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Callan McClurg
It's been far too long since I've been able to write for you all, and I do apologize for the delay. Between doing the course curriculum, seeing family, working or covering sports for school, it's been a long time since I've written on here. Anyway, I figured this would be the best time to catch you up with a few milestones that I accomplished in the past few months for RRF, which also saw me be recognized for the "Apprentices in Action" section of this weeks RRF Newsletter!
It's great to be recognized by RRF this week in the newsletter for all the work I've done both inside and outside of the KRLY studios in Alpine. Enjoy these two great stories about the two very special professional athletes that took time out of their busy and hectic schedules to go one on one with me in exclusive interviews and announcing some High School Basketball for a paycheck! Enjoy!
CANDACE PARKER INTERVIEW: 9/26/14: Everyone in some fashion has a bucket list that want to accomplish or finish in their life, mine just happens to be a bucket list of professional athletes that I would love to sit down one on one and just have a nice conversation with them and talk about their youth and their career across high school, college, the pros and what they see themselves doing in the future when their career comes to a close.
Through the wonders of technology and social media, I was truly blessed, honored and privileged to be able to check one athlete off my interview bucket list, one of which whose career has been under my microscope since her freshman year at the University of Tennessee..
I reached out via Twitter to Candace Parker of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks back on August 31st, asking her if it was possible for me to be able to conduct an interview with her as part of a school assignment for the "Sports" chapter of my school curriculum. Initially, I wasn't expecting to hear back from her because of how busy her schedule is day in and day out, plus this was a professional athlete that I had reached out to as well, for a school assignment.
However, the biggest shock of my young sports broadcasting career came just three days later, when Candace DID respond back to me and saying "Ok let me know when you need it by." Yes indeed, this was in fact, the biggest shock I've ever felt that a professional athlete would take time out of their busy schedule to spend time to talk with me one on one for an extended period of time still shocks and surprises me.
After getting confirmation for the interview from Candace, I thought I had dropped the ball because of the timing of when I had asked her for the interview. Reason being, Candace was supposed to represent the USA Women's National Basketball Team at the 2014 FIBA World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey and training camp for the tournament started a week after she gave me confirmation that she would be able to do the interview. I figured that I had screwed up a golden opportunity to interview one of my favorite athletes even before I became a professional announcer or writer. However, I needed almost every ounce of Irish luck instilled in me to be sort of "Saved By The Bell"
The night before Team USA opened training camp, Candace announced on Twitter that she would be missing the tournament due to surgery for a nagging knee injury that hindered her play down the stretch of the season and that she would be missing the tournament for her surgery and her rehab, seems like I caught a pretty big break in preserving the interview with her for school.
Then came the time where I thought I did lose the interview with her because I had not heard any word from her regarding a date and time when we would do it, but I did reassure myself by telling myself
"I'm on her radar, she did okay the interview, don't be that person..." Don't be that one person that will consistently ask her every hour, minute and second about doing the interview, because then I would make me look bad and may have burnt my bridges with her in the future. I remained extremely patient during the waiting period because of the magnitude of what this interview meant and the significance of it going forward.
Candace reached out to me on September 25th, telling me that YES, we were still on for the interview and to send my contact info to her so she could get a hold of me for the interview and that we'd do it the next morning.
The night before the interview, for the first time I think ever in my life I was a nervous wreck. I could not fall asleep until around 3:30 or am and the interview was at 8:30am. This was indeed the most nervous I've ever been, simply because this was the first time ever that I'd be able to interview a professional athlete yes, but at the same time it's an athlete that I've watched since her college career at Tennessee, and in a way I've built a close knit friendship with over Twitter and Instagram.
We were slated for an 8:30am start to the interview, but Candace had gotten held up at her daughter's school and that she needed another 30 minutes, I told her it wasn't a problem and that I was on her schedule to start and not my schedule. Ultimately, a half an hour turned into two hours with the infamous LA Traffic.
