Part. Of. A. Team.

 

He's got a baseball bat! Nothing bad can happen here...

Al Capone surveyed the assembled diners. Business had recently been, well, raided. There was a little trouble.

Mr. Capone spoke:

A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms... What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork... Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don't field... what is he? You follow me? No one. Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I'm goin' out there for myself. But... I get nowhere unless the team wins.

Capone then took the baseball bat he was holding and pummeled the man responsible for the warehouse that was raided.

I thought of this quote (from the great movie "The Untouchables") thanks to this tweet from Mahopac assistant baseball coach Shaun McGee. In the video he retweeted, Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco tells of a man who was shot down in Vietnam and spent time in a POW camp. He said the man was initially saved by his parachute. Later on, a man recognized him in a restaurant. That man was the one who packed the parachute in the first place.

Get it? Teamwork. There are stars and there are those under the radar. Take care of everyone.

It reminded me of something I've been told -- that I always mention the crew on any broadcast. 

Yes, I do. Always. Whether I only have a first name or a nickname or anything tangible that I can mention, I always talk about the crew. Sometimes I'm really able to get to know them and other times a camera operator will walk by, set up, and that's it.

I do it for the simple reason that they deserve to be named, if only as "for all of us here at..." because none of it looks good or sounds good without them. I say it all the time: I just talk. That's not some form of false modesty. I truly see myself as a conduit. I'm the reporter.

So it doesn't happen without Bob Small or Sean Kilkelly or someone else in the studio. It doesn't happen without AJ Szymanowski on a camera or directing. It doesn't happen without Matt Hamilton handing me stats that I often made him read to get him on the air. It doesn't happen without Chris Erway providing analysis or Jake Zimmer stepping in for some play-by-play, in part to give my voice a rest. It doesn't happen even without tweets from Shawn Sailer.

You get the idea. The team can be big.

It doesn't happen without a lot of factors, including sponsors and executives and fans and athletes and coaches.

See what I mean? I'm a cog in all of this but often I get the attention because I'm the one delivering the message.

Next Tuesday, I'll do the talking. But a board operator at Z93 will make sure everything is in place on the radio side. His management will back him. At the stadium, I'll mostly produce and engineer. I'll be supported by Steve Gliner, Joe Ausanio, Rick Zolzer, Zach Neubauer, Tyson Jeffers, and the rest of the Renegades organization. Not to say they work for me -- far from it -- but I work with and for them and they'll help make me better in one form or another.

Beyond that, there will be part-timers (that's me, by the way) and interns who will have an impact. Quite likely, my very own Sean will be running a camera to my left in the home radio booth. He will also be part of the team.

So when you hear me or see me, know that there's a who crew that makes it all happen. Even with Robcasting, when it's just me, it's still beyond that because there's emotional support and financial support.

I thank the crew. From WGCH to the Gades to HAN to Local Live. Always.

I'm glad to be part of their team.