, trying to prepare for their futures which have grown increasingly uncertain.
“I’m still applying for jobs,” Rohden said. “But I know when I do, it’s going to sit there for a while. I just try to stay as connected as I can, hoping something comes open.”
Ruden was supposed to work this summer as a media relations intern for the Iowa Cubs, the Triple-A minor-league baseball team in Des Moines. That has been put on hold, as has Bates’ job as on-field host and reporter with the Cedar Rapids River Kings, an Indoor Football League team whose season has been suspended.
“I’m playing way too much ‘Call of Duty,’” Ruden joked.
Rohden, whose “Big Ten Blitz” videos have entertained Iowa fans — and angered a few rival fan bases — broadcasts from her apartment now.
“To look back at it, I look back in complete awe,” said Rohden, who worked at DITV as well. “All I wanted to do was cover Iowa sports. The level of things I got to do was unreal. I can’t look back and not be happy at all of the opportunities that I’ve had.”
Bates is putting together her own clips and applying for jobs and internships.
“It’s hard for me to get a grasp on,” said Bates. “I’ve always wanted to be a baseball TV reporter. And with all of this self-quarantining, I’m in my thoughts all of the time about it.”
Ruden is still working on stories for the DI — the newspaper, which had a print edition Monday through Friday, only has one print edition per week now but is still providing daily online coverage.
“We moved some of the stories up that we would do in May — player of the year, coach of the year,” Ruden said. “There are still stories we can do.”
It was an early end to their college journalism careers.
“I’ve been doing this the past four years, and to have it all end out of nowhere was just so unexpected,” Ruden said, “Not a great way to go out, I guess.”
“It’s been so much fun, but I wish it didn’t end like this,” Rohden said.
“I wanted to have that last moment,” Bates said. “Kind of like closure. The last 2 ½ years, I’ve been working to get to this moment. It’s hard to cope with, I guess.”