What a day. That's just the best way I can put this day into words. As you can, the post is later than usual and that's all because this day had it all.
I knew this would be a rough day ever since I moved into my apartment complex. I've been calling it the day of reckoning. Why? Because it was the day I had to move from my plush, furnished, two bedroom, two bath corporate apartment to my permanent, bare, lifeless, one bedroom, one bath living space. Yea, I'm not sure yet if it qualifies as an apartment. In an effort to have cable the first day I move in, I already scheduled the cable guy to come in the morning before I go to work. The range is from 8:30-11:30am. So I'm expecting him at either 8:31am or 11:29am cause that's how they are. Well, I can't get to my new place though until the office opens at 9am. Thankfully, the guy doesn't show until 10:15, so all is well. After he leaves, I make a half-hearted effort to start moving stuff but the heat is getting to me so I decide to do the rest after work when it is cooler. Yea, not cool, just cooler (like 78 degrees and only kind of humid).
I get to work early (again) and head straight for the Peach Jam. Again, I have zero angles. Since all my ideas were washed out due to my laziness, stupidity or just bad timing, I go in hoping something just happens. And wouldn't ya know it, it does. I watch a team from Illinois beat a team from Memphis in what was a pretty good game. I go for the interview of the Illinois team and I get a kid who just loves to talk. A reporter's dream. He talks to me about everything from maintaining team tradition to icing down after the game to prepare for the one later. All his sound is great so I use two soundbites for my cast. Before I go, I check up on the local team in the tourney that made it just cause another team backed out. Instead of getting killed like on Saturday though, they win. And you know what that means...I win too! I get the last couple minutes of the game, including the elation on their faces as they celebrate with their fans. Before I go, I grab a quick interview with Clemson coach Oliver Purnell about recruiting in the area. You know, just in case I need it later that night or tomorrow. Just planning ahead (see, I do learn from previous days)
The 6pm cast just coasts by...I have it written and edited by 4:45pm so for an hour, I put some stories on the web and field a couple phone calls. It's funny cause I hadn't gotten one phone call in 2 weeks but today, I got 3. One from a man in Canada for vacation but calling all the Augusta stations to see if we are interested in covering an event he is doing. The Cliffs Notes version is that he works for a non-profit organization like Make-A-Wish but it's for senior citizens and they set up this former MLB pitcher and N. Augusta native to meet Dubya in ATL next Tuesday. I LOVE the idea and tell him to send me all the info. Later, a lady from who knows where calls to tell me the Columbia County softball team won the state tournament and is going to the Little League Softball World Series. I'm perplexed though because I was planning on going to the championship game at 7pm like the lady told me to yesterday. Yea, she made me feel bad that it hadn't gotten any coverage though I didn't know a thing about it. When I ask her how it's over, she says "Well, they moved it up. I thought you'd figure it out". Oh people....I told her we would do a story on them before they go and she seems somewhat satisfied. Finally, I get a voicemail from a guy talking about a mixed martial arts club here in Augusta that went to a state or regional tournament and brought back some titles and wanted to know if we wanted to cover it. Of course, I'm down for it and immediately call back for info. Within 5 minutes, I set up Wednesday at 7:15pm as the shoot time. I just hope I don't get beat up by a 10 year old.
So after the 6pm cast, I immediately head out the door for the Peach Jam since softball is no more. Again, no idea what I'm doing. Now, what's funny is that if this were my sports director, he wouldn't have gone back. He just would have recycled the 6pm and added maybe a new soundbite from that player. But that's not me. I like to have different casts at 6 and 11 if possible and with this tourney going on, it's easily possible. Just like at 6, a story just falls in my lap and this one is amazing. I almost missed it though. I went in thinking I would do a story on the Georgia Stars team. They weren't from my area but you know, it is regional. But I see the NBC sports guy there and I don't wanna stoop to his level (they are the distant #3 station in my market). Plus, the game is riddled with fouls and not camera-friendly. So with plenty of time until I have to get back to the station, I roll over to the next court and find a more entertaining and competitive game. It's between a team from California and one from Illinois. My gut instinct says do a story about this team being from so far away if they win. If they lose, then back to the drawing board.
Well, it just got better. The game gets really tight and I mean tight. The lead goes back and forth in the last 2 minutes until IL is up 91-90 with 17 seconds left. CA inbounds the ball and just looks disorganized. They try throwing it down to their one big man, prolly about 6'8, and he blows a makeable layup. The ball goes loose for about 5-6 seconds and somehow finds its way back to the big guy. With seconds ticking away, he shoots a 10 footer and it goes...with .6 seconds left. The place goes crazy. I go crazy. And the team goes crazy. The heave at the end doesn't go and just like that, my story idea changes. It has to be about this game's ending and the drama of the Peach Jam.
So I follow the team out in the hallway and go right to the big guy and start asking questions. On about the 4th question, he says that "though (they) only have 7 players, (they) keep scrapping and keep beating people and it's a good feeling". Wait...huh? 7 players? How did I not notice that? The game was so intense, I never looked to see more coaches on the bench than players while the game was going on. And just like that, my story shifts again...from drama to underdog story. A team with 7 players wins a quarterfinal game and is going to the Final Four of the Peach Jam. I interview the coach and 2 others and all are money. Inside, I love every second of it because not only do I have a great story, but these guys are making great memories...and I am a little part of it. Plus, as I ask the questions, I learn more and more about this team like that they were here last year and didn't win a game. I also learn the team that won last year had 7 players and that is their inspiration. Oh, this story is gonna be great.
So now, the pressure is on me at the station to make it look nearly as good on TV as it was in person. And without gloating too much, I think I did a damn good job. And it wasn't really me...it was those players and their soundbites that made my package so good. The female main anchor loved it and she doesn't even really follow sports. It just validated the way I felt about the package once I finished it. I was proud of it. I thought it gave the guys justice. Yea, I "threw" it together in 45 minutes but I cared about it. I really wanted to portray them as the underdogs they were and man, it feels good when you know you did something right.
After work, it was back to the corporate place to finish moving. I got most of it out but I have a little left, including this computer. I'll do it in the morning though. It's already 4am.
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY: I kind of gave away some of what I learned up top but oh well. The biggest thing I learned today though is how flexible I am becoming as a journalist. At WOUB till junior year, I always seemed to have one idea for my packages and that was it. It wasn't until after my internship when I noticed that you can't go in with a clear cut plan. Just like life, there will be bends and turns and you just gotta go with them. Now granted, going to the Peach Jam with no plan isn't the right strategy but being able to find stuff and make them into good stories really boosts my confidence. My rowing story was pretty cookie-cutter. It was about rowing and the growth...not much more I could do with it. My second one about the team playing in the Peach Jam was good...but it could have been better if I had more time. This one though...I am very proud of. And it's because I am learning how to be flexible. Funny what a week of being thrown into the fire will do for you. I also learned that I have to stay a fan first and journalist second. What I mean by that is some sportscasters (Joe Buck) only do what they do cause of the paycheck and not for the love of the game. Well, I love every game. So watching these games, I try to stay a fan because then, I can get into what I am watching. Once that happens, I can think of stories that fans would appreciate. That's why the underdog thing clicked for me. Every fan loves a good underdog story and when I heard that, I jumped at it. I'm don't know if my sports director is a fan. I think he is too much business but I may be getting a bad read. I think you gotta have both and like I said, fan first. Other than that, I learned that all those years of wrestling and lifting weights have truly come to be helpful these past days as I move large items by myself. Yea, I'm beat now but it'll feel good looking at my new, permanent place knowing I did all the moving by myself and to make it more impressive, in the middle of a work marathon.
6 down, 7 to go
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