As someone who used to be a beat reporter for basketball (albeit in college, and Div 3 at that, so… grain of salt and all), I can tell you that it matters TREMENDOUSLY where you sit when you’re reporting on the game, at least for hoops. From the cheap seats, you see a pass go awry, and it’s just a turnover stat in the books. From courtside (which, yes, is where I sat to cover games, because I was usually doing double-duty as an official scorekeeper as well), you hear the guard call the play, see the forward looking away and hesitating, and see the angry glare at the forward from the guard as they jog back to get on D after the dead ball whistle. And when you see it happen again, you’ve got the beginnings of a story: these two aren’t on the same page at all. And you start noticing things…