My Time at the UF J-School

The Center for Media Innovation and Research (CMIR) has a few memories for me. I have been there for club meetings, study sessions, and to talk with UF J-School alums on Skype with the video screen. The video calls were really fun and interesting because we, as a club or class, got to ask the alum questions. The alums were so great providing us with their insight, which was great because they were once in our shoes and in the TV business (where we want to be).

            The College of Journalism and Communications have been really great for many students and I. For me personally, I have had many learning experiences in the J-School. The J-School does a great job giving students the best real life experiences inside school. During classes TV1 and TV2, I got a rude awakening into the TV business. There’s a bad aspect of any job out there and I learned everything bad aspect of being a TV reporter. Specifically in TV2, it was tough, my partner and I face all types of challenges where people didn’t want to talk to us, or simply not making deadline. Those were real experiences many other students other schools do not get to have.

            Another thing I learned was to what it meant to wait my turn. I had to wait three years for me to get an opportunity in front of the camera. During those three years I saw friends and classmates get opportunities I wanted. I was constantly passed over for things on-air in both Radio and TV. This past summer, I finally got a chance to do a segment on our school news show. Going through those experiences of getting past over taught me two things: never give up on your dreams and TV/Radio is a cutthroat business. I have the confidence that I can succeed, but if it doesn’t work out I understand.

I understand the risk of the profession and how cruel it can be. I’m thankful and will always be thankful that I got a chance here to live out my TV dreams, even if it means I can barely compete for a job. Decades from now I can look back and be proud of myself for not giving up. I still don’t have any plans of quitting now. It’s still in my heart to be a sportscaster and I feel it when I working a ESPNGainesville at Weimar Hall. I’ll keep giving it my all then dealing the results of the outcome.

Book Review Number 2

The book The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference written Malcolm Gladwell offers great insight being creative and instantly coming up with what can be “game changing” ideas. The introduction in the book itself gives about the early days of Hush Puppies (a shoe brand) and how they branded themselves after their shoes were dropping in sales. The thing was they never made an effort to rebrand, the sales jumped on its own. The shoes suddenly became popular in clubs and later on they expanded their store. When they expended their stores Pee Wee Herman came to the store and asked about the shoes.

            I think we as writers and bloggers can learn a lot of things from just from those stories of Hush Puppies. Hush Puppies never changed their brand or marketing, it worked out for them. As blog writers, whatever we write or put on our blog is out there for people to see. Everyone who views the blog will have different views of whatever is posted. The content you post has to win over the majority of your audience. Their business started with selling Hush Puppies to kids in the East Village and Soho. As students, our blogs has to start somewhere just likes Hush Puppies.

They're Three More

I have three more people and their blog you guys should know. Alex Puller and Caitlyn Burnitis are both girls I have the pleasure of knowing. If you hang around them long enough you'll sense their love for food. Both girls wrote a food blog: whether making it, eating it, and looking for a place that serves it. They both have the passion for food and appropriately should be writing a food blog.

Of course, there is my friend Morgan Frazier. She was a gymnast for the Gators for three years and is a double majoring in Telecommunications and Political Science. Morgan gives you great insight on being a student athlete. My younger brother is a student athlete and he can relate to the struggles.

Three Blog To Inquire

I have written a sports blog in the past, but I writing this sports blog for a class. I have classmates who deserve praise for the work. Kady Marlowe, Lucas Dolengowski, and Will Benner. All three os these people have a passion for sports and sports broadcasting.

Kady Marlowe is a natural on radio and TV. I did a radio show with her and she has a great voice and outgoing personality.

Lucas Dolengowski is involved in almost every sports aspect at the University of Florida. He had done lots of sports broadcast like hosting shows and giving updates on TV. He also is the biggest Gator fan I know.

Will Benner has excellent with both sports and news. He can talk sports like the best of them, but what makes him special is he can relate what's going on in the news to the latest in sports.

Job Hunt

For those who don't know, I've been on the job hunt lately. I graduate in December, but if I can't find employment then I'll stay an extra semester to finish my History minor.

I went to a job fair and did not get a job. The important  is I got my name out there. I just told them my name is Sidney St. Cyr and I want to be a sportscaster then gave them my resume.

I don't have a super impressive resume, but I think I can compete (just barely).

Let's see what happens with my journey to living out my sports TV/ Radio dreams.

Dolphins stun the Steelers

The Miami Dolphins surprised all NFL fans when they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-15. The Steelers were huge favorites to easily beat the Dolphins.

The Dolphins had their offensive line healthy for the first time this season. It led running back Jay Ajayi having a breakout game and Ryan Tannehill not being sack once.

