Tag Archives: Sports

Networking is Not Just for CP&R Events

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I’m from Wisconsin. It’s a little state with some culture, some beer, some cheese, and a lot of cows. We’re known, too, for our fanatic football culture. My extended family, with whom I spend most holidays and vacations, are absolute Packers obsessors. My younger cousin Charlie, 7, can recite Pack stats like a whiz and predicts football games like nobody’s business. My uncle Wade has a special touchdown song and dance that he made up, which is largely considered to be good luck when we need more touchdowns.

My dad’s a Vikings fan. (BOO, hissssssssss)

Most of them have their little superstitions that are each supposed to channel some amount of good luck into the Pack. So yeah, the Packers are a big thing in Wisconsin.

Aaron Rodgers

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE PERSON EVERYBODY IN WISCONSIN WANTS TO BE FRIENDS WITH.

When I went away, my parents presented me with:

  • a Packers hoodie
  • a pink Packers beanie cap
  • a pink, bedazzled Aaron Rodgers jersey
  • a mini Packers football keychain
  • a Brewers tee-shirt
  • a Brewers ballcap

none of which I wear regularly during the school year because most of the time it’s far more comfortable to wear dresses and short sleeves.

So here’s my problem: I know absolutely nothing about football. It’s kind of a problem- I enjoy watching the games, but ask me about anything related to the Packers that doesn’t include Clay Matthews or Aaron Rodgers, and I have no clue. I barely know how the game works. That’s okay- it doesn’t make me a black sheep, like my sacrilegious, heathen infidel of a Vikings fan for a father- but it does mean I miss out sometimes. Which I’m okay with.

This kid probably knows more about my football team than I do.

Anyway, when I started at the company this summer I expected none of that to carry over into my life. I was a little intern in my button-up blouses, flouncing about with my paperwork without a care in the world, NFL nowhere near on my mind when it HAPPENED.

“So, Wisconsin, eh? You a Packers fan?”

“Uh, for sure. Are there even other football teams?” My rebuttal was only half-joking.

“What do you think about your chances to win versus the Niners in our first game of the season?”

“Um.”

This man’s idea of an icebreaker was to rapidly sports-jabber while I pretended to have a hint of a clue as to what he was talking about.

And this continued. It seemed everybody that found out I was from Wisconsin, especially 49ers fans, LOVED TO POINT OUT THAT I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL.

But then I realized that they were only being friendly, and football is a pretty universal language. So, I decided, why not learn a bit about my state’s culture? Why not dive into the somewhat silly ocean of football facts and figures? So I memorized a few stats, read a few opinion papers, and thought a lot about the games I’d seen. Truth be told, I am still not sure what the difference between a running back and a linebacker is, but at least I could fake it for a few months.

And the response was positive. I still got a few joking references to the fact that I had no idea what I was talking about, but at least it was fun. It’s not that hard to learn something new if you commit yourself to it; and even when everybody else seems like an expert, most of the time they’re happy to teach you. I made a few friends at the Company by doing my best to parse what they were talking about in regards to football, and, surprisingly, they were willing to help me out in other facets of corporate life, too.

Networking comes in a lot of different forms. Sometimes it’s as transparent as going to a campus event, but I think most often networking is simple things. Being friendly. Getting work in on time, and being available to talk about your results. Network within jobs, not just outside of your current place. Having an in-job network helps move things along easier- one of the men I befriended ended up doing me a favor and speeding up the paperwork I had to push through HR, saving me a lot of trouble in the process. So maybe look outside your area of comfort if that’s where people want to meet you. Never settle for a shrug and “I don’t know.”

A lot harder than it looks

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For work last week I went to the Lakers-Hawks game.  The day before the game, the cameraman told me we would do some “stand-ups” while there and I should come ready.  This meant he would film me talking as if I was going to be on air, for me to practice and be able to watch myself later.  Excited for my first time ever being on camera, I didn’t make the mistake of coming unprepared again.

