A Message from the Past

2017 has been nothing but busy.

I started a new position at Fox Sports as Broadcast Associate, which I am really grateful for, but it's consumed my life since this past March.

From working in the production truck for a baseball game, golf event and right now, NFL games and everything in-between, with working 7 days a week, I haven't had time to even blink for one second. And to be honest, it's wearing me out and I haven't been myself lately.

Today, I got a picture message on Instagram by one of my former college teammates with some writing on a piece of paper, laminated and everything. It read...

"Don't take the sport you play for granted. Every time you play, you better be damn thankful that you get to do something you love. Don't show up to practice complaining about not wanting to be there; you're there hopefully because you love it. Work hard every moment. If you're not working hard, you don't deserve to play. Play every practice or game like it's your last, because it very well could be. When you finally reach the day that you can't play, and you can only watch, then you will know how much you love something that you once took for granted."

I remember (the old cliche) back when I was playing college baseball, I never became a starter until my 5th year as a senior.

In the 4 year prior, my teams played about a combined 195 games and I played in only 35 of them. It was a struggle every day for me knowing I wasn't going to get playing time but throughout those year, even though when I knew I wasn't going to get any playing time, I always worked as hard as I can preparing myself for the day I got into the game.

Back then, I used to post a lot statuses on Facebook, most of them being some kinda of quote and the  one my teammate sent me was probably one of them. And little did I know, he told me it helped him throughout his college career.

To sum this up, do the little things right and set an example to others.

Just a little pick-me-up for me today.


Jun

Looking Back: 2016

A lot of people said 2016 was a down year for them. For me, it was the total opposite.

Colin Cowherd and the drapes I had to steam for
two and a half hours (Instsgram: @endom4tic)

2016 started off on a weird note for me. I woke up around 5 am, a little hungover, for work at my friends house from celebrating the night before. I had to pick up some coffees and bagels for a TV Shoot I was doing for Fox NFL Kickoff. When I arrived on set, my producer and I looked at each other and had the same thought that we both had a long night and a long day ahead of us. 

I helped with setting up the look for the shoot, which was a red carpet, award show look. The grip guys was setting up a black drape I had rented and picked up a day before. The director of photography (for those of you who don't know, a fancy word for camera guy) was looking through his camera and told me there were a lot of wrinkles on the drapes. Luckily, we had a handheld steamer to get the wrinkles out. On the other hand, I was the one who had to take those wrinkles out and steamed away for two and a half hours straight. 

My teammate Rafael and his wife,
Racquel's wedding in Ecuador
(Instagram: @endom4tic

In 2016, I also wanted to start traveling. It all started with my best friend telling me that we were going to go to Costa Rica for a week in April. Then shortly after, I booked a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador to attend wedding in July for a teammate of mine that I played at Mount Mercy with. After that, I booked a flight to Montreal in August to visit people I met while I was at Costa Rica. 

In Tamarindo, Costa Rica
(Instagram: @endom4tic)

Also in 2016, I got offered a new position at Fox Sports in which I would be working with a remote crew that covered College Football games. I got to work alongside a producer who brought the energy to the group; a director who could probably be a comedian and comedy writer; an associate director who never let an awkward silence ruin a moment; a broadcast associate who guided me throughout the whole season; a stats person that could possibly be a sport encyclopedia; a spotter who gave me words of wisdom every week; a play-by-play announcer who is going to be taking over the Dodgers broadcast; an analyst who went from a first round draft pick to an on-air star; and a reporter who is probably the nicest person I have ever met.

I got to travel every week with that group during the fall to cover college football games (Phoenix, Tempe, Fort Worth, Salt Lake, Downtown Los Angeles, Eugene, Tucson, Lubbock, Stillwater, Boulder, Austin, Seattle and Santa Clara to name everywhere I went).

In a nutshell, 2016 was a great year. I hope 2017 has a lot more to offer.