The Florida Gators react after defeating the Houston Cougars in the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
College BasketballBy Sean Keeley on

If you followed the 2025 NCAA Tournament, you know it produced a litany of characters who went viral for basketball and non-basketball-related reasons.

McNeese State manager Amir Khan was the star of the March Madness opening weekend, and you could say that University of Florida student reporter Talia Baia was one of the stars of the rest of the tournament.

A video of the ESPN Gainesville reporter talking to walk-on guard Florida Gators guard Bennett Anderson as he sat looking up at her following their Sweet Sixteen victory went viral. So much attention was drawn to the moment that, a week later, they started selling NIL T-shirts showing a cartoon rendition of the interview. Baia interviewed Anderson again at the Final Four, though this time he stood up “so I can beat the allegations.”

The feel-good story got even better Monday night when the Gators won their first national championship since 2007. Baia also had the opportunity to sit in the press row near the court to cover the game.  While there, she posted several videos and even reconnected with Anderson on the floor after the big win.

One since-deleted video posted Monday night showed her celebrating UF’s victory while sitting in press row. That, coupled with the photo of her and Anderson afterward, set off a series of reactions on both sides. Some media members felt that Baia had crossed a line regarding objectivity that reporters are beholden to, regardless of their rooting interests. Others felt that allowing a student reporter to celebrate her school’s accomplishments was not a big deal, especially as the lines between journalists and content creators get hazier daily.

After deleting that initial video, Baia posted a new video on Tuesday showing her celebrating while sitting in the media section. “‘No cheering in the press box’ but level 1,000,000 difficulty because the team you’ve been covering all year just won the natty,” she wrote in the caption.

ESPN Cincinnati Bengals reporter Ben Baby had perhaps the most high-profile reaction against how Baia conducted herself, saying he doesn’t “envy the next generations of sports journalists who will also have to be content creators to command an audience… but that doesn’t mean compromising on basic fundamentals like not pulling for the team you cover.”

He wasn’t alone in that sentiment, either. Others in the sports media world chimed in to say there’s an important reason media members need to project objectivity.

On the flip side, many other people didn’t see the harm in Baia celebrating, given that she currently attends the school, and because the modern media landscape has different demands than the one older journalists came up in.

“I just don’t get it. I have a bigger (still insignificant) issue with how Baia makes herself the subject of the story than I do with her excitement about a Gators win,” wrote BroBible’s Grayson Weir. “She knows the players. The players know her. She is happy because they are happy. She is happy because she pays thousands of dollars to attend the school that just won the national championship. A win also makes a better story than a loss.

“Talia Baia should be happy. I would be. Why must we force her to hide those emotions? At what point do the old-heads need to get over their unwritten rule about cheering in the press box? Today is that day.”

Since everyone seems to be offering strong opinions on the matter, I’ll share mine as well, but I’ll do it in the form of a question.

Would it have been okay for Baia to boo?

Would it have been acceptable for her to boo the referees over a perceived bad call or jeer Houston players as they walked by after beating her beloved Gators?

Of course not. She would have been universally excoriated for doing so. But there’s no essential difference between her cheering and booing because both are activities of a fan.

Indeed, the lines between journalist, blogger, social media user, and content creator have blurred in recent years. I know this as well as anyone. I’m a longtime blogger who gained media credentials to many press conferences and media opportunities. I’ve sat in plenty of press boxes and media rows. It’s just common sense that you set your fandom aside to serve the journalistic needs of the situation. If I wanted to cheer, I waited until I was somewhere else.

While the media game has changed in many ways, and there needs to be room for content creators and non-journalists who cover sports, there is also still a need to protect journalistic objectivity. Because objectivity protects you as a journalist. It shields you from claims of biased coverage or impartiality. It allows you to speak freely and honestly because you have the integrity that comes with space between you and the subject. Most importantly, it allows you to be critical when necessary without fear.

Conversely, it also acts as a check and balance on you, the media member. It informs your audience that you won’t report rumors or biased information because it might benefit your subject. It ensures that your school, head coach, or players can’t easily influence your coverage by bribing you with fan-related incentives.

And, quite frankly, it keeps you from looking silly in front of a lot of people.

Journalistic objectivity and impartiality are good things; we should want to maintain them. We can also make room for those who want to cover a team they root for, but there is still a delineation between them. This notion that one has to die for the other to live doesn’t make any sense.

So ultimately, I will side with those who think it was inappropriate for Baia to cheer while sitting with the media. I don’t think she should be punished or lambasted on social media. It’s less of a “how dare you” and more of a “hey, maybe next time don’t do that” scenario.

Thousands of student reporters nationwide do this all year long and, for the most part, understand the need to remain objective. If they don’t, they also know that the option to be a different kind of media member now exists that can co-exist with reporters.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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