I know people in high places

OK I don't really know them, but you got a tad bit envious of me eh?

Between Thursday and Friday, I got two good opportunities to meet some famous personalities. Last week I passed up the chance to interview the Prime Minister of Kenya because of a previously scheduled trip to Denver (no regrets in a million lifetimes,) and suffered one of the biggest embarrassments as a journalist when I found that a really good interview I'd had with tennis player James Blake never recorded. I was quite pleased when I got to interview actor Kal Penn, who's the star of the Harold and Kumar movies and TV show House, and who's now a White House official.

Originally, Penn, whose real name is Kalpen Modi, wasn't supposed to grant an interview. In fact, although his title is associate director of public engagement, I had received prior instructions that I'd only be allowed to get video footage with no audio whatsoever. Now what journalist will be satisfied with that?

So using my charm, which is quite evident in the short clip I posted below, I not only talked my way into an exclusive interview with him (beat that local TV stations with bigger budgets!) I was also allowed to tape the first 15 minutes of his round table discussion with a select number of FAMU students and alumni. Might I add that he pronounced my name quite eloquently that I may have offered him an honorary citizenship to Nigeria.



On Friday, my broadcast mentor Mike Walker invited me to a taping of the "Architects of Hip-Hop," a talk show hosted by hip-hop great Christopher "Play" Martin, which is being taped at my school. Play has been a visiting professor at FAMU the past year and created the show to interview the legends of this genre of music, and his first guest was pioneer Big Daddy Kane.

For more than two hours, the approximately 30 people in the room (not including the production team,) listened to BDK talk about his highs and lows in the game, and just about nothing was off limits. So what we witnessed was one hip-hop legend, plugging the mind of another-no holds barred. I won't go into any specifics especially since I don't know what audience would get to watch this yet. But I will say that I was one of only four studio guests who got to ask him a question (if you know how involved in hip-hop I am, thanks to my sister Ngo, then you'd know how big this was for me to do this.) So barring being cut out of the final product in the editing room, you may get to see me on TV wearing my fan hat instead of my journalism hat.

Anyway, here's two pictures of me with both legends:

The Last Hurrah!

I produced my last newscast today, and it was a great way to end the show. The only thing that would've made it better was having my professor Leonard Horton, and my weather anchor Jessica Green, there. Professor Horton had an illness in his family and Jessica (from what I heard) was so pale that it was evident that she was struggling to not cancel on us. Both of them left early, but I'm extremely happy we represented them in their absence. If things had gone wrong, I'm sure they may have wondered if their absence contributed to it.

Earlier in the day, before he left, professor Horton asked me if I was feeling bittersweet. At the time, all I could muster was an 'ask me later.' At that time, I was still dealing with producing the show that I didn't have the time to think about what I had survived in the last 15 weeks.

But now I do. And I definitely am more appreciative of this experience I've had to go through. Not everyone can get to include a producer credit on their resume, which, if anyone who's talked to me on Tuesdays can attest is an arduous process when you are a virgin to the process.

I didn't do it for the potential awards I could get. In fact, I was pretty upset to find out I was tabbed to produce. But now that I'm done, and especially after closing the show on such a good note, few hours after I accepted an award as top graduate student of the year, I'm feeling a little bittersweet about walking away from the show because after all my great and not so great days, this was my show. This was my love this semester.

Here's a picture of my third award so far:

Tallahassee Track Club

Since I blogged about the upcoming track & field World Championships this summer, it's only right that I share this story I produced about a group of professional track athletes who train down here in Tallahassee and are coached by FSU men's sprints coach Ken Harnden.

Zimbabwe native Brian Dzingai, a former FSU sprinter, unofficially started this group and recruited Romanian Angela Morosanu into the fold. Morosanu is a 400m hurdler and counts a European U-23 Championship title and World Indoor Championship bronze medal under her belt. Brit Michael Bingham only turned pro a little more than two years ago, but already has two silver medals in the 400m and 4x400m relay at the 2010 European Championships.

All three athletes and the two others who train fully with them, have their sights set on Daegu, which will be a precursor to next year's Olympics. Here's the video. Let me know what you think.



I couldn't use Bingham's soundbite in the story, but I put together a short clip on training in Tallahassee in a separate video.

Terhemba Makurdi Tennis Groundstrokes

While posting up some of my videos on YouTube, I stumbled upon this video of my brother who's a tennis coach. So I thought I'd share it with you guys. I didn't realize my brother was well known in the tennis circles. But this past weekend, while covering Senior Day for FAMU's tennis team, I met a coach/semi-pro player who knew him. And he isn't the first. I've met a few people who've dropped his name, and even found a Yahoo answer about tennis coaching in which his name was dropped as well. So while I can't reward my brother in any way, I can at least acknowledge his good work. Love you bro.

Interesting year in track & field

This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for track & field. The upcoming World Championships will serve as a precursor to next year's Olympic Games in London, and some key match-ups are worth following.

Everyone knows about the Usain Bolt-Tyson Gay rivalry in the 100m. Ordinarily, we wouldn't be talking about this rivalry as a legitimate one, if Gay didn't defeat Bolt in their final race against each other last year. If you didn't think this was a rivalry worth tracking, then check out this interview Bolt gave to USA Today about their friendship or lack of one.
http://www.universalsports.com/blogs/blog=mr.universe/postid=528701.html#bolt+gay+fast+friends+think+again

On a side note, the editors of this video really dropped the ball when they showed a picture of Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey during the subject of drug use in track & field. I hope they correct it soon, because it could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Another match-up I intend to follow is in the women's 400m. Sanya Richards-Ross has dominated this race the past four years, but has always faltered at the Olympics. To make it interesting Allyson Felix, who's been just as dominant in the 200m, is going for the sprint double. I don't think any woman has won the 200m and 400m at the Olympics since French woman Marie José-Pérec did at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

I'll continue to update you guys on some key races to follow at the upcoming World Championships in South Korea, to give you an early scouting report for next year's Olympics.

Back from hiatus

Hey guys,

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but as you can imagine, my last semester in grad school is winding down so I have very little time to dedicate to anything that doesn't produce a grade necessary for me to possess a diploma with a master's of science in broadcast journalism degree.

On a positive note, I spent my weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, where I received an award that I'm very proud of.



The story I won this award for was one of the earlier ones I wrote involving the actual World Cup coverage. Fans who couldn't afford tickets to matches could go to a number of fan parks around the country to simulate the stadium experience.

It's funny this ended up being a winning story because I actually didn't like it much. I had caught the cold and lost my voice while out there (this was before my dreaded flu bout, which came about a week to the end of our trip.) So I had to yell above the crowd noise to be heard. Well, I felt I overdid it and just couldn't see what my professor, Joe Ritchie, saw in this package.

I guess he was right in saying it was a winning piece, though I suspect one very excited lady-- look out for someone spotting a huge pair of glasses-- played a huge role in getting me this award.

Thanks to all of you have been supportive through my entire master's journey, and as my time in Tallahassee winds down, I must say I'm grateful for every experience I've had; even the painful ones.

Now about that third place finish, I'd sure like to see who finished ahead of me.

**Click on the link below to watch the package.**

‘It’s like being in the stadium’