Wow, I'm totally bad at updating this!
Good thing I have a lot to write about this past week!
We had a lot of intern programs planned for us--including a trip to ABC Studios in NYC on Monday to meet ESPN President George Bodenheimer, so it was amazing to say the least.
Lacey and I decided to head to the Big Apple a day early to catch a Mets game at Citi Field! As you're probably aware, the Mets have been less than spectacular so far this season. We weren't expecting much...HOWEVER...we were lucky enough to witness a great game against the Colorado Rockies. A Tatis grandslam put the Mets up over the Rockies for the win 7-3... we must have been good luck. ;) I was happy for my roomie to be able to witness that--she is a HUGE Mets fan.
Here we are before the game at lovely Citi Field:
After the game, we hopped on the subway into the city and spent the night in Times Square. Great idea--because rather than meet at ESPN at 7:30am to drive 3 hours into NYC, we rolled out of bed at 10 and waltzed right down the block to ABC World News (after getting a bagel and coffee, of course).
The ESPN College Relations guys are AWESOME. They set up a wonderful day for us. George Bodenheimer met us at ABC Studios for a Q&A session. A couple things I found refreshing about George: #1 He started in the mailroom and climbed the ranks at ESPN to become what he is now #2 He is humble and down to earth...answered every question we had to the best of his ability...and let us know that he counts on US to be future of ESPN. #3 He eats his Cornflakes every morning, first thing when he gets into his office. haha
George Bodenheimer:
My roommates (Pam, Lauren, Lacey) and I repping our schools:
An "ESPN" themed day in NYC would not have been complete with out lunch and playtime at ESPN Zone. haha
We had an awesome meal of mini cheeseburgers, pasta bar, salad, spinach dip, tons of dessert, etc. etc. ...AND were given game cards to go be kids in the game area (big kids in business casual clothing). I enjoyed being able to let loose--and get paid for it--with 54 other amazing people I've had an amazing summer with. Definitely clutch.
The Hartford 21 Six with Papa Joe (the wonderful, wonderful man who recruited us):
The next day after New York, we had another speaker series on campus in Bristol. We heard from Christine Driessen, the CFO of ESPN. She's a mom of two kids in college and a wife--proof that in this crazy world of Broadcasting...it can happen. She also told us a lot about the direction ESPN is going in terms of new business deals and with current ones. Pretty cool stuff.
Afterwards, all the SEC students trekked down to the building 3 basement for a video shoot. ESPN Campus Connection is showcasing each SEC school, as our conference just signed a 15 year contract with the Worldwide Leader. :) We each prepared a few 30 second readers about our schools' athletic traditions to air on ESPNU when our games are broadcast on the network. I chose to talk about 2001, Carolina's fan loyalty, the Carolina/Clemson rivalry, and tailgating in Columbia. We'll also be doing a few features for them during the season--so be on the lookout! :)
Being at ESPN has allowed me to make some AMAZING contacts. One that I know will be probably the most important to me (now and down the road) is Rosalyn Durant. She is the GM of ESPNU--10 years out of college at none other than--THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA!!!!
Rosalyn found out a fellow Gamecock was lurking around campus...and got in touch with me. We had lunch a couple days ago and she is the sweetest woman, not to mention a huge Gamecock fan like me. It's especially cool because she is a graduate of USC and our Senior Semester broadcast program, which I just finished. She knows Rick and Sonya...we definitely had a lot to talk about in our short lunch together. She gave me a lot of good advice and I know she will be someone I keep in touch with.
Sadly, I just finished my last week of operating with ESPNews. Though I'll go stop up to see them before I leave for good. It was sad to say goodbye. Everyone with News is great and I will miss them--and being an Ops Tech. It was really cool to actually have as much impact on the quality of the show as I did this summer. I learned SO much.
Doing E-Play one last time...
Goodbye to a few of my favorite guys...
Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman
Mike Yam and Kev Connors
This last week at ESPN, my supervisors Sal and Mark have been nice enough to set up observation time for me with other departments. For Tuesday, I'm excited to be observing SportsNation, Sportscenter, and Baseball Tonight!!!--Yay for Domestic Programming. Wednesday I'll be in Content Edit...and I'm not sure about the rest of the week...
Very excited, but sad at the same time. I'm not ready to say goodbye.
I've also been pretty overwhelmed trying to get in contact with a lot of people who could possibly be good resources in the future. (ie. Feature Producers, Talent Recruiters, etc...) I had coffee with Anish yesterday...who definitely made me feel better about coming out of college into the scary world of Broadcast. He's not much older than me and is already an anchor on ESPNews--so he must have done SOMETHING right. It was definitely a huge help to talk out my confusions with him and hear what he has to say. Thanks Anish. :)
Hopefully I'll be back up here at some point.
