Work Harder and Go Back to the Drawing Board
What’s going on here?
I’m getting the impression the very essence of what business, the arts, sports, you name it is all about, is going by the wayside.
What caught my attention, and maybe yours too, was the news out of East Hanover, New Jersey that in tryouts for the Hanover Park High School’s top tier cheerleading squad, not everyone made the squad.
Hanover High School Cheerleading Squad
Well, why is that news? Isn’t that the way it is in every walk of life? I guess not.
It seems the parents of one of the girls who didn’t make the team protested.
They protested so vehemently the school capitulated and made the cheerleading squad all inclusive.
That brought an equal cry of protest from a sophomore who said she’d been practicing four days a week the last decade to fulfill her dreams of making the top team. She made it, alright, but her long-time labors and dedication didn’t really mean much in the final analysis.
If you try out you’re on the team. Simple as that. You may not be good enough, but don’t worry. It doesn’t matter.
Sorry, but that’s not what it’s all about.
There is not a soul living who hasn’t had to compete for SOMETHING.
Have we gotten that soft? Mentally?
If you’re in business, you’ve had to compete for clients. You’ve had to compete to move up the ladder. You’ve had to compete to make what you do a success.
If you’re in sports, there is no need to talk about competition. You know you have to earn a place on a team. And you have to compete to keep that place.
The same goes for those who are too sensitive to be delivered a tongue-lashing. Sometimes your boss or your coach is angry at you and let’s you know it.
What’s new about all of that?
Does every hopeful singer, actor, or dancer make it to the top? Or even make it into the profession?
It’s all about your talent, hard work, and determination.
If you really want to get where you want to go, you have to earn it. Sometimes you don’t. It’s been said you learn more through failure than through success.
When you fail you work harder. Fight back. When you win after you lost, it’s sweet.
Personally, I’ve had more than my share of disappointments in my career.
That forced me to dig down harder. I was, and am, better for it.
When I was called on the carpet, or given discouraging news I had two choices. Either give up or battle back.
Two examples.
One of the big breaks for me occurred when I was 24, and was hired as Sports Director of KDKA-TV n Pittsburgh.
It was my first major assignment and I was understandably nervous on my first segment on the local evening news. My five-minute spot on the half-hour program included a live interview with the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers at the time, Bill Austin.
Bill Austin
I remember introducing him as the “Pitt” head coach, which was the short way of saying “The University of Pittsburgh”, which, of course, was incorrect. I knew the difference, but I was nervous. There was a lot of perspiration, and not because of the studio lights.
After the program, the man who hired me, Win Baker, the station’s General Manager called me from his office to say how I embarrassed him, pointing out what he disliked, including talking too fast, and warned me to get better. Fast. You can say he should have used better judgment and not criticizing me after only one show.
But that wasn’t Win and I was better for it.
I have discussed in a previous piece how we became combatants for a year in Boston when he tried to discourage me from attempting to become a play-by-play broadcaster. But Win Baker was the man who gave me my first opportunity in television and I will never forget it. He was friendly most of the time. But at other times, he drove me and it made me perform better. To me, he was the Vince Lombardi of TV.
In 1974, I received a call from Gene Kirby, who was the assistant General Manager of the Boston Red Sox. I was being considered to become the TV voice of the Red Sox when they moved to a new station the following year. I would do play-by-play for 100 games. Since I didn’t possess a tape to show by baseball work ( I had done a handful of games from Cleveland on HBO for a couple of years), Kirby asked me to bring a tape recorder to a game and do nine innings of play-by-play.
The Yankees were playing their home games at Shea Stadium, home of the Mets, because Yankee Stadium was being refurbished. I secured a spot at the far end of the press box and called a game into the recorder. I sent it to Kirby, and he called back in a week to give me his critique.
He asked me to have a legal pad handy to take notes.
An hour later, I had filled in seven full pages of his comments, which concluded with “you’re not very good and need a lot of work” He didn’t express it that kindly. You get the idea.
Gene told me to go back and do another game. He still wasn’t satisfied, and I wound up calling five more games. Throughout the summer I was getting discouraged. I couldn’t seem to get it right. But I knew how much it meant to me and forged on. Finally, in September, he was pleased enough to inform me he would recommend me for the new job.
One year later, I was in the booth broadcasting the 1975 World Series on NBC.
The series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds was a classic. And it was in the 6th game that my call of the famous home run by Carlton Fisk became the number one highlight of my career which still stands today.
My call of the famous home run by Carlton Fisk
Imagine, only a year earlier I was struggling to make it as a baseball announcer.
In your life you need those who believe in you, stick with you, and want to make you better. For me, Win Baker and Gene Kirby are the two who lead the parade. But they were tough, believe me. It paid off.
The point of these two stories is why you can’t reward those who merely try.
It’s not fair to those who pay the price.
It may sound cruel to some. But it’s so important to work harder and go back to the drawing board when there is rejection.
Ultimately, determination and persevering will work in some fashion.
To me, this is what It’s been about.
