2 posts from February 2009

So I first come requesting your prayers from now until 8:55am ET on Monday morning. At 9:00am ET on Monday morning, I will be involved in an interview of a lifetime that could change my life. I will be interviewing with Mr. Pete Gianesini, the Senior Director of Programming with ESPN Radio. I guess I should share the journey thus far that has gotten me thus far that has led me to things juncture in my life.

I was born on June 24th, 1987 to two humble parents in Athens Regional Hospital...Okay, just kidding, I wont go back that far. Let me start with my applying for these internships. I found a couple of internships that I was interested in on the ESPN.com careers page. I wrote a nice cover letter for the two that I selected to apply for and attached it with my resume and submitted it (on Feb 4). I didn't expect to hear from them for awhile, if at all. I had/have applied to a few more internships, including internships with the Southern Conference, USTA Southern Section, and hopefully if I can write the cover letter, Chick-fil-a Bowl. Back to my story. I was up this past Monday morning, working on editing a video for a class presentation. My phone started going off and it was an "860" area code, which I did not recognize, so I answered it. It was a lady from ESPN Human Resources and she was calling for an intial interview. I assumed that they liked my resume and cover letter enough to give me a call. I was very excited and proceeded to have about a 15-20 minute interview with her. It went really well, I could tell she was either really impressed with me or she did a really great job of faking it to make me feel good about myself. She said that she was going to forward my resume and cover letter to the respective hiring managers of the internships (aka I "passed" my initial interview) and that I should hear from the hiring managers in the next month. I was excited, but I didn't start dreaming (which I am still not) because I know that these internships are really competitive and that it would be about a month before I would receive a call. I was wrong. This morning, while I was at work at Sonny's BBQ, I checked my phone to see what the date was so that I could mark an expiration date for some food that I was preparing. I saw that I had a missed call and a voicemail. It was the same "860" area code, so I got really excited and listened to the message. It was the Senior Director of Programming for ESPN Radio, meaning the guy that is in charge of all the content that is on ESPN Radio...aka a "bigwhig".  I was super excited. He wanted me to call him back to set up a time to have an interview. I called him that afternoon and now I have waiting for me an interview that could open my door to the company that I have wanted to work for, for the longest time. I said years ago that my dream job would be to work for ESPN, and now, I might just get that opportunity of a lifetime.

Here is a list of things that I want to do throughout my life. I broke them down into three categories, which are activities, places, and abilities. A couple of them don't really fit into a real category, but I still just stuck them into one of the categories.

Michael Young's Bucket List:

Activities:
1. Work for ESPN
2. Get a tattoo
3. Coach in a youth athletic league
4. Attend every major sporting event at least once
[MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, PGA, Tennis, NASCAR, NCAAFB, NCAAB, etc.]
5. Get a short story written and published
6. Meet the president [whoever is currently in office]
7. Shoot a gun
8. Find a $20 bill on the ground
9. Solve a crime
10. Be a contestant on Jeopardy

Places:
11. Visit Machu Picchu (Peru)
12. Visit Stonehenge
13. Visit every state in the USA
14. Visit the Pyramids (Egypt)
15. Visit Angel Falls (Venezuela) or Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe)
16. Visit the Great Wall of China
17. Visit the Inca ruins (Lake Titicaca, Mexico)
18. Visit Mount Rushmore
19. Visit Redwood National Forest
20. Visit Philadelphia, PA (again)

Abilities:
21. Learn the Thriller dance
22. Make an impact on somebody's life
23. Have a room full of books
24. Learn how to dive off a diving board
25. Learn how to play the bass guitar
26. Learn how to play golf
27. Learn how to cook a 5 course meal
28. Learn how to speak Spanish
29. Be a husband
30. Be a father