Scheduling for dummies

There are certain things I like to do when I wake up. I scratch a few body parts, maybe go to the bathroom while I check the headlines (sports page only, I'm oblivious to the rest of the world). I like to eat fruit loops with a tall glass of orange juice - no pulp. I'll watch SportsCenter, just in case I missed something from the episode I watched right before I fell asleep.

I like that routine. I've grown accustomed to that routine. I don't like when it gets altered. That's why I'm not a huge fan of baseball opening up the regular season in Japan this year. Baseball at 6 am on the east coast? And at 3 am on the west coast?!? Are you kidding me?

Now I love baseball, I just think it's run by a moron. I don't even understand why Mr. Selig feels the need to start the season in Japan anyways. Nothing against the Japanese, but it's America's past time. It should be started in America.

I understand that they have given us some great players such as Daisuke and Ichiro, but the Dominican Republic has given us 50 times as many players. I don't see us playing games down there.

Mr. Selig also thought it would be a good idea to start the rest of the regular season on a Sunday, with the Braves visiting Washington for a one game series. Both teams had road games scheduled on Monday.

It's obvious baseball has problems, but none of them are on the field. While all the other major sports are constantly changing rules and the way the game is played, baseball has remained the same. You don't mess with perfection. The season should be started on a Monday, in the United States.

And for stat geeks like myself, here are some early season projections after the first Monday of the season...

• Pirates OF Xavier Nady is on pace for 324 home runs and 648 RBI.
• Cubs CL Eric Gagne is on pace for 162 blown saves, and 162 wins.
• Giants "Ace" Barry Zito is on pace to make the most money for doing the least amount of work since, well, Bud Selig cashed his last paycheck.

Fair Weather and Fair Weather Fans

I love my grandparents. While most grandparents fly their grandchildren down to Florida to visit them during the barren winter months, my grandparents instead call me and leave messages saying things such as: "The weather was terrible today, 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky," "it was only 65 last night so grandma had to wear her heavier coat to bridge at the clubhouse," or "it is far too sunny here, we are getting way too tan." They are so cruel. And while some grandparents send care packages and more importantly, cash, my grandparents send........... newspaper clippings.

It is my last point that is the focus of my blog. Last week my grandma called me every day until I hobbled (yes I am still using the cane) to my mailbox to pick up the mail. In it I found a newspaper clipping from the USA Weekend from March 21-23 2008 containing an article from the "humor" section about Red Sox Nation and the "unofficial travel guide to Fenway Park."

Humor really is a subjective term here. It was maybe the most confusing article ever and it bothered me for four reasons, 1. It wasn't funny 2. The author clearly thought it was funny 3. I think my blogs are funny 4. Maybe I am like this author and my blogs are not funny.

But that simply cannot be true. To sum up the contents of the article, it basically tells Red Sox fan's, in a "humorous" way, everything they should know about Fenway before visiting for themselves and about staying in "Chez Manny" and using the term "ya' moron" instead of "sir" (I'm not really sure what the author was on when he wrote this article but it was trippy. )

The article did get the ol' wheels turning though about new Red Sox fans. When reading the article, all I could think was "Why does anyone need an unofficial tour guide to Red Sox Nation? Shouldn't these be known facts already?" And then I realized that over night (in reality four years) Red Sox Nation has expanded exponentially. People who never cared about baseball now wear shirts with "Big Papi" and "Dice-K" written on their backs and most fans cannot recall who hit the homerun off of Tim Wakefield in the 2003 ALDS Game 7 to propel the Yankees to the World Series (it was Brett Boone). And you want to know why? Because the Red Sox are the modern day New York Yankees. They get the big name players, they win World Series, things go their way in high stakes games the way they never did before. The curse of the Bambino has been broken and fans are flocking to the Red Sox Nation.

