Spring Training #GrapefruitGators
One lesson I’ve learned through this experience is to not write anything off. Don’t necessarily rule any story ideas or anything out because it seems too unrealistic or out of reach. Instead, go for what you want and the worst anyone can tell you is no. The most frustrating thing that happened was dealing with teams that aren’t the most accommodating. It’s difficult to cover the stories you want to cover when the teams aren’t willing to work with you and you don’t have access to the players or anyone affiliated with the team. The only thing I would do differently is trying to set up all interviews well in advance. It was hard to try to do this the closer it got to the games I was covering, and I wasn’t able to do all the interviews I was hoping to do. Plus, the lack of accommodation by some teams didn’t help. I most enjoyed the Rays vs. Orioles game and being able to interview Kiermaier and Smith and sit in the press box. I didn’t expect to have the chance to do that and it was definitely the highlight of the experience. There really weren’t many aspects I didn’t like. If I had to pick one thing, the live-tweeting was a little exhausting, and it became tougher to do once there were no more active roster players in the game. Not being familiar with the minor league players, it was hard to not just keep up with the game but also with who was doing what in the game.