At 10:30am, we got started and for 41 minutes, had a very awesome and exciting one on one conversation about her growing up and her careers across High School, College, WNBA and International Basketball, then we stepped off the court and talked about a few of her favorite things and her favorite teams to watch before we wrapped our conversation.
After the interview was posted later that day, it spread like wildfire from my friends, family, WNBA writers, Candace Parker herself...and even her Dad Larry also listened and help spread the word about the interview.
This was by far, the most rewarding and successful day of my young broadcasting career. It was so rewarding for me to able to spend that much time talking to a professional athlete yes, but once again talking to an athlete that I have so much love and respect for since I watched her play in college and now to see her thriving in the WNBA.
CANDICE WIGGINS INTERVIEW: 10/10/14: | I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, but it seems like there's a lot of similarities, connections and close knit friendships with and between the two athletes that I had the tremendous and sincere honor and privilege of sitting down with for one on one conversations these past few weeks.
For instance, Candace Parker and myself both are 6'4", we both have won national championships, Most Valuable Player awards and were named to the All-Conference/All-League teams in our respective sporting careers, so it was only fitting that the first pro athlete interview I ever did was with her back a few weeks ago. However, my second pro athlete interview has an extremely close connection between myself and them, and it all begins in one specific city.
There are so many reasons why I love living in San Diego. A comfortable climate year around, the beaches, the sun, the food, etc. However, it's tough living in San Diego and being a sports fan as well. The city has not won a professional sports championship in the Core Four (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) since the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) defeated the Boston Patriots 51-10 to capture the 1963 AFL Championship.
Since then, the Padres have gone to the World Series twice (1984 vs. Detroit, 1998 vs. NY Yankees) and the Chargers went to the Super Bowl once (1994 vs. San Francisco), neither team was able to come away with the big prize. The 1984 Padres lost to the Detroit Tigers, who won 104 games that season and started the year 35-5. The 1998 Padres managed to beat the Houston Astros (102 Wins) in the NLDS, and the Atlanta Braves (106 Wins) to reach the World Series, where they succumbed to the 114 Win, New York Yankees. The 1994 Chargers lost to the San Francisco 49ers in that year's Super Bowl 49-26.
San Diego at one point did house two NBA franchises. The Rockets landed in San Diego in 1967 and played in San Diego until the team moved to Houston in 1971. Then the Clippers sailed into town in 1978 and played in San Diego until 1984 when the franchise, owned by former embattled owner Donald Sterling left San Diego to forever become second fiddle to the mighty Lakers in Los Angeles.
While San Diego has struggled to win in the Core Four, other professional teams across different sports have brought championships to America's Finest City. The San Diego Sockers, across multiple Indoor Soccer leagues have won 14 championships (10 titles in 11 years) and the San Diego Gulls of the West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) won 5 Taylor Cups, and were the superior team of the league from 1995-2005.
In spite of San Diego's struggles to capture professional sports championships, I share a connection with this past week's interview guest, simply because we both call America's Finest City home sweet home, and this interview broke the ice!
Once again, through the wonders of the day in age technology and social media, I was able to nab an interview with resident San Diegan and current Los Angeles Sparks Guard Candice Wiggins. In case you're saying to yourself, "that name sounds familiar!" It should. As you may know, Candice's dad Alan Wiggins was a former Major League Baseball player, who played for the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres and briefly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Alan was a major contributor to one of the seasons in San Diego sports history that is listed above, the 1984 San Diego Padres season that saw the franchise punch their ticket to the club's first World Series appearance in team history. Alan is best know for scoring the go ahead run late in Game 5 of the 1984 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs, on a base hit by Tony Gwynn.
