- November 27, 2024
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As if the 200-yard sprint circuits weren’t enough to weed out any undesirables. Mainland football coach Scott Wilson ended practice Monday by telling his team that he’s not going to tolerate guys who get in trouble around campus. Those guys, he went on, are the same players who, more often than not, do their own thing at the biggest junctures in the biggest games — blowing it for the team.
And, as one of his assistants reminded the group, “We want all of you out here, but we don’t need any of you. If every one of you decided not to come out, there’d still be a football program here at Mainland.”
That’s probably true.
That’s why the Bucs have made the state playoffs every year since I was 3, drinking out of a sippy cup.
But I don’t think you’re ever too young to learn that lesson — don’t big league anyone.
The folks at urbandictionary.com define “big league, verb- to intentionally ignore someone in order to appear superior.” In practice though, the phrase denotes being too cool, too big, too special to help someone out or function as part of a group.
Ricardo Allen’s a big shot now. An NFL draft pick, someone who will likely join the ranks of 1%-ers in the immediate future. Did he have to talk to me, a sports writer at a tiny weekly? He could’ve big-leagued me, easy. Instead, he opened up and recounted a pretty cool draft day narrative.
It’s not the first time someone helped me out when he didn’t have to. As a college junior, I had no clue how to pursue sports writing as a career. I reached out to Washington Post columnist Mike Wise via email for advice. I didn’t expect a response — dude had a radio show and a sweet corner office in Northwest for goodness sakes. Why would he waste his time on me? But, on Jan. 16, 2012, he did.
Joey, the fact that you have respect for me disqualifies you from any prospective employment from now on -- even at Starbucks. My name is mud.
Seriously, thanks for the email. Meantime, I would scour the country with your resume. Nowadays, it's just a click away.
What happens with most big operations is they just get so swamped in daily stuff they forget they even talked to you. So you have to be persistent.
Have you tried the Free Lance Star? Oh, I got a story about a minor league football team in Fredericksburg from 15 years ago that's running on Super Bowl Sunday. Pretty interesting.
Good luck.
Mike
I did try the Free Lance-Star, freelancing (no pun intended) for the Fredericksburg-area paper for more than a year. And the experience ultimately led me to land in Ormond Beach. Given the chance, I’ll always try to pay it forward.
