How I took a unique path to follow a dream and what's next in my story

When you start dreaming about who you’ll be or what you want to be, the tendency is to focus on the great parts of that dream.

How great will it feel once I get to where I want to be? How happy will I be, knowing that I accomplished something I set out to do? The positives are why we create dreams or goals in the first place, because we think that’s ultimately what will make us happy.

I remember sitting in front of my parents’ TV as a kid, watching SportsCenter every morning before school. Unknowing at the time, I wasn’t just watching television, I was in the beginning stages of figuring out one of my own dreams.

Without dating myself, we had one of the brand-new, state of the art big screen TVs that looked like a big box sitting on the floor that could swivel to change the angle. It had the speaker built in on the bottom and took two people to wheel it into our family room when we got it.

At the time, SportsCenter was as revolutionary as that television set. It was fun, exciting and a new way to consume sports. The personalities were becoming bigger than life and their catch phrases a regular part of conversations. Who didn’t say, “Booyah,” like Stuart Scott in the 90s?

There were plenty of kids my age who were watching ESPN and SportsCenter and were dreaming about being the athletes in the highlights one day. I was watching, studying the anchors, forming the genesis of one of my dreams.

I wanted to work for ESPN.

That was partially because I was short and was very self-aware of my size and athletic ability, but also because I was enthralled with everything the anchors were doing. Capturing the audience with stories, making us laugh with their wit, all while being immersed in the sports world.

I wanted to be three things when I was younger; a golf pro, a cast member on Saturday Night Live or work for ESPN.

I had parents that were more realistic than dreamers, so the notion that I could accomplish any of those three dreams wasn’t taken very seriously. Again, reference the athletic ability for the professional golfer and it seemed like they were pie in the sky ideas.

My father was a PGA professional my entire childhood and my mother was the pro-shop manager at a private country club. I never had parents that worked 9-5 office jobs and we regularly got to be part of the sports world through their work.

In the summertime, I would spend time with my dad at the golf course. I would play in junior golf events at Forest Lake Country Club, where he worked, until I was old enough to join the bag staff. I spent early mornings driving in, helping to prepare the course before the members would arrive.

His job gave us opportunities that most kids didn’t get when they went to work with their parents.

I met Tiger Woods for the first time in 1997 at Winged Foot when the New York club hosted the PGA Championship. My dad was a rules official for the major tournament every year, so we got access to the clubhouse. Because I was just 14 years old, I got to roam around at will.

I liked to ask for autographs, which was allowed as long as I wasn’t bothering anyone or getting in the way. I never told anyone about the time that I was standing outside of the clubhouse at Valhalla in Kentucky in 1996 and Jack Nicklaus walked out of his car. I don’t know what go into me, but Wayne’s World was big at the time and I just started chanting, “We’re not worthy” at Jack. I don’t think he saw the movie, but he laughed, patted me on the shoulder and walked in.

I immediately hoped no one saw what just happened and absolutely hoped no one would tell my parents.

My dad never asked me to get anyone’s autograph, because he was technically at work. He never asked, until that PGA Championship.

Tiger had just won The Masters in April and the hype surrounding what he could be and what he was doing on Tour was peaking. It was something I had never seen before and because I loved golf, I was watching closely as Tiger was winning tournament after tournament early on in his career.

 My dad had an official scorecard from Augusta National and a pin flag from the 1997 Masters. He handed it to me and told me that if I saw Tiger, try to get him to sign the items. The fact that he was asking me to get an autograph was nerve wracking by itself, but that he was asking me to get Tiger’s signature added to the pressure.

I waited the whole day, hoping I’d get a chance to ask for his signature, but had no luck. I resigned to the player’s locker room where I sat by myself in an arm chair to take a break from walking around the course and clubhouse.

I figured I would try again the next day, but I knew finding Tiger would be challenging. Then, as if it were scripted, I stood up to leave, turned a corner and nearly bumped into Tiger.

I froze as I realized who it was standing in front of me. We were the only ones in the locker room and it was starting to get awkward that I wasn’t saying anything. I mustered up the courage to ask him to sign the scorecard and flag and he did. I have no recollection of what I said to him or what happened after that, because I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

I ran out of the locker room and showed my dad. He gave me a quiet high five and a wide eyed celebration knowing I just got Tiger Woods’ autograph.

We framed the flag, scorecard and two tickets from the 1997 Masters together and that still hangs in my office today.

That’s how I remember work for my parents. I associated their work with fun events that happened to me and spending time on a driving range, instead of sitting in a cubicle or working in an office.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my goals were partially formed by my surroundings and what I grew up with.

At some point in my life, I stashed those dreams away and tried to figure out what I could actually do for a living. I graduated from Central Michigan University in 2006 and took a job selling mortgages because I didn’t really have a plan for what was next after college.

Truth be told, I barely knew what a mortgage was when I took that job. I finished my first year as runner up for rookie of the year and had a lot of success in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, I hated it.

I still remember the day I looked around my cubicle and realized that job wasn’t for me. I called my wife, who was my fiancé at the time, and told her to trust me that I was going to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing and how to get there.