Even though our families aren't close and we don't know each other personally (yet), there is a very close knit friendship between myself and Candice, specially over Twitter and Instagram and at both Sparks games I attended this past WNBA season. Much like my interview with Candace Parker, I had asked Candice via LinkedIn and e-mail if she was available to be a guest, as a backup in case my interview with Parker fell through the cracks and I needed someone to step in to fill the void. In a timely matter, Candice got back to me and said she was for sure interested in doing the interview with me, and was gracious enough to provide me with a date, time and her contact information.
It's nothing new that people will Bucher my name (Cal-lan), but the best part of the interview, even before it started was she didn't butcher my name (Yes, that was the best part of the interview before it started). When we did get the interview started, it was honestly, the best hour and 3 minutes of my career spent, just hearing all the stories she had to tell of her relationship with Tony Gwynn, how she played volleyball against 18 year olds at age 14, her heart to heart conversation with Pat Summit, the story of her father and his professional baseball career, and what she see's herself doing in the future.
The overall highlight of this interview, was that Candice told me that THIS WAS THE BEST INTERVIEW SHE'S EVER DONE IN HER CAREER. That comment made me light up like a Christmas Tree on Christmas Day. For a professional athlete to say that this interview was the best they've EVER done and given in their entire career almost made me choke up a bit because that is the nicest response I've ever received from anyone about either a game that I've broadcasted or a show I hosted. For a professional athlete to say something like that is another reason why I always end posts on social media with #SoBlessed and #ILoveMyJob, because I have been so blessed in so many different ways to do what I get to do day in and day out, and that's sit down in front of my laptop on either YouTube or BlogTalkRadio and just live out my hopes, dreams, expectations, and fantasies of one day being able to do my passion on Television or the Radio.
In closing, with Candice taking the overseas basketball seasons off and with her staying in either LA or San Diego, I thought it was only fitting and out of generosity that I returned the righteous favor to her for being so kind and gracious to take the time out of her day to chat with me, that I e-mailed her invitation to come out to watch a San Diego Sockers home game this upcoming season on me, since I work for the team, I could get her and whoever she wants to bring to the game some free tickets.
Either way, our conversation helped "BREAK THE ICE" on the San Diego Sports Scene.
UNDER ARMOUR HOLIDAY CLASSIC: 12/26-12/30/14: As the newsletter mentioned, I had gone to visit RRF at the Los Angeles Center Studios the week of Christmas to meet up and chat with Alex and Jay about how the course was going and how much they both were impressed by my work ethic both with the course and all of my other side projects. It was towards the tail end of our meeting that Jay had told me about a job opening with an upstart high school sports broadcasting website based out of Chicago called High School CUBE was going to be heading out to San Diego to cover the Under Armour Holiday Classic, one of the nation's elite and longest running basketball tournament in the nation.
Jay put me in contact with HSC's headman Dan Casppano to let him know that I had interest in helping his crew out for the tournament. After a stop for lunch in Pico Rivera and on my way home, Dan had called me offering me a job for the tournament as an announcer, which included me filling out my first ever contract to work with a company, a check for $300 for working the tournament and working alongside two other tremendous colleagues in our producer for the tournament in Jim McAteer and my wingman on the broadcasts Phil Faso.
It was the my first ever professional experience of broadcasting, everything from the professional dress to the high tech and professional equipment used during the duration of the tournament. I would end up announcing 32 of a possible 48 games over three days, that's equates to announcing 8 games per day. It was one of the most tiring, yet rewarding experiences of my career. My 32 games included everything from slam dunks, buzzer beaters, comebacks and so much great and amazing feedback from my colleagues and parents watching from around the country.
I cannot thank these tremendous individuals mentioned in this blog post enough for welcoming me with open arms, and once again giving me the chance to live out my hopes, dreams, expectations and fantasies of one day doing my dream job as a professional.
THANK YOU TO:
Candace Parker: WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks
Candice Wiggins: WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks
Alex: RRF
Jay: RRF
Dan Casppano: High School CUBE
Jim McAteer: High School CUBE
Phil Faso: High School CUBE
