Monday, March 23, 2015

Spring Training 2015; Grapefruit Edition

Last year, I visited the Cactus League in Arizona twice and they were both amazing trips. I met so many people and learned so much in the two weekends I was there. During those two weekends, I saw seven games in a span of five days and you could say I was in my own kind of heaven.

After talking to a few people about that weekend, they were somewhat surprised I wasn't sick of baseball yet. As I've posted in previous blogs, I then worked for an independent minor league team where I worked (mostly) everyday for three months. Still wasn't sick of baseball. As stated prior to this, I knew I wanted to work in baseball this year which is why I applied for so many jobs and was willing to move across the country to do so. Going into this job in Florida, I was so excited for spring training. All I could think about were my trips to Arizona last year and how much fun it would be. 

Now don't get me wrong, working a baseball game everyday in the month of March watching all of the big leaguers is more than an experience. But as a fan, the Cactus League is more 'fan friendly'. Mainly because all of the stadiums are so close together. In Florida, there's a few on the east coast, but most are 3 hours west on the other side of the state. So in my opinion, the Grapefruit league isn't considered a destination spot in comparison to Arizona.

But as far as Spring Training goes, I haven't done anything like this. Sure, everyone has had long work days, but I have worked everyday since February 16th and I don't get a day off until April 3rd. I'm exhausted just thinking about that first week or so of nonstop work. Now that I'm on week three of it, it's become more and more like a routine but there's still some unexpected curve balls in there (pun intended). During each game, I'm in charge of what goes on upstairs in the press box. I control the production of the game whether it's the stats, what is up on the video board, the PA announcer, etc.

But the crazy thing is, the game is the less stressful part. It's the preparation that can make your brain feel like mush - mainly because mine does now. The preparation to make all the graphics, have them in order and well as the videos is about two to three hours. On top of that, I'm writing weekly stories for a local newspaper, managing all the social media platforms, scheduling radio booths for the incoming broadcasts, and preparing for the Advanced-A season that starts April 9th. In other words, I really enjoy each day from 1:05pm to about 4:00, because I only have to focus on one thing.

The only downfall to working for two teams during spring training is the inability to see other spring training games. The closest one to Jupiter is in Port St. Lucie, which is about 45 minutes north of where I am, and the Mets have games at the same time as us. Every other park like I already said is two or more hours away. If I could, I would have toured all the parks by now, but I can't complain about working each game!

Since I'll be working for 53 days straight, it's been somewhat difficult trying to balance schoolwork, work, a social life, and maintaing a healthy lifestyle. I wake up extremely early to workout, then go to work, do (or try) schoolwork assignments and maybe hang out with friends. For school, I'm taking two online classes, an independent study with Dr. Cellini and an online class through another graduate program at USF. In the online class, I'm grouped with three other students, two in California and one in Chicago. The schoolwork isn't necessarily difficult, but it's more on the lines of communication since we're spread out through three different time zones. For a good three weeks, I was staying up until about 2am ET just to finish assignments or talk to my classmates on the west coast. I'm coming up on my last week of this class, so now it's about finishing my independent study with Dr. Cellini.

Until next time, here's a few pictures of spring training thus far!