And while I welcome all Sox fans with open arms, I am a little miffed by this recent realization. Isn't being a Sox fan all about understanding heartbreak and inconceivable loss? How can you be a fan and not wince at the name "Bucky Dent" or hang your head in shame over the day that the Sox traded "burned out" Roger Clemens to the Yankees? I just can't believe you're a true fan unless you've been dedicated to the Sox even when it looked like they would never win a World Series.

But maybe I am being too harsh. There are youngsters that were a mere glimmer in their mother's eyes when Bill Buckner let the ball through his legs in Game 6 of the World Series against the Mets in 1986 and so what if people are only fans because the Red Sox have won two titles in four years; the more the merrier!

All I can say is, if the Red Sox go on another World Series title drought (knock on wood) I wonder how many of the Fenway Faithful will stay faithful? My guess is not many. On the upside, it would put an end to "humorous" articles about Red Sox Nation and "humorous" blogs making fun of them.

Some Notes on the NCAA's

Don't I feel stupid. Yesterday I emailed Jenna, our blogging intern, and told her I was going to be a day late with my blog this week. She said that it was fine, and I had a justified reason. My editor at the Pittsburgh Sports Report gave me a last second assignment that was due by 8 am today. The assignment was a 1,000 word artile on the Pirates projected lineup. I knew it would take me a while to write 1,000 positive words about a Pirate team that hasn't won since Barry Bonds had a porn mustache and was still wearing black and gold.

But that's not why I feel stupid. Here I am, not having enough time to write a blog because I was too busy, and Meredith gets hit by a car and still writes her blog. I think she is just trying to make me look bad. But that's OK, I hope she heels quickly.

But onto the blog...

If you made it all the way through my last entry, you would see that I picked Pitt to beat Tennessee in the national championship this year. Well Pitt just lost to Michigan State and Tennessee looks just as bad as Bruce Pearl's bright orange suit. So instead of talking about who will win the tournament, since I obviously know nothing, I will just post a few notes that have come to my attention while watching nearly 20 hours of basketball on CBS.

• Is it just me, or is Billy Packard a poor man's Bill Raftery? He just doesn't give me the same littlleeee kisss off the glass.
• Does Clark Kellog have a real job? Because I only see him once a year and that's during March Madness. Maybe he makes cereal the other 11 months of the year.
• When Bobby Knight first got hired at ESPN as a college basketball analyst, I thought it was stupid because he is a hypocrite. Then he picked Pitt to win it all, and I thought he was a genius. Now Pitt lost, and I think he should be fired.
• I love how every March the media picks one player from a small school to crown the messiah of basketball. This year it is Stephen Curry of Davidson. I'm sure he is a good player, but why do they wait until now to talk about how great he is. If he was so great he would be playing in the Big East, Pac-10 or the ACC, and we would have heard about him in December. I'm not saying great players don't come from small schools, but for every Derek Fisher of Arkansas Little-Rock, there are a dozen Patrick O'Bryant's of Bradley.
• What the hell is the CBI Tournament? Sometimes I think they just create extra tournaments so people can have more games to bet on. I wonder if I could create my own tournament for the teams who didn't make the NCAA's, the NIT or the CBI. I'd call it the Tournament of Teams Who Suck So Bad Their Scholarships Should Be Forfeited.

Look Both Ways Before Crossing a One Way Street

I must have been Judas in another life. Otherwise, how can one explain me getting hit by a car on Easter.

Oh yes, yes you read correctly, I was hit by a car last night while innocently attempting to cross the street at 11pm to study with friends. None of that is a lie, not even the studying part which probably seems like the most conspicuous part of the story.

Worst of all, it was totally not my fault. I was standing in a cross walk in the street (behind the parked cars of course) looking to the right for oncoming traffic, because it is a one way street, so cars, in theory, should not be coming in the other direction.
Easter just wasn't my lucky day.

