(Thread) Opening Day story:

2002 - My original job at ESPN was a temp gig printing out articles and player bios to send to game broadcasters at hotel they were staying

Not hard. I wanted to do more. Went to Sunday Night Baseball producer asking what I could do for Opening Day

He said "Indians-Angels" - Colon vs Washburn. We have a lot on Colon. Can you tell us something we don't know on Washburn?

Could I?

Jarrod Washburn went to @UWOshkoshTitans

I wrote for @d3football dot com - I knew most D3 SIDs quite well.

A fortunate break.

I called the SID and told him my situation. Within 5 minutes I had the head coach of the baseball team on the phone.

"What don't people know about Jarrod? I have a story for you."

He explained how he taught Washburn how to throw a pitch ... Could be told in 30-40 sec. Perfect

I put the story in the info package for Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. The Sunday Night Baseball producer was intrigued

"We don't typically have the researcher do that"

They got a photo of Jarrod in a UW-Oshkosh jersey.

All set to go.

And then the game happened

2002 was the best season in Angels history

And one of their worst Opening Days

The first 5 batters reached vs Jarrod Washburn.

Angels scored 4 in the 1st inning

The story never had a chance ...

However - the work I did made an immediate favorable impression on important people

It set a tone for the kind of work I could do and would do.

Turned that into 15+ years at ESPN, 9 on Baseball Tonight

Jarrod Washburn pitched on ESPN again. The story got told.

If you want to work in sports/journalism

You might have to do some grunt work early on

Do it well

And look for opportunities to be impactful. They'll come.

And take advantage of the chances you get.

That's probably my favorite Opening Day memory

If you liked this story, you'd probably like the video Q&A I just did on my career path and advice for aspiring sportswriters/broadcasters/researchers