Remember how it was when you were a kid just trying to get that first job or internship? Filled with cock-eyed optimism and enough enthusiasm to provide power to an entire city if properly harnessed, these youngsters keep us old dudes on our toes.
See, I remember being young and how difficult it was to wedge out even the tiniest bit of space for myself in the hard-scrabble world of pro writin’. Back then kids like me were to be seen and not heard. We were told that any idea we had was a bad one or required too many resources and/or money or, simply, there were dues to be paid and I didn’t have enough capital yet.
Now that I’m older and been around the block once or twice, I’ve been able to reflect on how things were at the beginning of this bumpy ride of writing sentences for a living. You know what? The old dudes were wrong. The old dudes are always wrong.
Youthful exuberance is infectious. Sure, the kids coming up these days need guidance and some nurturing, but the best thing for a workplace caught in a Groundhog’s Day spin of banging its heads against the wall is to feed off that energy. Bring in the kids and try to see things the way they see things for a change. While you’re at it, mix your old ideas up with some new ideas. Not only does it keep a guy young, it makes everything feel and look better.
There’s nothing wrong with calling the kids up from the minors and letting them push the veterans a little bit. It’s good for everyone and, frankly, it may be one of the reasons why my former medium of choice has been in the dumps for the past decade. Progress and technology are supposed to make your product better… if you allow it.
Anyway, we had a kid named Christian in the office today for an interview. Fresh faced and with nothing but high hopes and big dreams sparkling from his eye, we thought it would be a neat thing to bring Christian into the room where we recorded The Podcast of Awesomeness and put him on the spot. You know, see how the kid could handle a little pressure from a bunch of old dudes who subscribe to the theory that youth is not wasted on the young, but wasted away by old curmudgeons.
Sarah Baicker led Christian right into the fray and the kid knocked it right out of the park. I’m not saying he got the internship yet, but if his poise and sharpness displayed in front of a firing squad that has taken aim at plenty of coaches, managers and GMs in Philadelphia over the past 10 years, well, he’s going to be OK.
And get this, Christian told us that someday he would like to write columns and host a show of some sort. That sounds like he’s coming after me, doesn’t it?
Here… listen to what the kid has to say:
Of course we take our time getting to the meat of the program. We sandwiched it up in a menagerie of chatter about college hoops, the Flyers and the Eagles. We also invited the newest member of the team to the show as Enrico Campitelli joined in.
Don’t know Enrico? Well, have you ever heard of The 700 Level? Yes, that’s him. Enrico runs the show at the popular sports site that is now part of the CSNPhilly.com family. He’s going to fit in quite well…
Or else.