For the first time in Super Bowl history, the biggest event in American sports is in a state neighboring Illinois. Two Bradley students are taking advantage of this opportunity in a big way.
Imagine getting to escort two-time Super Bowl champion Rodney Harrison around town or ordering infamous sports broadcaster Al Michaels’ lunch. This is reality for two senior sports communication majors, Josh Koebert and Zach Keesee.
“Since we were on a time crunch [Harrison] said ‘you have to be my bad guy if anyone asks for my autograph.’ That was pretty cool,” Koebert said.
Both were selected by NBC/Universal to become interns for the Super Bowl and have been working since a week before the game. So far, both have been working in media tracking, which is to find articles that mention NBC and the Super Bowl.
“We search the major newspapers for any article that pertains to NBC Sports and mentioning what they are doing with the Super Bowl coverage or how the NHL All-Star game ratings were,” Keesee said. “We compile that into a big document and send it out to NBC executives so they know what kind of coverage the company is getting.”
Indianapolis was awarded the Super Bowl in May 2008 and is only fourth time the game will be played in a traditionally cold-weather city.
“It’s hectic,” Koebert said. “There are people everywhere. Everything downtown is incredibly close and Indianapolis connected all the important things by skywalks.”
As far as the game goes between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, Keesee can see it going either way.
“I’m going to pick the [New York] Giants because they can shut down New England’s run game and then play the pass,” he said. “The Giants defensive line will take over from there.”
Overall, Keesee is happy to intern for NBC at the Super Bowl and hopes it leads him to greater job opportunities.
“It’s another great experience that I can add to my resume, and I think that’s going to be big time,” Keesee said. “But I think what’s more important are the connections I can make during the internship because I’m hoping they will lead to a job down the line.”