I spent hours before the game researching both teams, their players, their history, everything I could think of.  I brainstormed all angles I could approach the story from and tried to tease out what was the most interesting.  I then sat down and wrote, rewrote, and re-rewrote an introduction for the game.  After I (thought) I was done writing, I tried to memorize the long paragraph I had written, full of pertinent facts and interesting statistics.  I pretended like I was standing on the court and practiced my script in front of the mirror over and over again, constantly changing up the details.

On the drive over to Staples Center, I was still going; rehearsing my lines over and over, trying not to stumble over my long sentences.  I got to LA half an hour early, so I grabbed some coffee at a nearby Starbucks.  There I continued to practice what I’d written out loud, pacing back and forth, sporadically stopping to cross out a stat or scribble in a new line.  People must have been looking at me like I was crazy, but I was concentrating too hard to care.

When five o’clock rolled around, I headed over to Staples Center to get my press credentials.  I’d become more comfortable with the arena’s layout and was able to navigate the press-only areas somewhat better.  I no longer felt like an idiot asking for directions every twenty feet, press badge limply dangling at my side.  As usual, I met the cameraman and anchor on the floor as a few of the players were warming up on the court in front of us.  I helped set things up for the live shot and relay messages from the producers back at the studio.

After we did the shot, the anchor headed back to the studio and the cameraman and I packed up the equipment.  There was still plenty of the before the game so we sat down on the floor seats and he asked if I had prepared anything for a standup.  I shyly handed over my notepad, turned to a long page covered in illegible scribbles and crossed out lines.  I looked on nervously as he patiently read through the mess I had made of my paper.

After getting through it, he gave me a little feedback.  He explained that I had too many statistics and numbers; people don’t want to hear about those.  He showed me how my paragraph was too long and how I needed to choose certain words to emphasize.  Clearly what I had written was not about to be filmed.

The cameraman then told me we would get a chance to do my standup between the third and fourth quarters and instructed me to prepare something for it.  I figured if I were to prepare something, I better watch the game live, instead of socializing in the press room with it on TV in the background.

Last time I was at Staples Center, I watched the game from way up in the press box.  I had been told that I could sit in any of the unoccupied designated press seats on the floor, but I had been hesitant to walk out in the middle of the game, especially since everyone sitting in those seats were frantically typing, obviously being productive.  I didn’t want to take up a seat to just sit and watch.

This time around I was feeling a little more confident.  Plus, I figured I would take notes to prepare for my standup, so I wouldn’t look so unproductive.  I spotted a vacant seat in the back of the press section, decidedly marched over, and sat down.  I got out my notebook and watched intently as I tried to think of a good story line.  Turns out, sitting in the press section had its perks (besides getting to watch the game right on the floor): after each quarter, stat sheets were handed out.  It was helpful to look over those and see what numbers jumped out at me.  I knew I wasn’t supposed to recite stats, but having them in front of me gave me a better idea of what stories were important.  For example, I saw that the Hawks only led twice in the first half- the most by two points with 30 seconds left.  I also saw that the big three pointer Metta World Peace just hit were his first points of the night.

Armed with advice and detailed information, I tried to write a new script for my standup, this time as a transition between the first and second halves.  Again, I wrote and rewrote, scribbled and crossed out, mumbled and rehearsed.  Unfortunately I had a short time limit; I needed to write my script and be able to recite it in front of the camera by the third quarter.

I simultaneously wrote, rehearsed, and watched the game until it was time to meet the cameraman in the pressroom.  When I got there, I read him what I had.  He looked at me and smiled, “Okay, now can you say it without looking?”

Uh oh.

“I’m not sure,” I scrunched up my nose.  “I hope so.”

He laughed, “Well let’s go find out.” Continue reading →

Sacrifice + Hard Work = Success

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You know that movie “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey?  The one where he decides to say “yes” to everything?  That’s how I feel like I am sometimes.  I have the hardest time turning down any opportunity that comes my way, regardless of how booked my schedule is.  My tendency to overload is a blessing and a curse.  One of my favorite qualities about myself is my ambition.  Because of it, I am constantly taking on new things, building my resume, making new connections, learning new things, and (hopefully) getting closer to achieving my career goals.

