“Even Antarctica?” she asked.Well, no.But I liked the
concept, so I followed the thread, not understanding precisely where it would lead. Remarkably, it took me to a different sport, and a various fandom, entirely, leading to among my preferred articles of all I've written, about Buffalo Costs fans in the coldest put on Earth.
It was a little a departure from what I normally cover.I came to The New York Times in 2021 to report on the N.B.A. for the Sports section, and moved to the Business area 2 years later on when The Times Sports desk was dissolved.My task is to write about the business of sports, and I concentrate on the N.B.A.'s worldwide efforts. I have actually taken a trip to Dakar, Senegal, to discuss Africa's growing interest in basketball; to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, to report on the ethical issues of the N.B.A.'s service there; and to Paris, where I covered the league's future potential customers in Europe, as well as its young star, the 7-foot-4 French player Victor Wembanyama. In Senegal, I met many individuals who stated they enjoyed basketball due to the fact that of James. A few months later, in July, I flew to Las Vegas throughout a training school for the U.S. Olympic basketball team; there I talked to James after a practice, while he recovered in a cold tub.It was 120 degrees that day in Las Vegas, the city's hottest day on record. However in Antarctica, in the Southern Hemisphere, it was winter season, and at the South Pole, the typical winter season temperature level is minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit. I asked a press representative at the National Science Structure, a federal government agency that funds research in Antarctica, if she understood of someone there who loved James
‘s game . She said it would be easier if I couldwait a couple of months; the population on the research bases is much larger in the summer, when the weather condition allows for more types of research.By the time I connected with Ken Halanych, a scientist, my short article on James had actually currently been published. However Halanych, who had actually taught at Auburn University when it had an outstanding football program, told me about how he had tried to keep up with his favorite groups while on research vessels and at bases in Antarctica, particularly back when web access was extremely limited.As developments in web innovation have actually made sports news, highlights and video games such a pervasive part of everyday life in most of the world, Antarctica seems to be suspended in time. One needs to work a bit harder to access sports content. I wondered what would drive somebody to make that effort, so I kept reporting.One of the fantastic features of sports is the way they can make a person feel they are a part of a larger community. Sports fandom can end up being a part of a someone's identity, which loyalty may not end when a fan moves somewhere new. What much better place to check the power of the bond than on a research vessel or base that is hundreds, even thousands, of miles from the closest continent?I talked to scientists and service technicians who offered me glimpses of their lives(and sustained my bad jokes about”The Thing,”a 1982 film about scientists in Antarctica who come across an alien)
. I could not fulfill any of them personally, as the N.S.F. had actually stopped press journeys for the 2024-25 season, so my conversations unfolded on video calls and in text messages.Eventually I discovered Meredith Nolan, a bubbly, 24-year-old Buffalo Bills fan who had invested the majority of the past four football seasons in Antarctica. Nolan had missed four Christmases, 4 Thanksgivings and her grandma's funeral service while studying zooplankton at Palmer Station, an
American research study base. However she was passionate about the work, and her household had understood what a great chance it was.She kept tabs on Costs games on social networks and through text messages with her father, who grew up in upstate New York. Towards completion of her stay, her YouTube television account had started working, and she watched games, or parts of them, when she wasn't on her research study boat.The Expenses dealt with the Kansas City Chiefs in the A.F.C. national championship last month. Nolan enjoyed it from aboard a Ukrainian research study vessel that was taking her part of the way back to southeastern Virginia, where she lives.In some ways, it would have assisted my article if, for the very first time given that 1994, the Costs made it to the Super Bowl. However the Expenses lost the championship, and the Chiefs advanced.But Costs fans are well-known for believing in their team despite a long series of crushing frustrations. Nolan texted me from the ship that she was still happy with the season.Win or lose, the Costs keep her connected to home. Source
