Exactly a month ago, I started my first day as a full-time employee at Fox Sports. I was only a part-time employee for about 9 months there but it was a long 9 months, as people could attest who have been working there longer than I have. It is has been a blessing and I have been fortunate to work with people at Fox Sports who have helped me as I was worked my way up and still am, and I want to thank each and one of you for that.
But lets step back and rewind a few months before I got offered the full-time job.
After I finished playing summer ball in Iowa, I knew that my playing career came to an end. I want to say I wasn't the worst player, but I wasn't the best but I gave it 100 percent every single day when I was on the field. But solely based on my statistics from my senior season at Mount Mercy, I probably didn't really have a chance of playing anywhere afterwards.
So once I got back home from California in August, I landed job at Fox Sports as a freelancer, thanks to a person who I would call my best friend. But even though I knew I had a great job right out of college, I still had the itch to play.
So throughout the first couple of months I started working at Fox, I talked to a couple of my friends and coaches about wanting to play. After having the discussions, I sent out emails to organizations in American and internationally to see what my chances were of possibly living the dream.
I got one email back around October from a League manager in Colorado and he suggested me to do a Spring League in Texas for a month in March to showcase for a couple of team. Unfortunately, I didn't have the funds to paying the league fee and support myself living in a hotel for a month.
My initial thought were, "Well, there's always next year. But that means I'll be a year older and teams are always looking for younger players." In moment of the time I was on the fence of things, I decided to lean towards living the so-called "American dream."
Then from there we fast forward to the week of April 13th. I woke up on Monday morning, 3 weeks after I started my first day as a full-timer at Fox, to start my morning routine of making coffee, check up on the social media world and emails.
I saw that I had a lot of junk emails in my inbox, but I noticed a email from a guy named French.
So I opened the email and it was an offer to play in France in the city of Chartres.
Although it wasn't going to pay a whole lot, my mind was racing with excitement, but also lost in what I should do because of the job offer I took earlier last month. But when does a chance to play baseball and live in France come around? Probably not often.
Before I sent an email back, I made sure I talked to my mom and a couple of my friends about it. Everyone had different perspectives on what they suggested me to do, but ultimately, it would come down to my decision on what I want to do with my life.
During the span of 6 days, the president of the league and I exchanged a few emails, the first one I sent out being an unsure answer of if I wanted to play or not, depending on an additional situation of what he was going to offer.
In the end, I received an email informing that the team has found another player and they decided to keep him throughout the season.
Honestly, staying at Fox Sports would have been the logic thing in my situation, but I think I would have jump ship and went to France to live the dream. I mean, it's what I always wanted to do as a little kid.
I remember someone came up to me and and asked me if I was going to do it, even though I'm not sure how he found out because I didn't tell many people. But as we talked, he told me I should do it because it might be been a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should do it while I'm young.
...
Everything happens for a reason and its all part of the journey. I traveled and moved to the middle of no where Barstow, California to moving out to Iowa to play collegiate baseball and all lead to this moment.
From all this, I learned that if you want to do something in life, don't hesitate and go for it; its like fielding a ground ball. if you hesitate one step, you're going to be too late to get the out.
I still have an itch to play. We'll see what happens next year...
Jun
R.I.P. Auntie Youriko
Send me an e-mail sometime and let me know what you're doing at Fox Sports.
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