The offensive line was able to open holes for Ajayi, who ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Ajayi ended up being the AFC Offensive player of the week.

The defense had their moments too. They held Antonio Brown, arguably the best wide receiver in the game, to four catches for 39 yards.

Everything that went wrong for the first five games of the year went right. Let's see if we (Dolphins fans) fall back to Earth.

The Cubs opponent for the NLCS

The Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers will play a decisive game five to see who will face the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.

The Cubs will be favored over either of the teams since many predict them to win to World Series.

Both the Nationals and the Dodgers have a recent history not getting past the first round. We will found out on Thursday night who celebrates with champagne and T-shirts.

The Bringer of Rain

I don't know if its a name that was given or came to his mind, but Josh Donaldson has lived up to the name "Bringer of Rain". Donaldson first came on the scene with the Oakland Athletics and he was a pretty good player on a decent team.

As usual, the Athletics trade away players when they can't afford them anymore. Donaldson ended up being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Everyone thought he would benefit from being with the Blue Jays: smaller ballpark, the ball carries more, and a better lineup.

Donaldson reaped all the benefits and won the 2015 American League Most Valuable Player. If there was a jersey to buy, for baseball fans, it would be Josh Donaldson's jersey.

Book Review: Don't Make Me Think

It is amazing how we measure the amount of clicks on a webpage in this current day in age. So many of these pages focus on the amount of clicks, but not the how easy and assessable the webpage is for the web user. The book Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug explains this concept really well.

Whenever I am surfing the web, I never think about how many clicks it takes for me to get to where I want to be or how many webpages I have to go through to get to the page I want to see. I mindlessly click through the many pages until I get what I want. The key word is mindlessly. We live in a world where we want things so much faster.

This book does a great job of giving unique point of views to the way we, as society, sees the internet.

Marlins are the same Fish

The Marlins at this point of the season are done. Many people, who are optimistic, think they still have a chance, but I think its over.

The thing is, at the beginning of the season, I thought this team would not make the playoffs. Many of friend and other Marlins fans complained I was being too negative, but I made several points that predicted to be true.

The pitching staff had too many questions and the batting line up didn't have enough depth. They were above .500 (above average) for most of the year, which I believe is credited to new Marlins manager Don Mattingly.

Once the team started to suffer from injuries, the season started to fall apart. However, the team could probably have a winning record, which I think is a great season for this team.

As a huge Marlins fan, I feel like this is the same old stuff the Marlins do every year. I don't know what it will take for us to get over the hump, but until it happens I have every reason to not be an optimistic fan of the Fish.

Christian Yelich's Power Surge

Mimai Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich recently hit his 20th home run of the season. Coming into the season Yelich has hit 100 career home runs. No one knows where he is getting his power.

Yelich was drafted in the first round by the, then, Florida Marlins. I remember when he was drafted, all of the scouts and experts said he would develop his power in time.

This year, he has matured into this power everyone said would eventually have. The best part about it is he has maintained his high batting average by hitting above .300.

Yelich's potential new power numbers (20 home runs and 100 runs batted in) will be a huge part of the Marlin's foundation for the future. The foundation would be players like Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Jose Fernandez, and of course Christian Yelich.

Dolphins Lose to Seattle

The Dolphins lost 12-10 to the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday. Here are three things I took from the game:

1. Ryan Tannehill actually shine in the 4th quarter. He gave the Dolphins a 10-6 lead in the 4th quarter. The only reason we aren't talking about it is because Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson gave the Seahawks the lead to win the game.

2. The defense is better than we thought. The defense was suppose to be a weak point coming into the season. However, they only gave up 12 points and contained Wilson for most of the game.

3. The offense still struggles to put points on the boards, especially when they're in the red zone. The Dolphins, at one points, scored 3 points in two trips to the red zone.

The Heat's New Chapter

Dwyane Wade's departure from the Heat still is mind blowing to me. After months have gone by since Wade decided to leave Miami, I still cannot stand to see the picture of him in a Chicago Bulls jersey.

Wade spent his entire 13 year career in Miami. I never thought Miami's superstar was leave. I always thought he would be like Kobe Bryant.

However, I understand both sides not being able to come to an agreement. Wade wanted a big contract after sacrificing money years before and the Heat not wanting to handicap themselves by giving an aging veteran lots of money.

With Wade gone, Heat Nation will have to move forward. Center Hassan Whiteside received about 100 million dollars. We will have to see if he can live up to the money and be a superstar center.

Let's not forget about last year's rookies Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson. Both showed promise last season and are expected to see improvement from Heat fans.

The Miami Heat have many questions about not only this season, but also their future. No one know how this team will be built. I believe at the end of the season we will start to have answers to the construction of this team moving forward.