I grew up wanting to play in the World Series. Of course, at that time, the only World Series that I knew existed was the one I had seen on TV with the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, etc., and tiny little me had big giant dreams of wearing a Major League uniform and playing in THAT one.
Needless to say, those ambitions did not come to fruition, as I topped out as a 5’9”, 155-pound bench player at an NCAA Division III school, probably a bit more than a couple of tweaks away from achieving my goal.
As my career was whittled away one junior varsity at-bat at a time, I learned a few valuable lessons, including the fact that if I wanted to be around a World Series, I was going to have to find another way.
Knowing that, I started writing, recording and talking about sports, and it was something I had a lot of fun doing. As I continued to work at it over the latter part of college and early in my professional life, I saw progress, and began to pursue sports media as a career path.
The journey has led me from high school and small college sports coverage to Division I athletics, with plenty of stops in between, and this past week, it led me to a World Series.
I know what you’re thinking, and no, since it’s May, it obviously was not THAT World Series, and in honesty, much like many of the players I covered this past week, I’m far from reaching the goals I have set out for myself in sports. But every experience is a valuable one that deserves your best effort, and I believe it’s always important to treat it as such.
That’s why I was thrilled to be at the NJCAA Division III College World Series covering the Rowan College at Gloucester County Roadrunners, who were in pursuit of their eighth national title. The tournament started Saturday at Pioneer Park in Greeneville, Tenn., eight teams vying for the crown, with the Runners as the No. 1 seed.
When I was contacted by athletic director Brian Rowan about the opportunity, he was essentially looking for a game recap with a couple of quotes on each contest. Easy enough, right?
Well, not exactly, because I apparently have a self-loathing complex and like to make things much more difficult than they need to be.
Sure, I could write the story, but it felt like there was more that needed to be done to provide the coverage the World Series stage demanded and RCGC had earned.
Below are some of the ideas I presented to Brian, and inevitably carried out:
Doing game preview standups, live tweeting the action complete with photos and videos, doing postgame interviews and also writing the final story on each game ended up being the direction I took things, and I was ecstatic to have the creative freedom and control to do so. Thanks to Brian for allowing me to take this project and run with it.
RCGC didn’t end up where they wanted to be, finishing as runners-up to Route 55 rival Cumberland County, who earned their first national title in their athletic department’s history. Many of the Roadrunner players haven’t ended up where they want to be yet, chasing Division I scholarships and professional baseball dreams. I haven’t arrived at my dream of reaching the Major League Baseball World Series in one capacity or another. But not being where we ultimately want to be didn’t stop us from giving our all in the moment and making some great memories in Greeneville. I sincerely believe head coach Rob Valli and the Runners will keep pushing for that national title and his players will continue to work towards getting to their bigger goals, while I’ll keep driving towards where I want to be, while stopping to appreciate the steps along the way to getting to there.
Thanks to Valli’s program and AD Brian Rowan, I now have a taste of what reaching that peak may be like one day.