Alumna Cronkite returns to Phoenix’s side line for Utah Jazz – Walter Kronkit School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Q: What is your favorite part of your work?

A: There are so many things. It’s like a dream job again. I pinch every day. The people I work with and the work ethics I am surrounded by are incredible. That pushes me so much. This makes my job easy.

Second, the trip. I travel all the time, a little spoiled by the way we travel and where we stay, but when traveling everywhere, I see friends from all over the country and I go to explore different things and see the world.

And three, the NBA was a dream. I can make my hit before the game and Lebron (James) warms behind me. This is not something that 12-year-old Lauren depicts when playing (NBA) 2K with his friends using Lebron. It’s quite surreal to sit here and be around great generations and just be able to watch basketball. I have the biggest job in the world. It’s amazing.

In: What is your job like every day? What are your tasks and responsibilities?

A: As a side line reporter, I work for the team, so I’m internal with them. But I will train every day or at the end of the media’s availability practice. We talk to a player and if I have to pull someone aside, like our coach or other players to take some things, I do it. I still write small packages, which is funny, for anyone who does not think that local news helps where I was from before, I still like to exercise this muscle to write small stories. So every day it seems a lot like a practice if it’s not a needle day or if there are random events, such as players this year, turkey discs or Christmas shopping, which I just covered. So we go and record this and I get interviews, then assembles it and write it.

Then there are play days. So I’ll go shoot around. We will have an appointment with my production or our broadcast team, so like our game game, our color, producer, directors and things before the game, we all just meet what we want to talk about. I enter or receive some of my hits together that I want to bring in the middle of the game. I have an appointment before the game in the middle of a day because I am in the show before the game about 90% of the time.

Then we go to the game. We go to press conferences before the game with all the coaches. If there are players I have to talk to before the match, I can during the open dressing room. Then we’re just in the game and then I go at full speed. I catch an interview for the coach’s half time and then after the game, or talk to our press conference coach, or I will go to the locker room as soon as I can interviews.

Question: After you made your student at the University of Nevada, why did you choose to come to Cronkite?

A: I think the reason Cronkite standing out was because there were no many schools that specialized only in sports journalism. I didn’t even know that this was something and the fact that Cronkite had a comprehensive master’s degree dedicated to the study of sports, I decided it was a match made in the sky. You can go to any other school and try just to study sports, but we were so submerged in Cronkite, so practically and the opportunities, I watched on the website, (s) people (were) covering the Olympics and the different things. I was like, “Oh, this school looks amazing.” So this was originally when I was like, “I have to apply for it.”

Question: In your time at Cronkite, what did you do to help you prepare for this job?

A: I tried to join or say yes to every opportunity. I was (a production assistant) in a documentary that had nothing to do with sports, but in that sense I was on the net and I have a really good mentor from this documentary. Saying yes to everything, I joined Inferno Intel, just practicing as many muscles as possible.

I think many people stick to be like, “I give a broadcast, so I’ll only take broadcast classes.” I loved to write, I learned to enjoy more reading than a sense of writing at school. In the end, I took a column writing class with Bill, who was cool. It was a great class to continue exercising my thinking muscle in a different sense. To be open to so many things, especially with writing, helped me as a television operator. I’m just saying yes to everything, even if your plate is full and it’s a mess.

Q: What advice do you have for students?

A: Do not catch up too much by following the paths of everyone else. It’s cool to look for other people and see what they did. But know that this is not a race and is not a linear path, especially the jobs we do. So be open to everything, because the world of journalism has changed so much. Just stay on your way and choose what feels right for you, even if it’s difficult, trust your instincts. But don’t compare. Don’t compare.

Question: If you have registered in a jazz game in 30 minutes, how many points do you get?

A: I don’t know if I put anything. Well, you know what? I put at least a good four. I drive to the bucket and get a foul. I paint a foul, even if it’s a flop. We mark the line of free throws, but it won’t be much.