Mama 39;s Gonna Snap Photography

[Haziel Barbour]

Sowhen I got inside and took the elevator to the top, I asked a stranger to snap a photo of me so I could send it in a group chat I share with my mama, dad and twin sister. The CN Tower has 147 floors, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and as I explained that to my family in the text that accompanied my photo, I jokingly told them, "So in other words, I'm on top of the world!"

I keep getting these Facebook memories, reminding me that one year ago I was covering high school sports in Northwest Indiana, also known as the Region. Now, those same Region kids I interviewed were freaking out because this season I had the chance to ask questions of two of the greatest basketball players ever, LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

Like the time Pacers rookie Chris Duarte helped his best friend propose to his girlfriend during a game against the Lakers, and then stunned LeBron James and Co. with a last-second corner 3. After that game, since it was just before Thanksgiving, I asked Duarte what he was thankful for, and he proceeded to give one of the most heartfelt responses I've ever heard.

"I'm thankful for a lot," Duarte said. " ... Thankful for my family, having a little boy, having another girl on the way. Thankful for being here in the NBA playing against Lebron James and (Carmelo Anthony), players that I used to watch when I started playing basketball. ... I'm thankful for my friends that just got proposed. ... I just posted a picture on (my Instagram story), and it was me when I was like 13 years old, when I started playing basketball, and I said that every time I look back and see how far I've come, it's unbelievable.

"Everybody don't get that opportunity to score in the NBA, especially when you got (Kevin Durant) and James Harden on the floor," Caver said. "So of course that's gonna be something I remember for a lifetime."

Of all the stories I wrote, though, the one that I believe defined my rookie Pacers season more than any other is the long-form piece I did on Keifer Sykes. The undrafted 28-year-old rookie was the first NBA player to truly open up to me and give me a shot to tell his story in totality. It took months for me to put it together: hundreds of questions, several hours of interviewing and a few times when I locked myself in my hotel room on the road to make sure I gave the story the proper attention, only leaving to go get food.

When I started sportswriting as a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, my first beat was men's gymnastics. I wasn't getting paid and, in fact, I would write stories in between classes and my job as a dish washer at the university's main dining hall. I remember those who laughed and told me I was wasting my time chasing a career in a dying industry.

Before the Pacers wrapped up their season with a two-game road trip to Philadelphia and Brooklyn, I was asked to participate on a journalism panel at my alma mater and share advice with current students. I could've joined the panel over Zoom, but I decided to make the two-hour drive to my former college the night before I had to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Philly because in the words of Sykes, I had to "come back later and show them that I made it."

I was in Urbana-Champaign for only three hours, which is about the same time I slept that night before heading to the airport to close out my first NBA season. It was a long day, and there were a lot of long days during my rookie campaign, filled with triumphs and pitfalls, achievements and mistakes, but I tried my best to embrace it all and grow.

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