Super Duper Adventure Finale

Finals is now complete for the 2010 Fall semester. It has been a wonderful time writing this blog! I have never done a blog, diary, facebook, etc. but I must say, keeping a blog on weekly events helped me writing in a positive attitude. One can only express themselves so much through words, so when I write via computers, my smartass attitude tends to get the best of me, making me sound like a jackass.

Its been real!

Next goal,

Africa

Thank you, Fela Kuti

What are winners?

The past two weeks I have been invested in a lot of school and a lot of football. We have played two of our  toughest and oldest rivals, Nebraska and Oklahoma State. Let me tell ya, both were extremely close games!

It was a great experience to be at BP stadium (get it?) and Jerry's theatre.

I still get paid the same amount even though we are Big XII champs, I get the same clothes every year, I still have to endure the elements without any form of recognition. So whats winning to me?

I don't care about winning, sometimes I enjoy a loss here and there. Its hard to explain but when someone has had the same occupation since the age of 15, the repetitiveness gets to you and its just another day at work. Over time, the view of football, sports, fans, and how our society works, evolves. The point of WINNING has a different frequency to me.

If I was at a school who didn't go to a bowl game, I would be getting the same amount of money, same amount of clothes, but less work because I don't have to spend half my christmas break away from home.


So who wins at the end of the day? Does the student who works for almost rather than studying? Or the elites who make a shit ton of money because some gladiators won a game sponsered by Dr. Pepper, Oil companies, and fast food joints.

I choose happy win (that doesn't come from a dollar).

--

I ran into Bill Hancock before the Nebraska Game. Bill Hancock is an OU alumni who works for the Bowl Championship Series. Bill was the first person at my mock interviews.

I didn't really run into him, I actually saw him from afar and intuition screamed opportunity. I paced over to Bill with no idea on what I was going to say but I "winged-it" successfully and we held a nice little discussion.

It felt good to know I can network by reintroducing myself to someone at the top of the pyramid. I felt 100% myself because I jumped into unfamiliar waters with nothing but good vibrations.

Its good to get your name out there. What counts is how people use it.

1love

Old School v. New School

It was my first time going to Baylor University this weekend. It was a much different environment than most stadiums I have been to. The fans were the least energetic I have seen.

Interesting observation: The video board began to get a little screwy before kick off and ended up going black for the first half of the game. I realized that for the first time, these fans have no replay board to rely on boredom.

Lets face it, watching the game play for play can be a little ridiculous. Most fans enjoy the social aspect of a sporting event like being with friends and family. Fans can miss a play and rely on the giant television for a better angle than their own point of view.

Unlike everyone else, I capture every play without skipping a beat and record scoreboard information in between, allowing little time to "zone-out."

As soon as the video board kicked back in, the fans cheered like there was a touchdown.

"Finally, we have something to watch!"

-----

I met Baylor's video coordinator, Jumbo. Jumbo uses old school video techniques to get the job done and relies little on high-priced equipment like other schools. My boss told me  Jumbo used to work at SMU before switching to Baylor.

Baylor is going to a bowl game for the first time since 1994. Jumbo has worked with football video longer than I have been in school and is going to a bowl game for the first time in his career!

I feel blessed to have the experience of athletic video and to go to events like conference and national championships.

 I feel lucky to only do this job for 6 years and already do experience things people could only dream of.

Choklahoma

Last weekend marked the second loss for the Sooners. In all honesty, I rank it as one of the best games I have ever attended. Like our loss in Colombia, College Station was full of energy and excitement. The crowd was one of the loudest I have ever seen, especially from the 2008 season, when the Aggies had a record-breaking loss.

Going to Kyle Field should be on everyones bucket list for attending a college football game. The traditions are extraordinary, the band is phenomenal, and the fans are the nicest around! Many friends and OU fans were there to watch the game, and sadly a lot were sore-losers saying things like, "we suck" "we got our ass beat" "i just stopped watching!"

It bothered me because we are the University of Oklahoma powerhouse, but when we lose, people tend to turn the other cheek.

I'm not a fan of OU but I support them because I work for them and I help to try and win championships by doing the best video job I can and when we are losing, the only thing i can do is watch, so I must embrace it!

My co-worker who was with me at the game stopped watching the game and began to play on her Ipod. I told her, "Now you know what it feels like for EVERY team who arrives on Owen Field. One must take two steps forward when taking a step back.

