BC Lions - Media Relations Contract - 2003
The most interesting (and terrifying) experience with The B.C. Lions was my involvement with their 50th anniversary celebration.Part of the promo for the 50th season was the raffle of a 1954 Chevrolet Bel-Air. We took the car out to the “Abbotsford Car and Boat Show” – and I was pegged as the guy who would be driving it onto the floor. This little adventure had the potential be be a Lion sized disaster.
Don't hit the Corvette or knock over the Popcorn Stand
Now, I was terrified. I had never driven a three-in-the-tree standard, and ended up sputtering and stalling the thing all over the place. To make matters more stressful, I had to navigate the hulking car past a vintage Corvette, a high-performance speed boat, a brand-new truck, and a concession stand.
“Why didn’t I get my Grandpa to teach me how to do this on his old truck?” I said to myself. Fortunately, I didn’t hit anything.
Media Guide: writing a 262 page book is about as fun as it sounds
Working for The B.C. Lions was very different from working for the Vancouver Canucks. For starters, I was with the Lions during the off-season, which is very different from the regular season. There were no games, most of the players were back home during the off-season, and I was faced with the daunting challenge of updating the 262 page team media guide.
Working on the media guide was a classic stretch project - I did a book plan, worked with the graphics people, and did the grunt work of writing player bios and pouring through the stats to get the whole thing updated.
That isn’t to say my experience there wasn’t fun – I worked with two other interns who also went to SFU – and they got to work with Lions legend Lui Passaglia in the Community Relations department. For the record, my desk was kitty corner to Lui’s, and I still have a golf shirt that he gave me.
Working for the Lions made me a better communicator
The best part of working for The Lions is that I had a ton of responsibility. As I mentioned, I put together the Lions 2003 Media Guide (which was an astronomical amount of work). I also updated the players portion of the website, got involved in promo’s for the Community relations department, wrote media releases, and even got to name a major initiative for the club that is still happening – Lions In the House. Lui asked us interns to brainstorm names for a new program he was putting together. I came up with about 20 names, and he really liked “Lions in the House.” (Click for the Homepage for Lions in the House)
Every time I hear Lions in the House, I smile to myself.