Some intelligent soul decided that he should put his car in reverse really quickly without consulting his rearview mirror first which lead to the plowing of his car into my rear end/left leg/back. Needless to say the car won which would make the final score Acura: 1 Meredith: -0. By some feat of super strength, I managed not to fall over and even managed a witty retort when he emerged from his car saying, "oh my gosh are you alright I've never hit anything before!" To which I replied, "That's funny, because I've never been hit by a CAR before." I got this all out before bursting into tears because, let's be honest, there are a lot of sucky things in life that can happen to you; getting hit by a car is up there on my list.

To make a long story short, I lived and I now live with a sweet cane. After a few short hours in the ER they came to the conclusion that, I got hit by a car (smart doctors) and that I was extremely banged up on the left half of my body. The doctor, noticing my troubles on foot suggested that I use a cane. I obviously jumped on that opportunity because, who turns down a cane?

So, how does this relate to sports you ask? Well first off, let me point out that power walking is totally a sport and attempting to walk down Tremont in Boston at 11pm at night with power winds rushing down the street and homeless people looking to jump you certainly qualifies as an extreme sport. Second, what helped me in this situation is I knew my rights. I knew that I was walking in a legal zone and that since he backed up in a one way street, he was completely at fault. Also, I knew to get his insurance so that I could politely tell him to his face that it's alright but that I would be sending him my medical bill later.

So, in life, it is important to know the law and even more importantly when you want to become a journalist. Because let me let you in on a little secret kids; people hate the media. People serve on juries so, when the media is sued and it goes to court, the media usually loses. So I am going to give you five helpful hints that hopefully will prevent you from getting sued one day as you embark on your careers in sports journalism.

1. Don't think that using the word allegedly will save your butt. You cannot allegedly accuse someone of a crime on air or in print and expect to be in the clear. Unless you are quoting an official document or the police paperwork has been filed, you could still be sued by the person you are calling a criminal.

2. You can be funny and not get sued! Yes opinion statements and witty remarks are protected for journalists as long as you make sure that they cannot be mistaken for the truth.

3. Check your sources. If you receive a piece of information check with at least two other sources so that you have a strong backing for using the source. And make sure that you ask both sides of the story for information, that leads to a stronger news piece and also saves you from getting labeled as a biased journalist.

4. Not using someone's name when defaming their character doesn't save you from getting sued. For instance if I were to say that a young graduate from U of Pittsburgh who writes a sports column for experience.com still lives with his parents and sleeps in footie pajama's at night, he could sue me for making him look like a pansy because anyone who knows Joe G could read this post and know who he was from the description. ( note: I'm only teasing Joe, please don't sue me.)

5. You can get sued for reprinting false information. Let's say that I read on ESPN.com that Willie Andrews was a hard core pot head and I reprinted that quote from ESPN in my own article. If it turned out to be false, Andrews could sue both myself and ESPN.com for defamation. Except in this case he could not, because he actually was found with marijuana. Silly Andrews.

So go out into the world young sports journalists of tomorrow and try not to get sued! And remember, double knot your sneakers before you leave the house, make sure you have a notebook and two pens (a journalist always carries two) on you, and please, look both ways before crossing the street, even if traffic theoretically should only be coming in one direction.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

I'm tired of people complaining in college basketball. I'm tired of people walking around feeling like they have a big X on their back and everyone has it out for them.

Yeah, I'm talking to you Jim Boeheim.

I'm assuming that since you are reading this blog, you care about sports and know all about the NCAA tournament, which tips off this Thursday. But just in case you don't know the NCAA from the NAACP, I'll break it down for you. (Don't worry, I'll dumb it down as best as I can, because some people have to read things five or six times before they truly grasp it.)

The committee selects 64 teams to play for the chance to cut down the nets in San Antonio this year. Well, technically there are 65 teams as there is a play-in game Wednesday night. But let's be honest, those teams have just as much a chance of winning the tournament as I do of growing a full, grown-up beard. (I have my own shaving group on Facebook. Weird isn't it?)

But anyways, as you could expect, the teams who just miss out on making the tournament usually feel like they were cheated. It's an understandable feeling because everyone thinks they are better than what they really are. And this year for example, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg really think they are getting the shaft.

