How to be a Steeldog: Chapter Eight, The Final Chapter
Chapter Eight: Final Thoughts After Five Years
So many memories and stories…so little time to tell them before I’m gone. This is a special place, with equally special people. Easily my favorite part of working for this team has been my co-workers. Every company loves to promote itself as a “family.” When you work in sports, what with the long hours, tight deadlines, mountains of work and the occasional short fuses, you tend to become very close to those whom you go to battle with. During the season, you will spend much more time with these men and women then you will your own family. So make the most of it. Welcome them with open arms into your life.
For me, working in sports brought home the reality of sports. When you’re a fan, it’s hard to see black and white while wearing rose-colored glasses. Sport is business. At times, it’s a dirty business. You will most likely see other teams in the af2 doing unsavory things. You’ll see other owners short-cutting on essential things like training staff. We heard reports this year of a team with an inebriated trainer on the sidelines. Last season, we visited a team who didn’t even have one at the game. Our own staff had to attend to one of the opposing team’s injured players. Don’t expect that to ever happen in this organization.
Fans on message boards will iconize a certain player, but you know that player quit on the team midway through last week’s game. Or he owes back child support payments. Or he’s a bad seed in the locker-room.
Knowledge is a burden you must bear when you’re on the inside. Players, coaches, owners and staff members aren’t superheroes; they are very human. They make human mistakes. You will, too. This is not always Camelot. It’s not always Princess Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Instead, at times, it’s more like the tunnels underneath Walt Disney World that transport trash from receptacles to garbage trucks. It’s the Goofy mascot in the green room removing his permanent, gleeful façade and revealing a five-o’clock shadow and bloodshot eyes.
Sometimes, you will be made known of things that others must never know. It happens to every employee who has ever received a paycheck from any team’s front office. It’s part of the job. Remember what I told you: Make sure to keep your clothes in your hamper, don’t take them to the corner laundry.
Finally, this: There is a certain segment of the population that would sacrifice an extremity to sit in this chair and have the access that you have. Don’t forget how much fun it is to be where you are. Because for all the paperwork, deadlines and media guides. For all the fussing that will go on between you and your coach. For all those “tunnels under Disney World moments” you will inevitably encounter…this is a dream job. Enjoy it.
So many memories and stories…so little time to tell them before I’m gone. This is a special place, with equally special people. Easily my favorite part of working for this team has been my co-workers. Every company loves to promote itself as a “family.” When you work in sports, what with the long hours, tight deadlines, mountains of work and the occasional short fuses, you tend to become very close to those whom you go to battle with. During the season, you will spend much more time with these men and women then you will your own family. So make the most of it. Welcome them with open arms into your life.
For me, working in sports brought home the reality of sports. When you’re a fan, it’s hard to see black and white while wearing rose-colored glasses. Sport is business. At times, it’s a dirty business. You will most likely see other teams in the af2 doing unsavory things. You’ll see other owners short-cutting on essential things like training staff. We heard reports this year of a team with an inebriated trainer on the sidelines. Last season, we visited a team who didn’t even have one at the game. Our own staff had to attend to one of the opposing team’s injured players. Don’t expect that to ever happen in this organization.
Fans on message boards will iconize a certain player, but you know that player quit on the team midway through last week’s game. Or he owes back child support payments. Or he’s a bad seed in the locker-room.
Knowledge is a burden you must bear when you’re on the inside. Players, coaches, owners and staff members aren’t superheroes; they are very human. They make human mistakes. You will, too. This is not always Camelot. It’s not always Princess Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Instead, at times, it’s more like the tunnels underneath Walt Disney World that transport trash from receptacles to garbage trucks. It’s the Goofy mascot in the green room removing his permanent, gleeful façade and revealing a five-o’clock shadow and bloodshot eyes.
Sometimes, you will be made known of things that others must never know. It happens to every employee who has ever received a paycheck from any team’s front office. It’s part of the job. Remember what I told you: Make sure to keep your clothes in your hamper, don’t take them to the corner laundry.
Finally, this: There is a certain segment of the population that would sacrifice an extremity to sit in this chair and have the access that you have. Don’t forget how much fun it is to be where you are. Because for all the paperwork, deadlines and media guides. For all the fussing that will go on between you and your coach. For all those “tunnels under Disney World moments” you will inevitably encounter…this is a dream job. Enjoy it.
posted by Matt Hooper Presents at
6:45 PM
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