Pathetic, Part II

Am I REAL boy? (Courtesy Disney)

Something was said to me recently that was, frankly, awful.

It wasn't criticism. Trust me, I'm frequently criticized. I hear how much I'm awful on a fairly consistent basis. I'm not complaining, as it comes with the territory. You learn to get a thick skin, consider the source, and review the comment to see if there's anything to it.

Most of the time, there isn't. For instance, a young lad tweeted to HAN a few years ago that the play-by-play guy was just terrible. The PBP person in question saw it and responded, telling the critic he was sorry that his call didn't live up to expectations, and if he had any specific items to improve on, he'd happily listen.

The tweet was deleted. I shrugged the shoulders and continued the broadcast.

There was another one not too long ago where a former member of a company I worked for took a shot at me (to be clear, I never worked with the person), saying they'd never want me in a booth they're working in (essentially). I'll have to post that one here sometime because your point is moot when you can't even spell my name (It's Rob. Not Ron).

I still laugh at that one.

No, this was more in line with a post that I wrote four years ago, called "Pathetic," as in my pursuit of being a broadcaster, and the decisions that I've made, have been ... well ... pathetic.

So as much as we try to dust off the harsh words, there are certain things that can kick us square in the soul.

And this was one.

I've busted my tail from WGCH to Local Live to Robcasting to Hunt Scanlon to Yale and St. John's and literally everything since I left the last full-time employer whose name I will not mention (since their publisher left an interview I did for a story of theirs on the cutting room floor out of sheer spite).

While I try to not be petty, it can go both ways.

Post-script on "Pathetic." I called those games and thought they were quite good broadcasts by our entire team. As with most broadcasts, I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders, but there was extra pressure that came with those games.

In the end, for whatever reason, CPTV never ran the broadcasts. So, in actuality, what were supposed to be three huge games in my career turned out to be three standard championship broadcasts.

Something might have been pathetic, but I'll tell you one thing: it wasn't me.