1love

On The Right Path

Last Friday I attended a mock interview session for my capstone class with Dean Foote. The interviwers were board members of Gaylord college with very impressive backgrounds.
We were told to study some of the members from the Gayord website for best preperation.

The interview session reminded me of a speed dating program.

I chose three board members to study.

Pattye Moore- The former president for Sonic fast food. Presently "speaker and author, specializing in leadership development, brand development, marketing and strategic planning. Clients she has worked with include Dr Pepper, Sonic, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Qdoba Mexican Grill, VICORP Restaurants,Thrifty/Dollar Car Rental, BancFirst and Kanakuk Ministries." (1)


Mrs. Moore was a great interviewer. Since my family has owned a restaurant since 1950, I have always looked at the food business as my second passion.


Bill Hancock- "He was the first full-time director of the NCAA Final Four and is now the first executive director of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS)." (1)

I thought he was a perfect match for me based on his experience with NCAA! I actually had questions prepared for Mr. Hancock but ran out of time to ask.


Howard Price- The only reason I wanted to have an interview with Mr. Price was because his advertising clinents inclduded Dannon Yogurt.


Speaking to Mr. Price was one of the most rewarding feelings I have received at Gaylord College. Mr. Price happened to do the exact same thing at my age, making us able to connect very easily and gave me great feedback! I stayed as professional as possible but I was so excited to talk to a stanger who has been in my shoes! 


He reminded me that I am on the right path, and have very valuable resources with OU. I have never felt so respected for my hard work with coaches video until Mr. Price pointed out the greatness of my job.


All of the blood sweat and tears I have put into my job was put into thoe mock interviews. They rewarded me with the confidence and courage for success.


I truly thank the interviewers for their honesty and helpfulness.


1love






(1)- http://www.ou.edu/content/gaylord/home/Audience/alumni_and_friends/BOV.html

A loss is always a gain

The Oklahoma Sooners had their first lost against Missouri this past weekend in Colombia. The game, in my opinion was a fantastic event and experience. Watching a sea of Yellow and Black storm a field after a game showed me a different side to sports.

I have witnessed a lot of losses, but nothing had more impact than our loss.

Reason: Both teams were undefeated going in, both highly ranked, ESPN College Game Day was there, and Missouri fans are notorious for being horrible (in many ways).

The town itself was full of hype. Everyone I talked to said they had never seen Colombia this crowded and excited.

When we lost, there were no taunts like "overrated!" like Texas. Rather, everyone was just SO excited they had won! This is a team that has been crushed countless times by us and is in now way a powerhouse like OU or Texas.

Teams learn more when they lose. When you take a step back, you have to take two steps forward to keep-on-truckin'.

As usual, the team started practice that Monday as if nothing had happend because we know that dwelling in the past leads to nothing good in the future.

1love

Logging and Tagging

I read in the New York Times today that the MLB has a department solely based around (get it?) logging every part of televised baseball. The group "tags" every pitch, hit catch, and much more. They log every event by date, game, player, etc. in order to categorize everything in clean groups. For instance, if you wanted to look up Alex Rodriguez foul balls, every one will pop up. Not only do they get the game, but everything around it as well. If a squirrel were to be in the shot, they would tag that play with "animal."

The job these people are doing is very similar to what we do. Every play we shoot has a down, distance, hash, formation, etc. They do this in order to categorize the game efficiently.

Knowing that MLB has began to trace (literally) everything that goes on, it is only a matter of time before it reaches other sports. This might eventually lead to things like the NFL recording every play and detail on a televised game, including the crowd cheering (which might be tagged as "drunk fans" "crazy fans") and other b-roll.

If this becomes a bigger department in video, I think I got my foot in the door pretty early!

POST TEXAS

Our win against Texas really showed me the amount of time and energy the coaches put in into each day of practice and preparing for games.

This will be my third season at OU and my first win at Texas . When we won the Big XII championship in 2008, the players were thrilled, but not as much as our victory in the cotton bowl Saturday.

I think its the intense environment of the Red River shootout that pumps up the players and coaches over anything.

Because this is our bye week, the players and coaches are a bit laid back and relaxed more than average.

I plan on working for coaches after I graduate so its always good to get to know them. Each coaching staff is unique in their own way with their own humor, dialect, and so on.

I had to ride home with the coaches on the way home from Texas and watching them celebrate made me enjoy football a lot more this season.

On the road again

It took until today to recover from this weekend.

