"Patrick, Can We Get a Couple Minutes With You?"
Quarterback Patrick Ramsey Is the Prime Spokesperson for Tulane Football
By John Sudsbury
The quarterback of any football team has time demands. At any level, the position often requires more practice and preparation than others. The QB must know everybody's role on the offense, not just his own.
A college student must learn time management skills as well. Make that student a double major, preparing for possible post-graduate work, and the time commitment is even greater.
Green Wave quarterback Patrick Ramsey knows both of these things very well. Majoring in both accounting and finance, he is an honors student. A finalist for multiple national awards as one of the top signal-callers in the nation, he has proven himself as a football player.
His reward? He gets to add another time-consuming activity to his schedule. Ramsey is the unofficial media spokesperson for the Green Wave. While reporters speak with a wide-range of players depending on the subject of their stories, more often than not, they end up back with Patrick.
"Patrick is the quarterback, so he has to be ready to talk," says one New Orleans media member. "But that does not mean he has to be good at it. Patrick is very good. I think he understands what we [the media] are trying to do. He gives well-thought out answers and actual information, rather than just saying a basic line to get it over with."
Tulane holds weekly football press conferences on Tuesday mornings. If you are looking for Ramsey, he is likely in attendance. Each Tuesday, he has established a routine of moving from seat to seat, conducting one-on-one interviews with each of the four television stations in the New Orleans market. Following that, or between those interviews, he meets with writers from The Times-Picayune, or perhaps The Hullabaloo, Tulane's student newspaper. Then again, out-of-town newspapers often want his views on upcoming games. Whether in person or over the telephone, Ramsey is again speaking his thoughts.
The Ruston Daily Leader, the newspaper in Ramsey's hometown, has hired a reporter for who produces weekly updates on its hometown hero. Patrick knows him well, talking to him after every game as well as during the week.
Ramsey is in even greater demand after games. Reporters all want to speak to head coach Chris Scelfo, but the one player requested is always the Green Wave quarterback. Win or lose, healthy or battered, Ramsey makes his way out of the locker room following Coach's post-game speech, talks to seemingly everybody in sight, then attempts to make a run for the shower.
But wait, the Tulane Postgame Radio Show wants a couple words with him. After answering five to 10 minutes of questions for radio, he finally can take off his uniform, shower, and get changed into street clothes.
Maybe he grabs a Coke or a bite to eat, if his teammates have not devoured the post-game refreshments already. He smiles as he thinks about all of the family and friends that will be outside, waiting to say hello and see how he is doing. The 6-3, 234-pounder steps out the locker room door.
"Patrick, can we get a few words from you?"
More reporters have somehow appeared. Didn't he already talk to these guys? Wasn't this TV station here already? After a quick glance towards his waiting friends and family, Ramsey gives a smile and says, "Sure, how are you guys doing?"
"After a loss is the toughest time," Ramsey says. "Everybody, not just the players, but coaches, media relations, everybody has prepared so hard for the game. Everybody tries to set it up so we can win, then you lose. You really don't want to talk about it, but I know it is part of the responsibility of being on the team."
Ramsey's media work is not limited to routine events. In the heart of preseason training camp, with the team mired in daily double-sessions, players longed for their daily after-lunch activity - a nap. Unless of course, they had media appointments, which means Ramsey often missed out on rest. Some days were routine interviews, some days involved more elaborate outings, including one trip to a remote swamp for a Times-Picayune photo shoot with LSU quarterback Rohan Davey for the cover of the newspaper's College Football Preview section.
But wait, there's more. ESPN.com has called. They would love Patrick to do a live on-line chat. He has to make 30 minutes open on his schedule to answer questions for fans from throughout the country.
The Tulane Coaches Call-In Show is broadcast weekly from the Superior Grill on St. Charles Avenue. Sure enough, Ramsey (and teammate Roxie Shelvin) made an appearance and was interviewed live for the show.
"It's all in the attitude," Ramsey says. "It can either be a hassle or an opportunity. It is good that people want to talk to me and hear what I have to say. That's an honor. I'm just honest when I talk to them, so it is not a distraction because I don't have to think real hard about it. I just say the truth."
For the veteran quarterback, the media is just part of his job. And Ramsey is indeed doing his job, on the field, in the classroom, and at the microphone.