Boeheim has even gone on to say that he thinks the tournament should be expanded by adding more teams. He thinks it will ease the controversies and make everyone happy.

Really now?

Let's say they made it a 72-team bracket - don't you think team number 73 would be upset they didn't make it? And why stop at 72? Why not just make the bracket filled with every team in D-1? We can call it Delusional December because the tournament would last months. There wouldn't even be a need for a regular season.

I have an idea Jim, maybe if you didn't blow an eleven point lead with three minutes left against Pitt you would be in the tournament. Maybe if you didn't lose to UMass, or Rhode Island or South Florida you would be dancing. Maybe if you paid your players more money and offered them strippers like Ohio State you wouldn't be in the NIT.

Maybe if you were better, and deserved a spot in the tournament you would have gotten one.

It's funny how Boeheim has coached at Syracuse for 31 years and has never once suggested that the tournament should be changed. But suddenly, after not making the dance back-to-back years for the first time in his career, the tournament has to be changed. Why weren't you expressing these opinions when Carmelo Anthony was leading you to a National Championship, Jim?

The fact is the field of 64 is absolutely perfect the way it is. I don't know why people think change is always good.

As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

By the way... Pitt over Tennessee for the National Championship. And yes, that is biased.

My Fear of the Third Month in the Year

Know what my biggest fear is?

March.

Yup I'm talking about the month. And I know what you're thinking, Why March? Spring begins in March! The days get longer in March! (True but in New England every month has it's own crappy weather extreme so that argument is invalid). Or maybe you're thinking, but St. Patrick's Day is in March! You go to school in Boston and you're 1/8 Irish, you must love the day devoted to drinking! (Well this year the Pope magically changed St. Patrick's day to March 15th and the most I'll be drinking with classes going on and me being a mere 20 and three months is a ginger-ale. At least it's green!) And finally, the last question that may spring into your minds is, "you love sports Meredith and with the changing of the months from February to March brings us March Madness!"

The last point is what leads me to my fear of March. So I guess it's not really March that scares me, it's March Madness. I, Meredith Constant, do not understand March Madness. Every year I tell myself that this is the year I will pay attention and learn the breakdown of one of the most popular sporting events of they year, and every year I chicken out.

But maybe it isn't entirely my fault. I don't go to a college where attending the weekend sporting match is the "hip" thing to do, unless you just happen to be smoking a cigarette and listening to Indie music while a soccer game happens to be going on in the background. I think if I went to a school like Kansas or UNC maybe I would care a little more because something is at stake: school bragging rights. And let's be honest, basketball players are cute and I would have no shame stalking out the star basketball player (or at-least facebooking him).

I have decided that this is my year, I am going to try and figure this whole March Madness thing out. Obviously my first place to turn to was Wikipedia. What I discovered is that March Madness is a single elimination tournament where college teams across America compete for three weeks in March which gives the tournament its name, March Madness (ok that makes enough sense). What makes it so popular is the stories that emerge from the tournament; underdogs, fairy-tale runs, upsets, etc. Ok, ok I love underdogs, this could be a good thing for me.

So, after reading the lengthy page about March Madness (Wikipedia didn't miss at thing), I have one more thing to figure out, who should I root for? Do I go for the popular teams or the teams with the best sports colors or better yet mascots? (From my last blog, we have learned the importance of mascots.)

After much deliberation, I decided to ask my classmates Darcy and Billy what they thought. And Darcy gave me just what I was looking for when she said: "I root for Louisville every year. Not because they are good or bad, but because I figure if I root for the same team long enough, one year they'll pull through."

That may be the worst reasoning for picking a team to follow that I have ever heard and for that reason, it was perfect. So Louisville Cardinals, if that is your real name (I'm really just guessing on the mascot but their website had a red bird on it so I'm assuming I'm correct), you are my ticket to success. Your mission is to teach me everything their is to know about March Madness. So, please, don't get out in the first round.