We drove to Cincinati for the game on Saturday, a fun 15 hour bus ride.
The video crew rides the bus along with the equipment managers and medical trainers. Those trips are the best because there are no cheerleaders, giving us a lot more space on the bus and much more quiet.

I wonder how much money the athletic office saves to put the crew on a bus than on the airplane.

Being a peon for OU really makes you appreciate the small things in life. Even though we got stuck on the bus for a total for 30 hours, I used that time for homework and reading. The rest of the crew sat around the bus complaining about how much homework they had to do.

How many college students can say they drove to Cincinnati for the weekend.

Big Man, Little Man

Saturday September 18, 2010- I finally shot wide angle at the OU v Air Force Acadamy. This will be my first wide shot used by the team. This was a big day for me. Not only did I shoot by my self but in theory, my video was the most important camera at Gaylord Stadium.


Sooner Vision might have  +$20,000 cameras but that is aimed for audiences to enjoy and consume. I end up shooting shooting for a few elite individuals whom control ALOT of things in Oklahoma based on performance.


I stayed professional and focused all my attention on the game. My boss said I did a great job!


Heres when the minds of a peon, and an elite collide:


My parents drove up for the game and stayed at Embassy Suites. I had breakfast with them in the lobby. While in the buffet, I realized Coach ******* was across from me grabbing some cold eggs as well.


I like to stand out when I feel comfortable


Dannon: Hey coach, great job yesterday.


Coach: I'm sorry?


Dannon: Great job yesterday.


Coach: Do I know you? are


Dannon: Yeah I'm the video guy, I shot the game.


Coach: Oh.


And he continued on.


I understand the these people are quite busy so i didn't care that he came off as a jackass. I found it as a simple case of  little man talking to the Big Man hierarchy. I figured after working with him for three seasons now, he would have recognized my face, but its all good! 


I have learned that this will happen in life no matter what, so might as well grow some cojones! But I feel good knowing that I was able to say something to a coach and make myself known. (most people very intimidated by coaches)


It felt good because about five minutes later, the coach walks by mumbling, "hey, good job filming." I am glad I made an impression on someone who had the courtesy to give me a compliment after coming off a bit rude.

The future

We played Florida state Saturday and had a glorious victory! I always enjoy meeting the opponent video crew to find out how they run their program.

Florida State has a typical athletic video department, shooting all sports and some online streaming. What I found most interesting was their 3d-camera they had for the football production (their version of Sooner Vision).

It got me thinking... Is 3DTV going to overrun regular video all together? Why would a university have a 3d camera when only a few people in the country can actually use a 3D television. Maybe they want to stay ahead of the curve by having top-of-the-line gadgets.

In my opinion, 3DTVs will have a small timeline when it comes to media. I feel 3DTV will only sustain itself until newer technologies merge with it, creating something worth having... like holograms!

Which brings me to ask, how will coaches study video 15 years from now?

Our first game of the season was Saturday night against Utah State. It was an interesting game seeing OU almost lose at home. Everyone was saying how bad we were but I was not surprised the least. After witnessing our team go through two-a-days and long practices, I expected nothing more out of the players and coaches. I never thought we looked good from the start. Hopefully we'll get there!

My co-workers were always saying how good we are going to be this year but I think they watch too much television. The co-workers who watched ESP Network on a daily basis were so wrapped up in all of the hype, they forgot to see how the team has really been performing!

I enjoyed shooting my first OU game in the press box. My boss said I did perfect! I'd hope so, Ive been doing this job for 7 years now. It feels good because this is a very tight niche job. I see every job as an art, its only going to look good if you have experience and dedication.

The University of Oklahoma has a very unique athletic video department compared to other schools. I transfered to OU after attending The University of Southern Mississippi for two semesters. I have been doing athletic video for six years now, and transferred because OU had a job opening for football video, which looks a lot better on a resume.

Southern Miss did video for ALL of the sports, both coaches (video for only coaches and players to study)  and entertainment, so in other words we did the job of Sooner Vision and the football video department combined. 

Even though we have only shot pre-season practices, we prepare for the fun adventures that are ahead of us. Next week we will be playing Utah State and I will be shooting the wide angle shot for the first time at OU.

Quick refence to my job desription: There are five undergrad students who shoot practice every day in our designated locations. For games, it is a little different. On home games, two students shoot each side of the endzone while our boss, Brian, shoots the wide angle. He has never trusted a student to shoot from his angle, so I feel honored that I will be the first!

1love