Nice to see you again. Follow me, @SydneyOwen. Thanks for being here!
I knew I liked bartending. Now I know I love it. Why? Because I have gotten to meet some of the coolest people that I wouldn’t usually get to meet. Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald came in when they got in town on Monday, and we’ve had a handful of other athletes as well. Tonight, Friday and Saturday will be the nights that I am on celebrity overload.
The night before last was a perfect example of how bartending will probably help me get a job in an industry other than hospitality.
Four guys come in, and they are hilarious – they like me, I like them, they can take my sass and dish it back, in essence, they are my ideal bar guests. We get to talking the normal bar chat and it turns out my new favorite guests are Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan from Sirius NFL Network’s “Moving the Chains” (and their producers). They’re in town from NYC (Pat) & San Diego (Tim), doing live broadcasts from Radio Row at the Super Bowl Media Center. We get to talking about the business, what they like about it, how they are enjoying their time in Tampa, and by the end of their stay in my section at the bar, I’ve got my name on the list for a Day Pass to the Media Center.
Clearly, knowing how to sell yourself will play to your advantage in almost any situation. This is one of them. Pat, hailing from NY, is bringing his brother in on Friday, he said he and his brother are very well connected in the city (the guy used to manage the Jets, I bet he knows some people), and that they’d get me some contacts in NY about jobs for after graduation.
Penelope, thank you for helping me develop the tools to market myself as a star performer. Ryan, thank you for getting me all set up with Brazen Careerist.
Pause. If you aren’t following me on Twitter, do it, because that’s where I’m posting the pics from Radio Row.
Resume.
Being in PR, I haven’t had a lot of exposure to radio. I mean, have listened to a couple shows in my day, but I haven’t ever been around it. Yesterday was sensory overload, to put it lightly.
My friend Stacey and I pick up our credentials and enter the Super Bowl Media Center. After wandering around for a bit, we make our way to Radio Row. Sirius is the first radio station you see when you enter, making it a very busy place, and also a very good place to post up and see athletes, TV personalities, and other people being interviewed.
The entire back wall of the room is a media table, and as of yesterday, there were already over 350 official Super Bowl press releases on the table. Press kits, releases, media advisories, Pittsburgh publications, Arizona publications – it was like a semester in the classroom on one gigantic table. So naturally, I walked out of there with every feature story written about both teams (via press kits), season-long statistics, quotes from press conferences, and knowledge of every photo opp for the rest of the week.
The pictures tell the fun part of the story, all of the people I saw there, so be sure you follow me on Twitter to catch the pics.