I always had a knack for being creative, witty and had interest in advertising and marketing. I had no experience, but thought I could be an asset to an ad agency if I could find someone to say yes and hire me.

My wife and I were planning to move from Michigan to Arizona as a change of scenery, so I found an agency in Tempe and tried to convince them to hire me. I spoke with one of the partners and told him to meet with me for lunch. If they liked me, then we could talk about a job. If he didn’t like me, then we had lunch and it’s a positive either way.

He agreed and we ended up meeting for a few hours before he offered me a job. They created a position for me as the new business coordinator. I learned on the fly on how to diagnose marketing needs, develop marketing strategies and convince decisions makers that our agency could help propel their company forward.

It was invaluable experience, but I realized it was sales that I didn’t like. Unfortunately, I was good at it, but I just didn’t love it. Something was still missing and I wanted something more.

I thought back to that little kid sitting in front of that television set, dreaming of working at ESPN. I’m a seven handicap, so the whole golf pro thing just seemed like a waste of everyone’s time, and I had taken some improv classes but SNL probably wasn’t going to hire someone who has done zero standup or actual improv work.

I thought about the reasons why ESPN was so attractive to me and what it would mean to get hired by a company with that stature. I remembered a story that my parents like to tell when they took me to a park when I was around five or six years old.

They turned around to set their things down and get situated, turned back around and I had a group of kids around me telling them stories and talking as if we had all known each other for years. I loved storytelling, I loved people, talking to people, building relationships and quite frankly, being the center of attention.

I was just 26 years old, so I probably had a naivete that made me think it would actually be possible for me to figure out a way to get a job with ESPN. I put a plan together, though, and executed it as if my entire life was on the line.

Without a writing portfolio, I reached out to media outlets trying to convince them to create a job for me or bring me on as a writer. Only one person responded to me and gave me a shot.

Brian Cook, who owns MGoBlog, took a chance on me. Without having any writing samples or anything to show that I could be successful, I told Brian that I would work for free for two months to prove myself.

If he liked me after the two months, we could talk about a job. If he didn’t like me, then we could go our separate ways and hopefully I wouldn’t burn down his website along the way.

He agreed and brought me on.

I networked with everyone I could, I built relationships, tried to build my personal brand while gaining experience writing and being an expert in what I was writing about. I was covering Michigan football and recruiting, so I told local, established reporters that if they needed a quote for their story, I’d be happy to give them quotes and help with their story.

I was trying to use their reputation to build mine quickly.

Two months went by and I had exceeded expectations, so Brian hired me as a writer. God bless him, because he probably had to edit my first stories more than he has ever edited anyone since. I was self-aware, though, and knew I needed to improve. I continued to build my personal brand, engaging with readers on social media and putting myself out there as much as I could to become a recognizable name within Michigan football. I broke news and built relationships, but I really worked on my writing and tried to get better as much as I could as quickly as possible.

Because of what I was covering and the momentum I was gaining, I decided to start my own business with one of my best friends. We set out to build a college football recruiting platform to help guide prospects and their families through the recruiting process and make contacting coaches easier.

This was before social media was popular and before coaches were available at the snap of a finger, so it was a valuable premise that we dove head first into.

At this point, I didn’t really have a timeline for when I thought that ESPN could be a possibility, but I was at least on track and in the right spot to eventually get there. I was also still working at the advertising agency to pay the bills and trying to balance both.

It was around 2009, just after the entire economy had crashed and businesses were still struggling. I got called into my boss’ office at the ad agency and had no idea what was about to happen.

He told me the company was downsizing and laying off 25 percent of the staff. I was included in that 25 percent and was let go from my job. I drove home and called my wife, who was back in Michigan preparing for her wedding shower later that day.

I had to tell her that I was let go as she was preparing for our wedding. That drive home to our one-bedroom apartment felt like it was a low point. I sat at home thinking what this would mean for our future and what I would do next.

It seemed like a devastating moment at the time, but I eventually realized that if I truly wanted to chase my dream, then I had to go all in on it anyway. I was forced into doing that, but it was the best thing that could have happened.

I didn’t have a cushion to fall back on and if this was what I really wanted, then I needed to put every resource into it. So, I did.

Every waking hour was spent on getting closer to my goal. I took every piece of criticism as a learning opportunity and every win, big or small, as a step closer.

After two years of busting my ass, hoping that it would be noticed, I had networked with the right people and had a shot at getting my dream job. It started out with someone at ESPN asking me for advice on how to build a network of team sites within college football and what I thought would work.

It evolved into conversations about what ESPN was building and that there would soon be opportunities within the college football and recruiting space. I happened to network with the right people and congratulated someone who had just been hired to help run the new endeavor at ESPN.

I told him it was my dream to work there and if they were hiring, I’d love to be considered. He told me to send my resume and he would get back to me.

After a series of interviews and waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I was hired and my first day at ESPN was in August, 2011.

I did it.

I had to shut down the business I started and leave MGoBlog, both of which were extremely difficult. But it was a necessity to move forward in my dream.

