The press area in the Arena is a fairly mellow place, even on deadline, though a lot of media types are in town from the event, from traditional media to the skating press.

I've covered just a half dozen big national media events in my 30-year journalism career, including two politcal conventions in the mid-1980s and the NCAA tournament when the Zags played in Tucson a few years ago.

I was curious whether the free food situation has deteriorated along with the downsizing of the media world almost everywhere. (I actually think the food is paid for with some fee that media organizations pay).

Anyway, at the 1984 Democratic Convention in San Francisco, when newspapers ruled the world, there was beer on tap for the journalists, and huge buffet spreads morning, noon and night. It was the 1980s, after all.

Happy to report that the food at the Arena is fairly robust for these lean times. No beer, of course, but Starbuck's coffee and this afternoon, a make-your-own-taco buffet.

---

---