One of the main reasons why I decide to come to Syracuse University was its great history of developing some of the world’s best sports broadcasters. That being said, I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to listen to Mike Tirico speak. I came in knowing a lot about Tirico and his journey to where he is now as a prominent broadcaster on ESPN and ABC. The thing I appreciated about Tirico was his eagerness to help students and be a source of advice for them as he was persistent in setting a lot of time for questions and answers.
It was fascinating how Mr. Tirico stressed the importance of social media. I am so used to hearing professors constantly mention the importance of facebook and twitter, but this was the first time I have ever heard or seen a celebrity or prominent figure really focus in on social media convey to its importance to students. In the presentation there was even a board with Tirico’s twitter name on it, encouraging students to be active with their social media even while he was talking. While Tirico admitted to not being a Twitter user himself, he was adamant in saying that social media is going to be an unavoidable aspect to our career in a communications business.
As a Broadcast Journalism major, I am fully aware of the amount of work I’m expected to ultimately put into my job when it consists of so many parts: preparation, production, and post production. However, the reason for wanting to pursue such a tedious profession is for its benefits. It was great to hear Mr. Tirico reassure this. While he did stress the amount of preparation and time it takes for him to feel prepared for just one broadcast, it was even better to hear him say he truly loves putting the work in, going to work every day, and wouldn’t trade his profession for any in the world.
