"Mom," he says, "you've gone viral"! Until he said that, I didn't really know what that meant. You always hear it on the TV "going viral" and I thought I knew what it meant, until it happened to me. Your phone is constantly buzzing with tweets and posts and retweets and favorites. It was interesting for me to see how something can get so big so fast!
I'm in the interview room doing something I've done for years in many different venues for many different sports: MLB Postseason, USA Swimming Olympic Trials, (telephonically), US Open, NBA Finals, Men's College Basketball NCAA Tournament, WNBA Finals. I've done countless phone interviews, and I have looked at many famous sports figures from the front row as they spoke on the dais. Little did I know that three young men would take an interest in what I did and how I did it, and my phone, and my world, would never quite be the same!
It's true that when the media comes calling you try to do all the right things, say all the right things, promote your company, give credit to those who work with you. The trouble is, when you are just trying to do the job you are meant to do, some of that other stuff gets lost in the fray. "Can I have an interview?" What??? I tried to take it with a grain of salt, have fun with my teammate, Kelly, about it, and we enjoyed the "ride" together. I could not have asked for anyone better to go through such an event with than Kelly McKee Dorsey. We made a great team and I will forever cherish the moments we shared through all of this!
When you do the work I do, which is mostly writing for the hearing-impaired, or deaf, in some way, shape or form, which we were doing during the Omaha pressers, via "You Tube," you are used to being quiet, working hard, and trying to focus on the task at hand: Using my skill to write so that others may read all that is being said. It's not easy, but I never went for easy. It's not always fun, either! Captioning the 22-inning game for the San Diego Padres was NOT fun by the time the 18th inning rolled around! What it is, is rewarding, challenging, fulfilling and thoroughly enjoyable. I loved my work long before a press interview in Omaha, and I will continue to love it long after the "Dance" is over, literally and figuratively. How fortunate I was to get to share my "love" of what I do with three young student-athletes from Wisconsin who were brave enough to ask the question: "How does that work?"
