Thursday, May 30, 2013

What it takes



A dream come true is when you’re given advice by a popular radio personality and it starts to payoff. In the spring of 2012 Lars Larson told me to make it in radio I should start off with an internship and learn the ins and outs of the station, especially when it comes to sports. I was fortunate enough to get a summer internship working with sales that summer but what I wanted to do was sports. Lucky for me Jon Warren and Mike Parker found room for me to assist on the Joe Beaver Radio show. I was thrilled to be a part of a program that the community was involved with. I was also thrilled to be working with Oregon State Athletics, especially football.


I got my first taste of action covering high school sports for the Philomath Warriors football and moved around after that. But my time doing interviews with coaches, players, sitting in at road shows, and getting air time was always nice. I’ve been lucky enough to continue interning with the show this spring. I continue to learn what it takes to be a personality on the radio. There is more to it than being fully knowledgeable on sports. It takes effort in learning the equipment, learning something on a moment’s notice, and no matter what being prepared for the worst case scenario. I have gotten all of that while working with the Joe Beaver show. It’s also nice to assist these older guys in the new ways of the younger generation, like social media.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Civil War, Iraq style



It was a cool morning when I got out of bed and went outside, it was still dark and I made my way quietly to the other side of the T-Wall barriers. As I got to another set of rooms quite a few people were roaming around and getting set up, I beamed with Beaver Pride as I headed back to my room to grab my food, snacks, and of course a chair. It was thirty minutes until kickoff for the War for the Rose’s; it was 4:07am in Iraq. Some guys were setting up the television, connecting it to a projector so everyone could watch the game on the side of one of the barracks rooms. Unfortunately for us we were interrupted by another PAC-10 school in the middle of their basketball game. We didn’t get to start watching the football game until the start of the second quarter.

The Beavers were down, not by much and that’s when the trash talk between all of us soldiers had picked up. It was a back and forth affair between both teams. I had gotten the courage to show by Beaver pride by taking my shirt off, painting my face, and a giant O on my body. My theory was every other time I had painted my face for a game the Beavers had won; once they were up 23-21 at halftime I thought they had it in the bag. However, the game started to change in the second half, and the Beaver fans started to shake their heads and by the end of it all the Ducks had secured the win and a trip to the Rose Bowl by beating Oregon State 37-33. I was still proud of how they played in the game. 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

From So.Cal to Willamette Val.



It was a cool October morning and the sun was rising over Convict Lake, I could see my breath but my heart was racing. The fish I was reeling was pretty darn big and after getting it off my hook and onto the stringer I had one more to catch for my limit, and it wasn't even 7:30 am yet. I eventually got my limit, cleaned the fish, and headed back to the cabin where my family friend Jim stopped me and said, make your picks for today's college bowl pool. I didn't know a thing about college football but I saw Oregon State vs. Cal and said "I'm going to college at Oregon State." So I picked them. Jim told me I was in luck because their game against Cal was going to be televised and we'd be able to see it.

I watched my first Beavers game in the comfort of a cabin in the Eastern Sierra's while eating chips, salsa, fresh trout, and drinking an ice cold pop. I guess I really learned how resilient the Beavers were after being down 14-9 at halftime they really stepped their game up in the second half. They eventually got a touchdown but Cal answered back quickly but failed on a 2 point conversion. From there the Beavers took the driver’s seat and scored a fourth quarter touchdown to seal the game with a final of 23-20. What a nail biter of a game Matt Moore threw 3 interceptions, but Marshawn Lynch fumbled twice. It was a memorable game, but it still doesn't compare to the first one I attended at Reser.