Spring Training #GrapefruitGators
*Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame* So. You’re probably wondering how I got here. Now that spring training is over, I just want to take a second to look back at the trip and how the whole shebang went. I’m definitely looking back at this experience with a lot of new lessons and experiences. I haven’t been into baseball for years, but I knew I had to jump at the opportunity at covering spring training. I never thought, though, that I would love the whole experience as much as I did.
Getting to experience spring baseball is pretty special, end of itself. I definitely learned to apply sunscreen at a ball game, or else you’ll end up with a wicked tan, sponsored by Apple Watch. Another lesson I learned is how to work and adjust on the fly with any story idea. With every great lesson and experience comes frustrations. For me, the biggest frustration came from the Detroit Tigers, who would never respond. Not cool, Detroit. The only other experience for me that was frustrating was facing a lot of traffic on the way to these games.
Just because something was frustrating doesn’t mean I can’t improve on it in the future. For me, the biggest problem was staying an hour away from everything deep in Tampa. I think I really could have stayed closer to the games so that I wouldn’t have to be in a car as much as I was. This trip gave me a lot to enjoy, though. For me, it wasn’t working press boxes, or experiencing new stadiums. At the risk of sounding absolutely cheesy, the thing I enjoyed the most was creating new friendships with the team that I got to work with. Really the only thing that I didn’t enjoy was driving a lot, but I played myself on that one.
So in the end, this trip was absolutely worth the experience. If anyone disagrees, well, I’ll have them like my milk: Reduced.
“The best ability is availability. -Brian Dawkins” -Kevin Kiermaier
