Why I Do This

Worth A Thousand Visits

Recently, I was asked what got me into this industry. I would like to share a moment in my career that made me really excited about what I was doing. True story:

In 2002, my first year with the Sacramento River Cats, I rebuilt the game entertainment to be more, well, entertaining. The prior three seasons of the franchise were extremely successful, but the River Cats wanted a more major-league attitude to the park aural/visual experience. That was one of the reasons that I was hired from the San Diego Padres.

During the first homestand of the season, on a Friday night, the Cats lost to the visiting Las Vegas 51s 10-4. Vegas piled on the runs early, making a long game. The Cats put four on the board late, but never really threatened. The lopsided score gave me the opportunity to work on entertaining the fans when the game didn’t. I ran through several mid-inning breaks of on-field entertainment and crowd shots on the video board. My DJ played songs that the whole crowd knew. He would drop the audio during the song so you could hear 14,000 fans sing “Woooooo” during the Beatles song “Do You Want To Know A Secret.”

After the final out and the requisite egress PA announcements, I shut down the A/V control room and walked out with the rest of the crowd.

I followed a boy about 12 years old and his dad toward the parking lot. The boy had a pennant and ballcap recently purchased from the team store. I could hear them talking.

“Dad, that was awesome! That was so much fun! Let’s do this again!”
“Yeah, that was great! Definitely do it again!”

That’s why I do this.