A Day In The Life: Stacey Dales

Hey basketball friends! I would love to share with all of you what a week in my life entails. It's been a busy off-season, as I have been working as a reporter for ABC/ESPN during their college football broadcast�s and will be working both as a reporter and studio analyst for men's and women's college basketball. Right now, I'm fully immersed in college football, which requires me to be on the road 4 days a week.

Sundays are my days to hang out. This may include a nap, running errands, or spending a good chunk of time strolling through every aisle at the grocery store. I love food and love to grocery shop! This is a perfect day for me, and gets me ready for the week ahead!

Mondays are a long day. Once I have my coffee and oatmeal, I head straight for the office desk. I prepare my depth charts for the two teams I'm covering that week and call sports information personnel to dig up interesting nuggets of information that I can add to the broadcast. I also make several phone calls to schedule player/coach interviews for later in the week. Once lunch time rolls around I'm happy because I get to head over to the Lakeshore Athletic Club and meet up with my trainer. Once I'm finished training, I return to my apartment and continue to prepare for the rest of the week.

Tuesdays include our crew conference call in which we recap the last week�s game, go over events for the week, discuss story lines and confirm our schedule for the week. The remainder of the day for me is spent reading and of course, working out. Tuesdays are fun because I usually hit the town at the end of the day with some pals, and enjoy great food and plenty of laughter.

Wednesdays are my busiest day; it is when I connect with coaches and players, which is my favorite part of the job. It's really rewarding to uncover a terrific story about a student athlete, and then apply it on the air. Some of the people I meet are not only phenomenal athletes, but they are amazing people with remarkable stories. I worked with one player this year that is a diabetic and has to administer insulin injections to himself during the course of a game! He was so accommodating in sharing his story, with the hope that it may touch a youngster affected with the disease. This is what makes my job special. The only thing left to do on Wednesday is pack for the next four days on the road.

On Thursdays I awake and head straight for my workout in the gym. I usually get a good tread mill run in, lift weights, then clean up and head for the dreaded airport. This is the part of my job that I don't like... travel. It gets old and tiring, but I limit my complaints, as I have a terrific occupation that gives me an opportunity to see sports at their finest. Once I arrive at the venue, I try to hit practice and take all my interview notes from the week and put them into action.

Fridays are the final day for preparation. I usually have to tape a "cut-in" for the Friday night ESPN game for halftime, which means as the reporter, I have to do a 25 second report (for you the viewer watching at home) about something "newsy" regarding my game Saturday. This could be anything from a great quote that a coach gave me, or a critical injury.

When Saturday finally arrives, I typically head to the stadium two and half hours prior to kickoff. I mingle with coaches on the field, review my interview notes, and occasionally tape a "cut-in" for the pre-game ABC show. Once toe meets leather, I'm running from sideline to sideline tracking stories, and looking to simply enhance the play-by-play crew in the booth whenever possible. Once the game ends, Sunday is awaiting, my favorite day of the week!

Stacey Dales