Why did you choose a girl over a job?

Per request from some of you who don’t play my music uploads in my posts, Sean, here’s the song that I was listening to this weekend for your enjoyment while you read my post:



I was catching up on my TV episodes from this past week and came across the latest One Tree Hill show, which was tremendous.

Not only do we get to see Nathan possibly play SlamBall, only one of the greatest games ever invented, but we get so see some storylines develop for everybody. However, this post isn’t about that.

One storyline has Mouse (yes, that’s his name) dating Millicent. Mouse is a sports broadcaster and Millicent is an assistant for Brooke and her clothing store. Anyway, the two of them are a great couple and everything, but he gets a job in Omaha, Nebraska and if you don’t watch the show, it takes place in Tree Hill which I assume is a place like North Carolina but you get the idea.

So Mouse is doing great in Omaha, but Brooke is going through a rough time in her life and Millicent decides to move back to Tree Hill to help her out and run the store again. In this episode, Lucas happens to be in Omaha and catches up with Mouse and they’re talking about the ladies in their life and he talks about how much his success is nothing without Millicent and yada, yada, yada.

You can probably figure out how this one ends…Lucas asks Mouse, “dream job or dream lady?” Mouse answers dream lady, they get into a car and head back to Tree Hill together.

When I watched this, my first thought was, “what an idiot, you always choose the job.”

After I thought this, I wondered why I had that opinion. I should have been saying that it was great for Mouse to find a woman in his life that he wants to be with and he should always go for that, but that just isn’t me and then I tried to think of why I feel this way.

First, I can relate to Mouse in one aspect, we have jobs in sports. I just know that this industry is fun and everything, but you have to always take advantage of the opportunites when they come up because 1) they’re aren’t many and 2) if you turn down something, someone else probably better than you is going to take that job and you fall behind in your career. That’s why I’ve lived in Atlanta, Charleston, S.C. and now Nashville in the past three years. I’m in Nashville for another seven and a half months because of school but I know once May comes, I probably won’t be here. I’ve prepared myself for this because I have to take a job that benefits my career the most, no matter where that is.

When I hear some of my classmates talk about where in the country they want to work or the type of sports job that they have, it sometimes irritates me because it looks like a lack of prospective. They start considering boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancées, where family is, emotional stuff like that and it displeases me greatly.

In our line of work, you have to be flexible with your options because the opportunity that you really want probably isn’t going to happen immediately.

I know that I’m going to have at least two or three more city moves in my career and I can’t let anything get in my way, including a woman. So for Mouse to stunt his sports career for a woman rubbed me in the wrong way. I know that the show will make it work out for the couple, but in real life, that probably doesn’t happen.

And I guess that brings me to point number two with Mouse. I’ve always believed that I’m going to live a solitary life no matter what I try or not try to do. What this means is that I may have some relationships, even a marriage and some kids, but in the end, I will end up alone. Sure I’ll try to make a relationship work, but in the end, I’ll mess it up or she will and I will end up back at the beginning.

Instead, I focus my efforts on work and enhancing my mind and making myself better. I’ve never let anyone inside my life to consider them in my life like Mouse did with Millicent.

I’ve never been in a relationship so I don’t know what its like to consider someone else in making a career decision. Usually my line of thought is, “How does this benefit me?” It’s the only part of my life where I’m selfish, my career and my profession.

Do I want to stay selfish in my career like this my entire life? I really don’t hope so because that sounds bad but I’ve tried to run away from this for my entire life and I’m too old to try to reverse things now.

Maybe I’ll meet my Millicent who will make me think like Mouse, but I doubt it. I guess I’ve become cynical of relationships and cold blooded and I kind of like it.

Until then, I’ll watch the show, hope that they feature more SlamBall and keep it moving.

Your thoughts are always appreciated.