The problem is I tend to take on so much that I barely have free time for myself.  For example, I am currently interning 2-3 nights a week at KTLA, broadcasting 1-3 games a week for CMS and Pomona-Pitzer, writing one article a week (which includes an interview) for TSL, while simultaneously trying to network as much as possible, perform all my “barista lead” duties at the Motley, stay on top of school work, and write my thesis.  I know, that’s a lot.  So how do I do it all?  I make sacrifices.

Last semester I had an informational interview over coffee with a woman who just graduated from USC’s broadcasting program.  At only 22 years old, she has a great full time job with a recruiting website owned by Fox Sports.  She gets to interview recruits, travel with USC’s sports teams, write articles and film online video clips for the website.  She told me that people often ask her how she got her job.  Her answer?  “I missed out on a lot of college.”

Yep, I can definitely relate.  I’ve learned that when I take on so many things, I need to start prioritizing.  Sadly the first thing to go is my fun time.  It sucks to get left behind when all my friends take a spontaneous Vegas trip because I’m meeting someone for an informational interview over coffee.  It sucks when I can’t go to my friends’ dinner party because I work until 11 pm on Friday night.  It sucks when I can’t go to the concert my sister has an extra ticket to because I have to broadcast a basketball game.

Over the last year especially, I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices like those in order to do what’s best for myself career-wise.  It’s hard feeling like I’m missing out on my senior year of college, but I know that all my hard work now will pay off in the long run.  I also know that no matter how much fun I miss out on, the people in my life will always be understanding and supportive.  My best friends will still be my best friends even if I don’t go to every party and beach trip with them.  My mom will still love me even if she doesn’t get have weekly multi-hour long phone conversations with me.  I’m not giving up my friends and family, I’m just temporarily giving up some of the fun time I spend with them.  It doesn’t mean that we won’t be as close or have as good of relationships.

I am a firm believer in two things:

If you want something enough and are willing to work for it, you can accomplish it.
You can have everything.

Having those two things set in my mind is what made me realize that my career path is realistic and that I can be successful in it.  While I’ve had to sacrifice some things (time is finite, after all), I can still have everything I want.  The sacrifices I make are only temporary, and I have to remember that I’m sacrificing superficial things, like a beach day, not people.  As long as I want something enough, I know that I can work hard to get it, or preserve it.  Whether that means busting my butt to get my dream job, or making sure I preserve my close friendships, I know that I can have it all.  I think it’s important for everyone, especially young people to remember that.  The world is yours, take it!

In Eminem’s wise words (excuse his language): Success is my only mother****ing option, failure’s not.

 

My first NBA game, for work

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“You’re about to interview Vinny del Negro, what do ask him?”

Wait, what?!  I’m going up there?  But I have no idea what to say!

It took me a few seconds to realize that the sports anchor’s question was only hypothetical.  I was sitting on the court at Staples Center watching the Oklahoma City Thunder warm up in preparation to play the Clippers.  Even though I was just there to hold the mic for post game interviews, the anchor made it clear to me that I had to be prepared for anything.  He explained that if anything happened to him, all of a sudden I would be the one on camera interviewing del Negro (Clippers head coach).  He showed me the extensive notes he took on both teams and how he outlined what he was going to say and questions for interviews.

After he showed me how he prepared for live shots at games, he once again made me pretend that I was doing it myself.

“I want you to realize how real this is,” he explained.  “You need to treat this as if you were the one going on camera.”

Everything he told me made perfect sense.  I do want to be a sideline reporter and what better way to prepare myself than pretend like I’m actually going to report while I’m sitting on the court with players, coaches, cameras, and everything?  After the pep talk, I immediately started looking up stats for both teams and their players, diligently taking notes.  Then I pretended like I was going to do an opening shot to the game and interview Chris Paul (Clippers point guard).  I outlined what I would say and rehearsed it over and over again in my head until I felt like I could walk in front of the camera right then and do it.

