The Clinch: Green Collar Back to Back

I was only in California four days before I couldn't take it any longer. I had to go to an A's game. It was a good thing I had the day off because it was the season home finale on Sunday. While watching Stanford win on Saturday, I kept close tabs on the A's game as they had a chance to clinch the division for the second straight year with a win and a Texas loss. It just so happens that did not happen. Even though the A's took care of business, so did the Rangers.

So I couldn't ask for a better opportunity. The A's were playing a Sunday afternoon contest in mid-September, the last game of the season at home, the A's could clinch the division with either a win or a Rangers loss and Sonny Gray was pitching so I got to see him pitch after missing him in AAA at Colorado Springs. I got my value deck ticket ($16 but included a $6 concessions/merchandise voucher) and headed across the bay to Oak town.

The Rangers game started earlier in the day so everyone among the 30,000 in attendance was keeping a close eye on the scoreboard along with their cell phones leading up to the game. When the first pitch occurred for the A's it was scoreless between KC and Texas.

The situation took an early toll on my finger nails. The Twins took a 1-0 lead over the A's in the first inning thanks to an Oakland error and then the A's went three and out. Meanwhile it was still 0-0 in the late innings in Kansas City. The next inning made me feel much better. The A's put a six spot on the board in the bottom of the second, all coming with two outs. The nerdman Eric Sogard blooped a two-run single, cereal lover Coco Crisp jacked a three-run shot to right and MVP Josh Donaldson doubled in a run. Crisp and Donaldson have been red hot and a big reason for the A's excellent September. Now I am feeling much better.

The next thing you know the crowd is going crazy in the top of the third. Not because the A's are up 6-1 but because Justin Maxwell hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the 10th to lift Kansas City past Texas. This lead to the A's owning the West for the second consecutive season. Between the top and bottom half of the inning the Umpires let a small delay occur while they put the K.C. score on the manual scoreboard and show the grand slam on the video board. The crowd was going nuts. Flat out awesome!!!

With the division in hand, Oakland's offense rolled to an 11-7 victory. Highlights included a Daric Barton home run, a Jed Lowrie dinger and Josh Reddick gunning out two runners at first base. Barton has secured a spot on the postseason roster after playing tremendous since being called up to the big club. Lowrie was a great pick up in the offseason and has been consistently good. Reddick is one of the best throwing outfielders and continues to amaze with his accuracy and arm strength.

A two-run single in the ninth brought the Twins a little closer but Evan Scribner tossed three straight strikes to K Josmil Pinto and end the game. Bring on the celebration.

It was great to see one of these celebrations live for the first time after seeing them happen so many times on TV. It takes me back to storming the court after our Duke guys won the national championship in 2010. That was my favorite moment in sports for sure but this one was pretty special too.

After a quick trip to the locker room the fun really began. Players started coming out with champaign and beer bottles. Sure they put tarps up in the locker room and did that whole thing but then in typical A's fashion they paid tribute to the fans. One player ran to the bullpen and showered the fans in the first couple of rows. Several players followed in running around the stadium and spraying fans. All three outfielders in Coco, Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick went around the outfield and waved to their cheering sections. The best was Reddick who came out in his Georgia helmet with two bottles, went to right field, sprayed both bottles up in the air and pointed to the rowdy fans who have been his biggest supporters. The entire thing was awesome. I was up so high I couldn't even smell the liquor but I was rocking my Stairway to Blevins t-shirt and loving every minute.

The 2013 clinch was amazing and now I can't wait to get tickets to the ALDS and watch the A's win in the playoffs. Green Collar all day long.

I'm going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali

I am happy to announce that I have accepted a position working with my former boss at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. I may not be notorious but I'm going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali!

Ten months ago I made a life decision and chose to quit my job at the University of Texas. A change in job duties, constant stress, unhappy workplace and some family health issues created a situation that called for me getting out of college athletics and returning home to Colorado to be near my family.

I took a month off to relax and spend Christmas with my family, to attend my grandfather's funeral and along with my dad, haul my grandmother off to Idaho to spend a week with her sister and other family members. After the month-long break I began to look for jobs in Colorado. My focus was on trying to find something close to my sister South of Denver in Parker or Castle Rock. I was open to trying a new career and hoping to land a nice 40-hour per week gig so I could work on some new interests such as fixing up a '49 Studebaker pickup or woodworking.

Well a couple of months went by with a couple of interviews. I was called in for an interview to manage a mattress store and when I got there I found out I was one of 20 interviewing at the same time and one of probably hundreds being asked questions that day. Shockingly I did not get a call back but sales is not an ideal position for me anyway. I also interviewed to work at a marketing/sales firm but hated the cheesy, Justin Timberlake suit and tie b.s.ers that greeted me at the door and talked to me. If I wanted to sell used cars I would go work for Ashley Schaeffer and hire Kenny Powers for promotions.