There is a lesson here somewhere

Eventually there will come a day, if it already hasn't happened, that you will have an interview go terribly. It happens to everyone. No matter how much you prepare, your time will come.

Now I've had a couple really good interviews since starting a couple years ago. The top one being University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer (at the end of the interview he said, "those were some really good questions." Don't worry, I patted myself on the back when he said that. I'm doing it now, too, just in case you are wondering.)

I've also had some bad ones. Including Rich Rodriguez starring at me like I was some kind of idiot from, well, West Virginia. Hey, Rich, how bout that 2007 Big East Championship. Oops, sorry. Too soon?

But the worst interview I have done, by far, would be a high school athlete from Eastern PA. For privacy reasons, we will change his name to Sauerkraut Saul. That also happens to be the name of my favorite contestant in the Pittsburgh Pirate's Pierogie Race. What a coincidence.

Well, Saul had an interesting story that needed to be told. He was living in some bad conditions as an underclassmen, so his assistant coach decided to take him in as part of his family. He immediately turned his life around, got better grades, and even was getting offers from colleges.

It was a can't miss, feel good story. That is, until I did the actual interview. Talking to Saul was like talking to paint drying on a wall, except less talkative. He was completely non-responsive, like my questions were going in one ear and out the other (do pierogies have ears?). I felt exactly like Travis Henry's dad must have felt after giving his son a talk about safe sex. (I know I ride Henry all the time, but it's just so easy.)

I learned a valuable interviewing lesson the hard way. High School athletes, college athletes, professionals - they all have to be interviewed a different way.

Professionals can be criticized. I think it comes with the territory of making more money than my entire family. College players can be slightly criticized as well, because they probably make more money from boosters than my entire family, too. (Although you have to remember some of them are still teenagers.)

But high school athletes must be dealt with entirely different. They don't take classes on dealing with the media and they aren't prepared for your questions. So keep the interview short and to the point. Don't ask penetrating questions about their personal life.

The story I wrote turned out OK, but it could have been better. Hopefully you won't have the same problem. But if you do find yourself in a similar situation, just remember my advice and say to yourself -WWJD. What Would Joe Do?

Vixen Violet Banana Slugs

Emerson College. How would one describe such a school? During any given tour, an over enthusiastic guide would probably tell you that Emerson College is bringing innovation to communication and the arts (catchy slogan isn't it?). Located in the heart of Boston, Emerson College hosts an acceptable 2800 students and is mostly known for its top notch TV and Radio stations and its impressive theatre program.

But anyone can figure that out. What they don't tell you before you eagerly say "yes!" to Emerson's acceptance letter and give your soul (or more money then you'll probably make in your lifetime, that creative writing major is looking silly right about now isn't it?) is that, Emerson is, well, male challenged. That 60/40 ratio may not seem too bad, until you realize that about half the men at Emerson aren't swinging your way and the other half have the same hair cut as you, more stylish skinner skinny jeans, and that perfect shade of black eye liner that if it wasn't creepy, you'd probably ask them where they purchased it.

Despite all of this, Emerson has sports teams. Most people's responses when I tell them that, yes despite our artsy appearance, we do host a handful of women and men's D III athletic teams, is usually "huh?" or "hahaha" or "bet you suck."

And you know what? Laugh all you want, question it all you want, but don't say we suck, because oddly enough, the Emerson Lion's are a force to be reckoned with. When my fellow sportscaster, Johnny better known as Juice (don't ask where the nickname comes from, it leads to roughly a 30 minute explanation on a good day), came up to me and asked if he could do a live shot from the gym, my first question was, "Why?" After a few seconds of looking dumbfounded, he replied, "Because the Men's Basketball Team is in finals." To which I replied, "Wait, we're...good?"
Apparently so.

