Being a New York sports fan isn’t easy these days. The only place you can really feel welcome is in…well, New York. Seriously, most people around the country feel no sympathy towards a city that is as dominant as NYC. The worst of these places is, of course, Boston. The Boston vs. New York rivalry is one for the ages, and now, I am literally in the trenches of the rivalry. When I leave the confines of CE wearing one of my various NY team hats, I am bound to get at least 3 dirty looks from people I can only assume to be fans of some other NY rival, most likely Boston. Now, you probably think that the simplest thing would be for me to ignore it, or, simply not wear my NY gear. Unfortunately, I do the same thing to people wearing Boston gear, even though it is their city.
(If it is unclear at this point, I am a huge sports fan. I kid you not. I will not tolerate anyone who questions my fanhood.)
So what does a superfan do for a summer internship? Work at a sports marketing company obviously. My original job description was to track down current NCAA football players and get them to use the company that I work at to represent them as their agent when they are eligible for the draft and when they become NFL players. The field of sports marketing and sports agency is something that really appeals to me and I thought that this internship would give me a great perspective of what goes on in the industry, specifically with NFL players.
On my first day, I was instructed to call my mentor before I left for the office, since there was a meeting going on for an upcoming event. My mentor told me to meet them at a certain address where we would have a meeting and then travel back to the office. When I arrived at the address, a certain sign on the door caught my eye. The sign had a picture of a baseball player in mid-pitch with the words “Josh Beckett Foundation” over the logo. My inner New Yorker made me freeze. My initial thoughts were something like, “Josh Beckett, the current ace of the Red Sox pitching rotation, one of the players who you immediately picture as part of the axis of Boston evil, betrayer of the Marlins, object of NY hate…” (Editor’s note: profanity and despicable images removed from description). After my slight freak-out, I managed to get myself into the meeting where I am thoroughly told what the details of the event are, and what I have to do over the next 10 days in order to help my company and the Josh Beckett Foundation pull-off the event.
Over the next 10 days, I overcame my fanhood, and did whatever was needed of me in order to help the company prepare for the event. I looked up directions, called sponsors, made deliveries, sorted through roughly $25,000’s worth of sports memorabilia, tracked down ticket holders, sent over 100 FedEx’s, ran back and forth from my office to the Josh Beckett Foundation (sometimes 3 times per day), and capped it all off with a 14 hour day full of picking up donations the day before the event.
The event, in more detail, was a bowling event where corporate sponsors paid $5000 per lane and would be paired up with a celebrity. There was also a balloon raffle, silent auction, and live auction. All of the proceeds from the event went to Children’s Hospital.
So the day of the event finally arrives. I am exhausted, but the promise of a more relaxed couple of days following the event is giving me the energy to get through the night. I get to the bowling alley around 12PM to start set-up. I had to do everything from blowing up balloons, to setting up the auction, to running bid sheets from the office to the auction stage. Just before the event, I did get to relax for about 15 minutes and “test-out” one of the lanes. Once the event starts, I am what is labeled as a “runner”. I go wherever I am needed and do whatever is needed, which means I am in every part of the alley at once. My major responsibility of the night was to coordinate the volunteers and security in one half of the alley once the bowling started.
So the bowling starts, and the celebrities emerge from the VIP room onto the lanes. This is the part of the event I have been dreading. I have to coordinate about 50 people while pushing back fans trying to sneak down to the lanes. O yah, and I’m in extremely close proximity to some of the largest figures of my hatred (Point: I respect the individual athletes, but I hate the teams that they play for. I do not blatantly hate any of the players even though it appears that way). So as the fans are taking in the celebrities that are in their proximity, all with awe struck looks, I am barking orders and trying to keep the more ambitious fans out of the more secure area. While I may not have had Josh Beckett on my side of the alley, I defiantly had some pretty large Boston celebrities. To name a few, there was Tim Wakefield, Jacoby Ellsbury, Glen “Bigbaby” Davis, Matt Light, Mike Lowell, and DMC. All of these guys had huge followings, all desperate for autographs and the occasional handshake. However, no one had as big a following as Jon Lester.
I knew it was going to be a rough night for the man when it took him 10 minutes to roll his first ball. One would think that the autograph seekers would eventually slink away, satisfied with their 3 or 4 signed items. Somehow, the people just kept coming. More and more people got the necessary credentials to get down to the lanes. When the mob seemed to reach its maximum, the media found its way over to him. That’s when Jon’s fiancée motioned me over, since for the first time in my entire life full of being close to athletes, I was a person of significance at a sporting event. At that point, Jon had had enough of the autograph seekers, and just wanted to do what he came there to do, bowl for a good cause. So, with my newly found position of power, I banished the mob, and took a position to ensure that Jon wouldn’t be bothered for the rest of the night. But, since this is a bowling alley, filled to the walls with people, the only place I could perform that task was from right next to Jon. So…the diehard Yankees fan spent a good portion of the night blocking Red Sox fans from their most cherished possession. When the bowling portion of the night ended, Jon and his fiancée both gave me big “thank-you’s” for making the night a little less hectic. Immediately following the bowling, there was the live auction, the conclusion to the silent auction, and the VIP party in the club attached to the bowling alley. Being under 18, the judgment call was made beforehand that I should leave at the beginning of the VIP party since the alley was technically a club, and it would be irresponsible of all the parties for me to be there.
From what I heard, the rest of the event was perfect. The Foundation made tons of money for Children’s Hospital. Despite my intense love for New York teams and my sworn hatred of Boston teams, I was able to overcome my fanhood for the purpose of a more seamless event. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate Boston teams, and I always will. However, I have a new respect for their fans. I thought only New York fans were passionate enough to have to have security intervene at a charity event for children. Boston fans are the greatest, and I hope the rivalry continues.
My internship experience so far has been amazing. Working at an event for one of the most popular athletes of the era was amazing. I learned what it really takes to pull off one of these events, and how sports marketing is not only geared towards getting athletes endorsements, but also how athletes give back to their fans and the community, and entertain them through pathetic bowling skills.
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