{"id":4239,"date":"2020-04-04T14:17:56","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T18:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=4239"},"modified":"2020-04-04T14:17:56","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T18:17:56","slug":"overtime-60-feet-over-the-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=4239","title":{"rendered":"Overtime: 60 Feet Over the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in December 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a baseball fan, you may be familiar with \u201cMoneyball,\u201d the 2003 book and its accompanying 2011 film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most poignant scenes in each revolves around an out-of-shape minor-league catcher named Jeremy Brown, a once-heralded prospect who only garnered 10 career major-league at-bats. Before that, he was a first-round pick by the A\u2019s in the 2002 draft and one of their coveted prospects. There was only one problem: Brown was deathly afraid of running to second base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the 2002 season, Brown found himself with the Visalia Oaks of the California League. On the first pitch of an at-bat, Brown smacked a ball to deep center field and, instead of doing what he usually did \u2014 pack it in with a single \u2014 he decided to go for broke and try for a double, confronting his biggest fear head-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Brown took a header rounding first base and had to retreat to the bag, drawing laughs from both his team and the opponent, the San Jose Giants, in what the movie described as \u201call of Brown\u2019s nightmares come to life.\u201d But all parties were not laughing at Brown because of his embarrassing stumble around first base. They were reduced to hysterics because Brown hit the ball 60 feet over the fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a metaphor. Brown clearly feared failure but, more than anything, he hated the embarrassing sting of running the bases and trying to round first. As soon as he tried to do so in a game, he failed spectacularly, only to discover that he didn\u2019t fail at all, quite the opposite, in fact. Jeremy Brown\u2019s attempt to sprint around the bases \u2014 which wasn\u2019t necessary because he\u2019d hit a home run \u2014 is symbolic, in many ways, of what we do here at The Fordham Ram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll speak from personal experience to avoid sweeping generalizations. I applied to join this newspaper as an assistant sports editor in advance of volume 100 because even though I didn\u2019t think I would make it, it would be a good optic to apply and get rejected. I didn\u2019t think I was ready for a position like that. Long story short, I interviewed for the assistant sports editor post and within a week, I received the job. An occasion that should\u2019ve been marked with celebration was instead stained with an underlying dread of \u201coh my God, what have I done?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, what I did was one of the best decisions of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I \u2014 somewhat accidentally \u2014 joined a team of people just like me, despite the fact that I\u2019m still finding who I am on a daily basis. I felt an immediate kinship with just about everyone else on staff. Previously, I had thought that the notion of \u201cfamily\u201d \u2014 whether it be in a workplace or a sports team, the area in which I was more familiar \u2014 was complete garbage. This paper made me adjust my thinking on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, I removed the assistant title from my job here. It wasn\u2019t always easy and I often metaphorically grabbed onto whatever I could to hang on. The amount of work and stress that comes with this gig was not something I had anticipated, and the adjustment process was incredibly difficult at times. But, as is often paramount in a difficult situation like this, I had the two best assistants I could have asked for in Dylan Balsamo and Andrew Posadas. My advice to anyone in a newly-found leadership position is to have an Andrew or a Dylan in your life or, even better, directly working with you. If you don\u2019t, then I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re on your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I\u2019m coming back for volume 102 in the same position I had for volume 101. Andrew will be The Fordham Ram\u2019s new managing editor and he\u2019ll do a terrific job, so long as the copy room is cool with listening to A Tribe Called Quest. Dylan will be coming back as an assistant, and he will be joined by Alex Wolz, who will also do a wonderful job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I\u2019m not leaving, several other talented Ram staffers are. We will miss every single one of them, and I\u2019m better for having worked with all of them. I\u2019ll miss having the positive energy of Briana and Lindsay in the print shop every Tuesday and bouncing questions and other issues off Aislinn and Hannah in the copy room. I\u2019ll miss having nothing but great conversations with Erica, Colette, Bo and Julia, all of whom often popped in and out of the print shop for various reasons on a Tuesday night. I\u2019ll also miss being able to bounce random AP style questions off Maggie and get an instant response, though I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll stay all over that stuff even after her time as copy editor is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not my goodbye, but it is their goodbye. This paper \u2014 and our section in the back of it \u2014 wouldn\u2019t be the same without them. Even as I stumbled around first base time and time again over the past 44 issues, they consistently helped us hit the ball 60 feet over the fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As acclaimed artist Bob Ross once said, \u201cwe don\u2019t make mistakes, we just have happy accidents.\u201d The last two years have been one of the happiest accidents of my life, and it\u2019s my honor to renew my contract for one more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in December 2019. If you\u2019re a baseball fan, you may be familiar with \u201cMoneyball,\u201d the 2003 book and its accompanying 2011 film. One of the most poignant scenes in each revolves around an out-of-shape minor-league catcher named Jeremy Brown, a once-heralded prospect who only garnered 10 career … <\/p>\n

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