Our baseball team lost a tough home game recently and afterwards I told somebody that the whole experience was worthless.
Some background. The Bruins were playing a team I felt was inferior for them to play because the opponent was an NAIA school and it meant more work for me because it was a home game that I had to staff and manage, game notes and programs to prepare and other things that I didn’t want to do on a Tuesday night.
The grind of the baseball season has been slowly getting to me lately and furthermore, the scoreboard malfunctioned before the start of the game so I had to make extra, monotonous announcements on the PA. For the first time all season, I was tired of working at a baseball game. All of these emotions culminated with a loss.
At that moment, I felt that the whole thing was worthless, but that’s not true.
The wins and losses or peaks and valleys of our lives all have meanings we may or may not know at the time.
The main thing that I learned from that game was that I need to bring the same intensity and dedication to my job no matter what the circumstances are. I wasn’t focused on being the best SID possible for that game and that was wrong. I need to prepare for those games against NAIA schools the same way I would prepare if Belmont was playing in the College World Series against the best team in the nation.
I think it comes back to not looking at my situation as small. I love Belmont, I really do, but it’s such a small speck in the big world of college athletics. I know that some of you have an affinity for the school and may be offended by some of the things that I may say. Its sometimes tough working at Belmont and giving your maximum effort and people not caring because it’s a mid-major. Better yet, it’s hard for someone like me who is obsessive about sports and can name half the teams in the Big West, WAC, MAAC and every other conference in the country to hear people ask me what and where Belmont is when I tell them where I work. Subconsciously, this has made me look like Belmont and some of the teams that we play not worth my effort. That’s hard to say but it’s the truth.
Do I want to work in a bigger school in a major conference in the future? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. But I do know this. I want to be a senior college administrator in the future and I have to go through these experiences at Belmont before I can reach that goal. Even if that means sitting in a press box in front of a darn near empty stadium on a Tuesday night with a crappy scoreboard and seeing my team losing but trying hard to get better and find itself.
Just like life, it’s never worthless.
Some background. The Bruins were playing a team I felt was inferior for them to play because the opponent was an NAIA school and it meant more work for me because it was a home game that I had to staff and manage, game notes and programs to prepare and other things that I didn’t want to do on a Tuesday night.
The grind of the baseball season has been slowly getting to me lately and furthermore, the scoreboard malfunctioned before the start of the game so I had to make extra, monotonous announcements on the PA. For the first time all season, I was tired of working at a baseball game. All of these emotions culminated with a loss.
At that moment, I felt that the whole thing was worthless, but that’s not true.
The wins and losses or peaks and valleys of our lives all have meanings we may or may not know at the time.
The main thing that I learned from that game was that I need to bring the same intensity and dedication to my job no matter what the circumstances are. I wasn’t focused on being the best SID possible for that game and that was wrong. I need to prepare for those games against NAIA schools the same way I would prepare if Belmont was playing in the College World Series against the best team in the nation.
I think it comes back to not looking at my situation as small. I love Belmont, I really do, but it’s such a small speck in the big world of college athletics. I know that some of you have an affinity for the school and may be offended by some of the things that I may say. Its sometimes tough working at Belmont and giving your maximum effort and people not caring because it’s a mid-major. Better yet, it’s hard for someone like me who is obsessive about sports and can name half the teams in the Big West, WAC, MAAC and every other conference in the country to hear people ask me what and where Belmont is when I tell them where I work. Subconsciously, this has made me look like Belmont and some of the teams that we play not worth my effort. That’s hard to say but it’s the truth.
Do I want to work in a bigger school in a major conference in the future? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. But I do know this. I want to be a senior college administrator in the future and I have to go through these experiences at Belmont before I can reach that goal. Even if that means sitting in a press box in front of a darn near empty stadium on a Tuesday night with a crappy scoreboard and seeing my team losing but trying hard to get better and find itself.
Just like life, it’s never worthless.
1 comment:
You are wise grasshopper.
Post a Comment