At the Starting Line

The first two days of working at ESPN Star Sports has been a great experience. It first hit me Monday when I went up to the third floor of the New Tech Park building. As the elevator doors opened, life size pictures of Tiger Woods and Wayne Rooney met me in the hallway, yep this is a sports station. I don’t know why, but somehow I guess it hadn’t hit me enough that I’d be working for ESPN. The reception area was gorgeous. There was a basketball hoop on the side and a wall of televisions tuned in to the ESPN networks around the world-simply awesome. The beginning of the first day was mostly HR work as you probably might guess. Then, I went back to the newsroom. It is definitely the biggest I’ve ever been in. There’s a graphics section, a feature show area and then there’s the news area where I work. The first day, I was really trying to meet people and figure out how things worked. ESPN News at the moment here does not have anchors. All the highlights are voiced over and compiled into twenty-minute segments. I also learned some of the content that comes out of Singapore-SC India, SC Hong Kong, SC Taiwan and SC Asia. I think this stuff is so cool. Singapore in itself just seems to be a land full of all cultures and the station is a microcosm of that. The highlight (yeah, I’m using that word on purpose considering highlights are what I think about non-stop) of the day was getting to be a part of SportsCenter Asia. While I had a very, very small part running the teleprompter, I still loved it.

On the way out of work, I was ready to get a bite to eat, but I really didn’t know what to do. I took the MRT back to near my hotel when I realized there were two malls in the area. I hate to admit this, but I ended up eating at McDonald’s for dinner. Can you believe that? It took less than two days in Singapore before I ate that junk. I don’t like going there in the states either, but this just made the most sense for the day. I walked around one of the malls just to see what was there. I heard Singapore has more than 50 malls on the island and I can believe it. It seems like there are shopping centers near every MRT stop. I don’t mind one bit though because that often means there are places for me to eat. What I really can’t understand is how there are so many high-end shops. It’s amazing. Tommy Hilfigger, Swatch, you name it, this island’s got it.

The second day of work didn’t even start at work. I had to swing by the Ministry of Manpower first to continue some paperwork to actually get an employment pass. It was very simple. I had to get some passport-sized photos (there was a shop right next door) and then I had to take some thumbprints at M.O.M. The whole process took maybe 15 minutes. After, I hopped on the MRT to work to start my first official training day. The main editing software I’ll be using is called Headline. It’s hard for my hands to break out of their stubborn AVID ways, but I’m trying to learn the system. At the moment, it doesn’t seem to be too tough, just a bit finicky. Hopefully, I’ll learn the tricks to make it easier. That was the main focus for the first half of my day. Later in the day, I tried to focus on learning a bit more about ENPS. That is the scripting system we use. I’ve never used it, but it looks very nice, and I’m positive I’ll figure it out. I asked one of the guys I worked with if I could work on a highlight, and he let me cut the Golden State-Indiana NBA game. It didn’t seem to difficult with the easy focus of Monta Ellis going off for 45 points, 5 boards and 5 steals. As I finished writing the script, I was told I could voice it if I wanted to. Did I want to voice a highlight that would go on ESPN News throughout parts of Asia? Heck yeah I did. Then the producer came over and asked if I could also voice the Mavs-Philly highlights. Of course, I was even happier to call those as Jason Terry had hit a great shot to get Dallas another win. This was all such a thrill for me. While I’m sure I’m blowing this a bit out of proportion, it really makes me feel good that I’m getting this awesome opportunity. I ran prompter again for SC Asia, which was fun. I really like watching the producer booth the show. He has a very relaxed and yet controlled way of doing it. Plus, the more standard producer in me likes to see how he interacts with the anchors and monitors the clock. The control room is beautiful and the studio is very impressive (and might I say tricky, but that’s to be a secret).

After work, I headed to another mall and another set of food choices. This time I tried a little café that served a dish called Chicken Tikka. I didn’t buy a drink, so I got lucky that the food wasn’t too spicy. After, I went around to look at some of the shops. I found a couple of shoe stores (of course, my guilty pleasure is shoe shopping even if I don’t always buy). In one of the stores I got to see a Singapore national team football jersey. It looks pretty cool and at some point I’m sure I will buy something like it.

That about wraps up day 2 and 3 in Singapore. I’ve been very tired while here, but I’m just blaming that on a combination of jet lag and adjusting to a new country. The Internet at the hotel is very expensive, so I’ve been without it for the last couple of days. I really miss having it. It is sad, but I miss being able to check Facebook, Skype and the other social networking sites. It’s okay though, I will get it soon I hope.

That shall do for now…until next time, good morning, good afternoon and good night.

Michael