I got good news and bad news. And they're both the same: I got a job. (Don't get mad at me for saying getting a job is bad news, I'm making a TV reference, I'm sure some of you got it.) Many of you knew that already, but it wasn't official until earlier this week. Maybe it seemed like I didn't want to get a job, but that was the plan all along. I was just making other plans in case that didn't happen. My boldest plan involved going back to Notre Dame for something (not exactly sure what) if I didn't have a job by this time next year. The other very long shot idea I had was sending my resume to Bill Simmons and trying to get a job with Grantland (like I said, a very long shot). That idea came when I found this Simmons column from 10 years ago. In it he discussed being a sports fan after September 11 and said, "ESPN pays me to write three columns a week from the vantage point of the average sports fan." I think we can safely say that Simmons is no longer the average sports fan. He's one of the most influential people at ESPN and he's friends with NBA executives. It's time for a new Sports Guy to write from the perspective of an average fan, which is why he should have hired me.
Anyway, I sent an email to my friends Jon and Kyle about my new job last week. Both responded with a question. Jon's question can't get reprinted here. But Kyle's question was, "What implications does the new job carry for the Year of Jim?" Good question, Kyle, I'm glad you asked. The short answer is that the Year of Jim continues. The idea of the Year of Jim came from the idea of going back to Notre Dame a year from now and having all this time on my hands. Well, that's out. But I'm still going to travel whenever I can. I'm sure I won't be able to knock out as many states as I would have liked within the next year, so I'm probably going to keep this going for a lot longer than a year.
I've got Pittsburgh and Phoenix coming up within the next month or so. I'm hoping to get to Boston this summer (but that's nothing new for me, I've been to Fenway three times already). Ireland is at the end of the summer. I said that I was hoping to get at least one more trip in this summer and I might have found it. I had a good conversation with my friend Dennis this past weekend. He lives in Atlanta and I was telling him about all this, so he invited me down for a Braves game. That might happen in August. I'd still be up for another trip besides that, but I would be satisfied with baseball games in at least three non-New York cities (on top of the three that I've already gotten to this year) and Notre Dame football in Ireland before starting my new job in September. (By the way, if anybody knows of a way for me to get tickets for the Ireland game, let me know. I applied in the alumni lottery, but we'll see if that works out or not.)
Once football season starts, things will have to slow down anyway. I'm not traveling for baseball during Notre Dame football weekends. But since I have a job, I could potentially afford to go to more Notre Dame football games. Jon, how many weekends can I stay with you this fall?
Once football ends, stuff gets boring. I would really like to take a trip to Oklahoma City to see Durant and the Zombies and cross off Oklahoma if I don't get to the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game. Perhaps the worst thing about having a job is not being able to go to the entire Big East basketball tournament next year and/or one of the sites for the first weekend of games for the real tournament. But hopefully I'll get to at least two Big East tournament nights at the Garden.
Then baseball season starts up again and I can do some more traveling. Good news for me: Easter in 2013 is on March 31. That means that Major League Baseball's Opening Day(s) (see my plan to fix Opening Day) will probably be during my Easter vacation. I really want to get to an Opening Day game next year.
So yeah, that's what's going on. The last time I was looking for a job, I didn't get hired until July. It's nice to be able to go into the summer not having to worry about that.
Go Celtics!
No comments:
Post a Comment