When fans started filing into the arena and the players started warming up more seriously, the cameraman and I went back to the press room.  I wound up watching about half the game in there and half up in the press box.  Halfway through the fourth quarter, the cameraman and I headed over toward the Clippers locker room.  We lined up outside with reporters and cameramen from many other stations and waited for the players to go in.  The cameraman (or “photog” as they are called) warned me that things got a little aggressive in the locker room and I might have to throw a few bows to get my mic in.

When we were finally allowed in the locker room, everyone started pushing, running almost, to get to the players.  I thought I would fall over in my heels!  We went to the back of the locker room where everyone was crowded around Blake Griffin.  He had a massive dunk in a big win against the top team in the NBA.  After a little adjusting, I managed to snake my arm through the swarm of reporters and get it in front of him.  I was concentrating so hard on making sure my mic was positioned properly that I didn’t get a chance to calm my nerves and ask a question.  It was fun watching him being interviewed right in front of me, though.  He talked for so long my arm started shaking a little.  It takes some muscle to hold up a mic while fully extending your arm for a long period of time!  (I’m going to have to do some extra tricep workouts for my next game.) Continue reading →

My New Internship- Sports with KTLA

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Recently I started my internship with the sports department at KTLA, an LA TV station.  I admit I was a little nervous at first.  I knew I would be helping out the sports producers, but I was still unsure of what to expect.  Over-thinking things as usual, many concerns were running through my mind as I embarked on the miserable drive from Claremont to downtown LA:  Are the producers going to like me?  Am I going to like them?  Will my job be really difficult?  What if they ask me something about hockey, or another sport I don’t know much about?  What if I mess something up?  What if I ask a stupid question?  What if I don’t ask enough questions?  And the list goes on…

By the time I got to KTLA, I had finally convinced myself to calm down and that I would do just fine.  After I filled out some paperwork, the human resources director brought me over the sports production room and introduced me to the producers.  As soon as I met them, I knew I’d be fine.  They were all very nice and started joking around with me about their favorite sports teams right off the bat.  One of the producers is a huge Michigan fan; I remembered distinctly the last time Oregon played Michigan (Dennis Dixon was our quarterback and we creamed them 39-7 at the Big House) so I was happy to throw out a few stats to remind him of the painful loss.

One of the producers is actually still a junior in college.  He spent a year and a half interning at KTLA and was eventually hired to be a part-time producer.  He was the one I mainly worked with that day and he was awesome.  Having recently been an intern himself, he was very understanding and did a great job explaining things to me.

That first day turned out to be pretty relaxed.  It was a slow day for LA sports, so I just watched one basketball game and wrote down the time codes for all the important or big plays so the producers could easily find them later.  I did a lot of observing and tried very hard to retain all the information I was given.  I watched the producers use a video editing program to create highlight packages for the sports segment of the evening news.  I watched them cut film, edit audio levels, and write scripts for the anchor.  I also watched them run the show in the operating room while the sports segment was on live.

Over the following two weeks, I continued to learn a lot at KTLA.  I got better at “logging games” (watching and writing down important time codes) and learned more about the editing software as well as everything that goes into a sports production.  As I learn more, I’ll get to do more.  I’ll soon be writing scripts and helping cut the film myself, which I’m very excited for.

What I’m the most excited for though, is going to games.  I got to go to my first game on last week, which is Oklahoma City Thunder at LA Clippers.  I helped the camera men set things up for live shots and will watch the game in the press box.  After the game I’ll get to go into the locker room and ask the players questions.  Since I eventually want to be a sideline reporter, getting right in the action will be perfect for me.

Needless to say, I’m very pumped for everything KTLA has to offer me.  Over the next few months I will try my hardest to be like a sponge and soak up all the information I can.  Hopefully this internship will be a big step to getting the career I want!