Silhouette

Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Jason Rose Celebration Fireworks: Fans turned around to the sound of booming fireworks following the final pitch in Game five of the World Series.

With a city full of journalists, photographers, and professional baseball players, there couldn't have been a more exciting experience for budding journalists.

"Well I heard the National anthem on a big screen TV in a restaurant and when it stopped, the crowd roared, and I turned around and could hear the crowd roaring from Busch Stadium a block away and it struck me that that was an example of the lesson of proximity in journalism," James Kershner, a speaker from Cape Cod Community College, said. "Here I am at a journalism convention and I realize that I am very, very close to a big story and the closer you are, the bigger the story is."

As a staff, it was work by day, attending sessions and learning new techniques and reporting by night, recording history with the roaring fans that piled around and being on top of each other outside Busch Stadium.

With the stadium housing more than 47,000 fans and hundreds more filling the surrounding streets, all eyes were on Cardinals pitcher, Adam Wainwright who threw the final pitch striking out Detroit Tiger, Brandon Inge, winning the World Series. The stadium erupted into thunderous cheers.

"I was so excited, everyone was screaming and I called my mom to tell her I was in Busch Stadium, but she couldn't hear me and hung up on me," Erinn Abernathy, Goodland, Kan., said. "I personally am a Cardinals fan and them winning the World Series and me being there, was phenomenal."

It was the Cardinals first World Series title since 1982 and student media along with numerous fans painted the town red in a city-wide party with dancing in the streets and trudging home drenched and hoarse from celebration.

Sleeping was not an option. Even at the hotel where the Silhouette staff stayed, two city blocks away, traffic was not moving and the bellow of blaring car horns, screaming fans, and bumpin' music filled the air, fueling the chaotic atmosphere.

"When we got back up to our hotel room all we heard was continuous screaming and people honking their horns," Cassie Rupp, Dighton, Kan., said.

The celebration lasted through the early morning hours and continued with a parade the next day.

"We couldn't cross the street and the parade was between us and the train station," Jason Rose, Garden City, said. "I thought we were going to leave part of our staff members in St. Louis, but we made the train and headed for Kansas."

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