So it turns out the Lion's Den is a place that other teams fear (get it, Lions Den?!) and that our little school holds its own in the worst division of college sports, but a division nonetheless. Despite our impressive sports record (for our school at least) our mascot has always baffled me. The Emerson Lions? Really? We aren't the most ferocious bunch and I'm fairly sure that in terms of a caste system, we are the peons, and on the food chain, we are plankton. Having a lion as a mascot, seems to be a bit of a cruel joke, because really, who are we kidding? It doesn't even have cool alliteration, and if it had that, I may have let the issue slide.

This got me thinking about mascots and I decided that I wanted to find more weird school mascots and see how they compare to the ill fitted lion that my school sports. Here are my top ten strangest college school mascots ever.

10. Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls- Can owls actually hustle? I wasn't aware of that owls were such pimps.

9. Virgina Wahoos- Wow, and I thought a lion was a cruel mascot for an art school.

8. New York University Violets- Isn't NYU one of the best schools in the nation? Do you really need your mascot to be a violet to remind yourself that your school color is purple?

7. Sweet Briar Vixens- Those girls better all be 10's because a mascot like Vixen is hard to live up to.

6. South Carolina Gamecocks- I don't have to explain why this is funny.

5. Trinity Christian Trolls- That's just not nice. Trolls? Come on.

4. North Carolina School of the Arts Fighting Pickles- Fighting Pickles? What does that even mean? Are pickles truly that aggressive? Where are my pacifist Pickles out there?

3. Jamestown Jimmies- Up here in New England, jimmies are what you put on ice cream not what you name a school mascot.

2. Tulane Green Wave- Don't they know that water is blue? Silly Tualane.

1. Santa Cruz Banana Slugs- I'm not sure what that means but I know that it makes me want to vomit. Are there slugs that look like bananas? Or are they banana colored slugs? The world may never know.

So there you have it, the ten weirdest college mascots hand selected by yours truly with the help of www.listology.com After reading their entire list of 50 or so crazy college mascots, Emerson's choice for a lion is looking like a better and better decision by the minute.

Go Lions!

Life After Graduation

On Saturday I received a $48 paycheck for my part time work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. On Monday Ben Roethlisberger signed an eight-year, $102 million contract extension with the Steelers.

Over the summer my editor bought me a beer on a trip to Penn State. Monday morning Dan Rooney gave Big Ben got a $25 million signing bonus.

Why does he always have to out-do me?

The fact is, up until I graduated, Big Ben and I led pretty similar lives. Both tall, well built athletes (me a svelte 5'10", 160; him a childish 6'5", 240.) Both had our fair share of female fans (his had names like Buffy and Barbie; I usually called mine Mom, Grandma and Aunt Dona.) He went to school to be a football player, I went to school to write about him being a football player.

But after graduation is where the similarities end. I probably won't win a Super Bowl ring. And if I crash on my motorcycle, the only person who will care will be my bookie because I probably owe him money.

But there is one more difference - Big Ben has one job, and that's to play football. I, on the other hand, have several. And if you have career goals like myself, you should expect the same thing.

Not only is the sports writing field very competitive, it's also hard to break into. Everybody wants someone with experience, but isn't interested in giving you an opportunity to gain any. So the only way is to work your way up. I answer phones and take high school scores at my local newspaper, as well as write for the Pittsburgh Sports Report. But still, the money doesn't come in as fast as it goes out. And it is for that reason that I still have my part-time job that I have had since high school.

Many of you might find a great job right out of school, and this won't apply to you. But for those who don't, it's important to stay focused and busy. And nothing will keep you more focused then working a terrible part-time job. It's what motivated me through four years of college. And most importantly, when you do get that interview you've been waiting for, employees like seeing a resume that shows you have been keeping busy.

But on top of everything, it's important to not get discouraged. After all, even Rex Grossman can still find a job.

Quite Possibly the Most Relevant Blog I Will Ever Write

I was fairly impressed with myself after last week's blog. Politics and sports? My own political baseball team? Genius! I have to be one of the highlighted blogs of the week! (Each week the lovely Jenna, aka the woman in charge of keeping me and the other bloggers in line, emails us telling us how much we rock and gives us links to other blogs of note that week).