The other interview I got was not really an interview buy an outright dream job offer. When I was in middle school I dreamed of working for the United States Postal Service. I have no idea why I wanted to do this back then but delivering mail always appealed to me. Maybe it was because I like to receive mail, I don't know. Anyways I was offered a job as a part-time delivery guy in Manitou Springs, Colorado. However, after weighing the options I determined the pay was not enough to live in the city and benefits were non-existent for part-time employees. Thus I let me dream job slip away like a ship in a bottle going out to sea. Who knows what could have happened if I had taken the job but since then a huge fire occurred where I would have lived and a huge flood where I would have worked so I guess I made the right choice. I could have been the next Newman!



So after applying for a lot of jobs with no success, watching Duke basketball games on TV, going out to Las Vegas for the PAC-12 basketball tournament and doing some part-time internet work for the ACC I decided that I wanted to return to working in college athletics. Although I would have loved to stay in Colorado I knew that getting back to being a SID was what I was good at and what I wanted to do. I had a phone interview with North Georgia that apparently did not go well, but it was a smaller school and was really just the first place I saw that fit the location and city demographics I was interested in.

A while later I was a finalist for a job at Purdue. Through help of former co-workers I made the on-campus interview process along with one other person. Several weeks later and several emails saying they had not been able to get everyone together to make a decision and then I got a call from someone in HR (who I never talked to during entire process) saying they hired someone else. I really liked the place but wouldn't recommend it after seeing how they operate in the hiring process.

A couple more months went by and several applications later I had phone interviews with Penn State and Bowling Green. Neither matriculated into anything after the phone calls but luckily an email I sent as a joke turned into a great opportunity. I sent a casual email to my old boss, Kurt, (who is now at Stanford) asking if he could hire me and then a couple of weeks later he called to say he pulled some strings and was able to create a spot for me to come in and work temporarily. I didn't jump at it right away but after a day or two I decided I probably wouldn't get an on-campus interview with the other two schools so Stanford would be a great place for me to go. Plus I really wanted to reunite with my former boss and another friend of mine who I worked with at Duke and is now there.

All in all I applied for 65 jobs in the last nine months and only interviewed with the ones I listed earlier. I did not get a response from most of them and the ones I went to in person told me I had to apply on the internet instead of doing it right then and there. It was a miserable, frustrating, monotonous process that I would hate to go through again. The funny thing is I applied for 60 jobs coming out of college and Kurt gave me a shot at an internship in New Hampshire and now he is giving me a foot in the door after I was denied 65 times.

I couldn't be more excited to be heading to California to do whatever I can to help Kurt and Stanford Athletics out. I am refreshed and reenergized so I know the future will be great. I am grateful for the opportunity that lies ahead and all the assistance my former bosses and co-workers gave me in trying to get back on my feet. For the second time in three years I will be moving to a new city on my birthday. Circumstances are a lot different than when I went to Texas but I feel 100 times better about the future and have zero regrets about leaving that situation I was in.

Even though I was very frustrated throughout the job-hunting process I did love being back near family and friends. Seeing my parents and sister every day was pretty awesome. I was fed some great meals a lot and my dad and stepmom gave me a room to crash in for about eight months longer than I intended. I enjoyed seeing my grandparents all the time also, especially having an occasional 3 p.m. Happy Hour consisting of Canadian Whiskey and mountain dew with my grandpa. After missing out on most of my nieces lives I thought it was great to spend a weekend here and there with them and my older sister. I got to see Sidney dance at sporting events and perform in a musical. Those are moments I treasure that I have missed out on for the past 14 years through college and work life.



I can't say enough about what my parents did for me, but it was also outstanding to be back with my best friend, Allen, and his family. His kids grew up a lot also and it was a blast to go watch some t-ball games or buy some girl scout cookies from them. Allen and Chrystal now have five kids after they had a baby boy, Brentley, three months ago. They are all like family to me and the little kids call me Uncle Ben which doesn't seem unnatural at all.



Allen also gave me plenty of opportunities to get out of the house. I liked getting outside and doing some work so any chance I could help him move some heavy stuff, feed cows, brand cows (not that much fun haha), take a drive or especially help him build an addition on his house. I am not very knowledgable when it comes to construction but he taught me framing, plumbing and siding among other things. I hope it helped him out having me around but no matter how much I did I couldn't pay him back for letting me store all of my belongings in one of his buildings all the time I have been back home. He also provided many a beer while we were working :)



I will definitely miss my family and friends but maybe my career will lead me back this area down the road. Until then I will try to make them proud by working my way back up the ladder.