I cried when I got off the phone after I was offered the job. Part of the tears were pure joy, knowing I just did something incredible. Part of it was fear that I wouldn’t be able to hack it and that I’d just get fired after they figure out I didn’t go to journalism school and couldn’t write a feature story the way Wright Thompson can. I would later find out that no one can write a story the way Wright Thompson can.

But I lasted 12, almost 13 years. I lived out a dream and got to experience some incredible moments in my career. I remember the first time that I was featured on the front page of ESPN.com. The first time I was on set on SportsCenter, I felt like that little kid again.

I teared up before doing a live hit – yes, I’m an emotional person. I tell people that I’m Irish and Italian and I got all the emotional stereotypes with those two nationalities. I got emotional, though, because that kid sitting on the carpet in his parent’s family room created this moment.

If I could go back and tell him that he’d get to step foot on that set, I don’t know if he would have believed me.

We did it, though. Now, in that moment when I was about go live on air, I hoped that a kid was watching me on his parents’ TV somewhere hoping that he, too, could someday work for ESPN.

We dream because of the positives and the hope that it brings. The reality of those dreams, however, can come crashing down when they’re no longer just a thought or a goal.

That’s what happened to me earlier this year. I was told that my contract won’t be renewed by ESPN once it’s up in June, which will mark my 13th year with the company. This will be a shock, but I cried again.

It wasn’t just 12 years that I spent putting everything I had into my work, saying yes to everything that was asked of me. In that job, it’s wise to say yes, because you might not get another opportunity if you turn it down.

That’s at least what I thought. I got a call on Halloween, asking how quickly I could get on a plane to Maryland for TV. I was getting my kids dressed in their costumes while taking the call and said I would be on the next flight.

I was in the air a few hours later and reported live from Maryland for SportsCenter on a story I helped report on. There were hundreds of other examples of saying yes, hoping that would lead to more opportunities and bigger roles.

When I got that phone call telling me I was being let go, I felt like my story wasn’t done yet. It wasn’t supposed to end this way and it was devastating. I took it really hard, because it wasn’t just 12 years. It was the time spent dreaming about working at ESPN, it was the time spent creating a new job for myself at an ad agency, then creating another job in journalism with no experience.

All of that work led to accomplishing a goal that no one else thought was possible. I got to live out my dream, which I’m grateful for, but it’s natural for someone to grieve in this situation. I wasn’t sure what would happen next after I was let go, but my wife and three kids were behind me 100 percent.

I allowed myself to feel sadness, anger and everything else that was playing out in my mind, but I needed to move on. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that a place like ESPN would be negatively impacted by my departure, but the outpour from my coworkers and people I had built relationships along the way made me feel pretty great.

Every negative thought I had quickly dissolved with the words from my friends and people I had worked with for the last 12 years. They were as confused as I was and had similar feelings as I did, which also felt pretty good to know that I wasn’t alone.

When I was sitting in my family room as a child, I never got to this point in the dream where it would end. Part of dreaming is hoping that something great is waiting in front of you and working to accomplishing that goal is a feeling that can’t be replicated.

Even more, realizing a dream can make you feel like you can do anything. Just as quickly, losing that dream can make you feel like it was all for naught.

If I’m being self-aware and honest with myself, reflecting back on that naïve 28-year-old kid that was scared to succeed at a place like ESPN, I didn’t lose anything from being let go.

It’s easy to get swept up in the negative emotions, but that’s not what I have chosen to focus on. I have chosen to focus on the good memories, the impact I made, the relationships that I built and the experience I gained from the last 12 years.

I succeeded in the most competitive, pressure filled jobs that I’ve ever had. I put everything I had in it, so much so that I put myself in the emergency room this past December after writing 50 plus stories in the month. I couldn’t close my hand or touch my fingers together and gave myself tendinitis from typing so much.

I did my work as well as I could, I never said no and I always did it with integrity and with the idea that I was trying to add value to my company. I am loyal, sometimes to a fault, and gave ESPN everything I had.

No one can take away what I gained the last 12 years and I’m thankful for what it has taught me.

At this point, I’m now looking for something new and trying to figure out what comes next after living out a dream. I’m not just a journalist; I’m an entrepreneur, a brand builder, a marketer, a relationship builder, a communicator, someone who can handle anything you throw his way.

I’m someone who has dealt with the pressure of knowing millions of people are watching what you say and will scrutinize any mistake you make, but I put myself out there every day anyway. There isn’t a situation that I can’t handle because of the last 12 years and I’m confident that just like when I was let go from the advertising agency in Tempe, this too will lead to something great.

I know that I owe it to my younger self to find something that makes me happy. And maybe even more importantly now, I owe it to my three children sitting in our family room to show them that chasing your dream is worth it. Every single time.

What that next step is, or how that plays out, I don’t know yet. I never got that far in the dream to know.

If you are hiring or would like to add someone like me to your team I am interested in opportunities within media, marketing, communications, copywriting, storytelling or anything else that sounds awesome.