Sadly, I did not make the cut. You cannot imagine how much that impacted my life.

After a week of laying in bed, watching reruns of "America's Next Top Model" while eating tubs of Cookie Dough ice cream (I'm partially lactose in tolerant, so you can imagine the health effects of that decision), crying myself to sleep every night, I decided it was time to snap out of it. So, I peeled myself from between my dirty sheets, kicked the cartons of ice cream out of my path, sat down in front of my computer and said to myself, "self, what makes a blog noteworthy to Jenna, the Queen of the Bloggers?"

Then it hit me, maybe if I wrote a helpful/informative/actually sports related blog, maybe I would make the cut! That must be it! Maybe all it takes is for me to write a sports blog that actually benefits up and coming sportscasters like myself! Who would have thought that writing a blog based on what my job description entails would be all I need to satisfy the Great and Powerful Jenna!

So here it is folks. Today I am going to talk about something that you should actually know about: demo tapes. Even if you are a mere sophomore like myself, a demo tape is a good thing to have on your possession, especially if you are looking for an internship this summer. But don't thank me for relaying this information, thank Adam Harding.

Adam, oh Adam, how can I put into words the madness which is Adam Harding? For those of you that don't know Adam, he is my enthusiastic, at times overwhelming, Sports Director for EIV and actually pretty regularly pops up in this blog. Although he hasn't yet this semester so, unless you were reading past blogs, you wouldn't know who he is. And I'm guessing you don't searching the blog archives that much over here at Experience.com.

Anyway, yesterday Adam dragged me to the dining hall mostly because he didn't have any meals so he had to mooch off me for a guest meal. And how does he repay me? He drags me to the Convenience store and uses my board bucks for some hummus and then forces me to watch his demo reel. After watching 3 minutes of sports Adam, serious Adam, funny Adam, and informative Adam on the computer (he's like Barbie!) he turned to me and asked, "Do you have a Demo reel?" To which I replied, "uhhh...what?" Adam didn't appreciate that one so he proceeded to lecture me on what a Demo tape is and why it is important. Here is what I learned:

A demo tape is a tape showing your range on camera that you send to different stations when you are trying to get a job. You usually start off with a few standups from packages, or from the desk, to show how you look on camera and how you interact with your surroundings. Usually you want a few different kinds of standups (one from a sports package, a news package, etc) to show that you are versatile. Then you want to include some of your best packages to show that you can produce a story, write a script, and that you not only have the face for TV but the voice. Adam also included really cheesy rock music to the beginning of his demo tape, but that just seems unnecessary (but awesomely funny. If it were me, I would have used "Fernando" by ABBA, for no particular reason except it totally rocks and I bet no one else would use it. But, then I would probably get sued for copyright infringement, so maybe licensed cheesetastic rock music is the better way to go.)

So, you may be asking yourself, why do I need a demo tape? I'm not looking for a job yet, I can barely get an internship!

Well, that was exactly what I was thinking but, of course, Adam had an answer for that. He told me that through an internship, I would meet people that may be interested in hiring me in the future and will ask for a demo tape. A demo tape helps to show them what you look like on TV and shows them things they may not learn about you through a basic internship. Also, if you are a sophomore like me and not planning on using anything until your senior year for your demo tape, it's still a good idea to put one together because anyone asking for a demo tape will realize this, but it still gives them an idea of where you are at and they can give suggestions on how to improve.

And also, being able to hand someone a demo tape just looks cool. And I know you want to be cool. So, in conclusion, listen to me and therefore listen to Adam. Throw together a demo tape (with or without rock music); a simple tape with one of your packages will do the trick.

So there's my two cents on demo tapes. I expect some email love from you Miss. Jenna, and even if I still didn't make the cut, a gold star for staying on topic will do the trick.