My Life As A Friesen: My weekend in Nashville

I will promise you this - my weekends are not typically spent in Nashville.

In February, especially, I like to stay curled up in my fleece blanket watching basketball and only leaving my room when I need food. I mean, I do a little more than that I suppose, but you get the idea!

This weekend though, I was fortunate enough to spend the weekend in downtown Nashville, Tennessee with four other students from my college where we attended the CMA College Sports Reporting Workshop.

Basically, what it comes down to is this: Friday from 9 am to 5 pm was spent at the conference. Saturday from 9 am to 12 pm was spent at the conference. I learned a lot so naturally I came up with a Top 10 list that I like to call The Top 10 Things you should know either as a reporter, or maybe just for life in general.

1. Make your interviews a conversation. Stay relaxed.

2. Every great story needs a conflict - players and coaches aren't always going to be 100% at the top of their game ... but also become good at resolving conflict.

3. Age 20 to 25 is the best time of your life to go do whatever it is you want to do.

4. Don't get married to a certain angle of a story.

5. Write stories that interest everyone, which includes people who aren't sports fans.

6. To only have one internship in your life is not enough.

7. You might not always like your first job, but your first job is there to get you your second job.

8. Interview parents, high school coaches, "the little people" because they have the "dirt," not the people directly related to the story.

9. No detail is too small.

10. You have nothing to lose and a whole story to gain.

Of course, I also have to include my favorite Buster Olney quotes from this weekend:

"I am embarrassed for our industry that we would spend five days analyzing whether Marshawn Lynch would talk or not."

"Don't treat (broadcasting interviews) like a hostage situation. It's sports. Have fun."

Aside from great sports talk and learning, I also watched great sports and attended my first ever hockey game! Tickets to the Predators and the Rangers game were included with the conference so naturally I was excited to knock another thing off my bucket list. I do feel like I may have set myself up for failure, or maybe my standards will just be too high now, as I have only attended one hockey game and it happened to be an NHL game with the number one rated team ...

Of course, my time in Nashville wasn't just all about sports!

First, we flew into Nashville - I sat in the very back row next to the window and I am incredibly thankful I didn't get claustrophobic, but I am still slightly disappointed in my lack of a good window seat.

Our hotel wasn't too shabby.

I wish there was a Frothy Monkey in the Midwest. If there is and I don't know about it, SOMEONE PLEASE INFORM ME ASAP! It's so adorable and has delicious food - I especially like their enormous parfaits!