One time when I was sitting in the holding area at Skydome (Now Rogers Centre) preparing to sing the National Anthems (US and Canadian) at a Toronto Blue Jays game the woman who was to throw out the first pitch and I were chatting. She won some contest sponsored by her employer to toss the pitch that day. I thought that it was so cool and so stressful – trying to get the ball even close to the catcher. She was asking me about my singing and asked if I was famous. I laughed because I am most certainly not famous. I mean, a few people know me but famous, not so much. Anyway, she wasn’t buying it. Surely someone who was going to get up in front of 45,000 fans was famous? I could not convince her otherwise. She even said, with a tone of envy, that my life must be so glamorous. My response: “Yeah, if you call the life of someone who cleans her own toilets glamorous, then, yes, my life is very glamorous!”
What does that have to do with my job? People think life in college athletics is very glamorous. When you watch the Final Four or big time college football game on any given Saturday you see glamorous. But, believe me, for the several hour spectacle, there are thousands of hours of human capital expended. It is not a complaint, simply a fact.
What is also a fact is that it is still very cool to work in college athletics. In a few minutes I will drive to Buffalo to see my beloved alma mater and employer Canisius College Golden Griffins softball team play for the right to go to the NCAA Softball Tournament. We are hosting the championships so it is a wonderful opportunity for our fans to enjoy great competition. What other job includes this kind of opportunity?
I know great doctors but they do not have fans in a gallery watching them diagnose a patient. I know great teachers but other than evaluation, they teach to their students only. I know great lawyers and they do not have huge crowds (OJ and Michael Jackson aside) watching them litigate issues that impact people’s lives.
College athletics is special and I feel special being a small part of it! GO GRIFFS!
Until next time!
Jude Russo Caserta
AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog
Twitter: JudeCaserta Linkedin: Jude Russo Caserta
E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jude Russo Caserta. Jude Russo Caserta said: Seriously, How Cool Is My Job? http://bit.ly/as1ZYq #ncaasoftball #GoldenGriffins [...]