Way Cool Weekend

Finally! This weekend was the day that I got to shadow the Jazz. It turned out a lot different than I thought. In a good way.

The Clippers were in town and I was told to be at the stadium at 3:30 p.m. For the first part that I was there I helped set up the stadium. We got the media tables ready, which was not hard because the Clippers did not have a lot of media attending the game. Another part of it was putting stickers on the floor behind the basket for photographers and camera men.

As I was running around before the game players were coming in and out. I was very surprised at how nice they all were. Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur, Carlos Bozzer, and others all said hi to me or some sort of greeting as they walked by.

When you are in the stands during a game the court seems pretty big. Before the game, while I was walking around, it was really cool to see the actual size. It is really not as big as it seems.

During the game I was very busy running up and down stairs. My thighs are actually sore. After each quarter we had to run stats to the media and the team benches. It was crazy during the game to be running from one bench to the other handing things to the assistant coaches.

After the game I had to get some quotes from coach Sloan that would be used in the post game notes. I was nervous, but everything worked okay.

Later that night they asked me if I could be at the Jazz practice on Saturday morning to get some quotes from Carlos Boozer and coach Sloan. That morning I was at Wal-Mart very early to buy a digital recorder. I sat in the parking lot to make sure it worked and that I understood how to use it.

When I was at practice it was neat to see the players interact and joke around with each other. Carlos Boozer came over so I could get my quotes. He kind of made fun of me because I had the questions written down. He thought it was funny. Again I was nervous, but the players treated me really well and I got what I needed.

Later in the day on Saturday the people from the Jazz called me to let me know that they wanted me to come and help out. It is a paid internship, but I am completely stoked. It is going to be a great opportunity.

People think I am absolutely crazy because of my school work load, but I know I can do this. It is just one more thing, but it will only be crazy like this for another three weeks.