Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Hustlin' Players & Sharing a Slice of Pizza with Larry Baer


My affiliation with the SF Giants has extended itself by volunteering for their Giants Community Fund events. Every year I receive the email about the Holiday Hero’s event and always make it a point to set aside the time to assist with this annual shindig. In the past it’s been held at the now defunct FAO Schwartz, Exploratorium, Presido Officers Club and this year, they decided to have it at AT&T park. I was geared up to do whatever job they wanted to give me but then I got a separate email for asking me to do a special job. Since my career is geared toward media relations and public relations I was asked to be the media liaison between the TV stations that were covering Holiday Hero's and the sports celebrities that were attending the event. Ummmm, yes! THANK YOU!

I showed up and did a quick sweep of the park so I knew where the hell I needed to be and where the live shots could happen when KRON and NBC hit their 6 o’clock newscasts. Ok, orientated now, I find the KRON cameraman on the first floor, along with Vernon Glenn and run them to the Club Level of the park to make sure this is where they can do their live shot with Andres Torres. Next, find out where Sergio Romo will be doing his live shot for NBC and track down the NBC crew. Oh, and they’re both hitting at the same time….roughly around 6:45 p.m. No pressure.

I find Raj Mathai (NBC Sports Broadcaster) and make sure we're on the same page about the Romo interview and where they're going to interview him. Now that that's squared away, I need to find the players and their handlers. I find out the guys are in the Giant's locker room during the event's VIP reception taking pictures, autographing memorabilia for the kids and I also heard that the World Series trophy is in the locker room and is just as popular as the players.

I haven’t been in the underbelly of the stadium for awhile let alone the locker room. It’s been about 10 years give or take, but it all looks the same, minus Barry Bonds’ VIP section. There was a really cool bright orange sign on the door, that if you’re walking out of the locker room read “you are walking out of here as a champion” (or something like that..) I wonder when they put that up and can I get that for my apartment?!

I walked down the small carpeted hallway of the locker room, passing by Bochy’s office and immediately found Torres and was happily surprised to see that the person handling him for the night was my friend B. B and I worked together at the Giants in the same department and she’s still there, holdin' it down for the Giants. She and I would be working together for the night just like old times; running around and making sure the players were ok getting to their destinations. After checking in with B and making sure she knew what time Torres would be going on, I ran back upstairs to figure out what other media I had to track down as well as celebrities and manage the two simultaneously.

At the media/celebrity check-in, I had Brandy Chastain come through as well as a couple of 49er and Raiders players. After some time had passed, I realized it was time to round up the cavalry and start getting the players down to their respective live interviews. I’ll be honest, it was tough getting through the crowds of families, kids, mascots, sports celebrities, camera’s and Santa – in heels no less, but I found B and Torres again and Romo hangin’ out with the kids and eating a hot dog. Classic.

For time and a little sanity’s sake, we needed to hustle Torres over to somewhere quiet. These guys have been seriously going non-stop since winning the WS and I could tell by his face he needed just a few min’s of down time. B found a good spot for Torres to sit and chill and then went off for a couple min’s to track down Romo and his handler. So, there I was, in a quiet hallway with Andres Torres, suggesting places he should live next season and talking about how B and I knew each other, etc. He was kind enough to offer his seat to me while we were talking but, with all due respect, he looked pretty worn out and still had to do the interview and some more schmoozing so I declined.

Here came Romo…..chomping on a piece of pizza, speaking in Spanish with Torres. It was interesting to see the dynamic between these guys. They're on the same championship team, playing the same game for six months (respectively) and you can really tell who the young "hot shot" is and who the veteran is. Not saying one was good or bad, but it was just really obvious in that moment.

Moment over, I sent Romo and his handler down to the dugout for their interview on NBC and up and around we took Torres because now we were in sort of a time crunch. (**Side note**Torres held open the doors for B and I and let us in first at every door entrance and exit - who said chivalry is dead?) So I'm the lead person that guides Torres to his interview destination and try and take the path less cluttered with people, camera's and autograph seeking fans....like the guard who leads the band with a flashlight up to the stage sorta deal, minus the flashlight and the band, but you get my gist, right?

Meet the cameraman, safe and secure, hook in Torres with an ear piece so he can hear Gary Radnich talk to him and we're good. Of course he's set up next to a VERY LOUD video/karaoke system, but thank goodness the dude that runs that area was given the heads up to turn it down while Torres went live television. Phew.

Alright, done with live shots and making sure the camera crews are satisfied with the video they've shot and making sure they didn't want to get any more soundbites from the other celebrities I head into the dining room created for the volunteers. I forgot I hadn't eaten since lunch and only had a Red Bull in the last 6 hours...............food is mandatory - NOW.

Yay, there's ton's of pizza, but it looks as though a lot of the boxes are empty. I start sifting through pizza boxes getting to the bottom piles and find whole pies that are still a little warm. I'll take it. I sit down at one of the tables and sort of realize, hey, I used to eat in this florescent lit room when I worked here. It's the employee/media "cafeteria." I sink in and start watching, well, ummm, guys doing Karate on cement blocks on the television. I guess the Warriors game was over and Comcast Sportsnet didn't have anything better to show. It was nice and quiet for a few min's, just me, a Diet Coke, slice of pizza and Karate choppin' fools and then I heard the door open behind me. I turn around and who else could it be except the President of the Giants - Larry Baer.

He starts going through the empty pizza boxes like I had just done minutes before, good thing I knew where to find the good stuff so I pointed him in the right direction. He looked up at the television and asked if the Warriors had won and I said I didn't know since I just got in there myself and needed to eat a little dinner. He answered back that he always forgets to eat at these things and wanted to sneak a bite or two before heading back into the event. As we were chatting I could tell he was searching my face like he knew me but couldn't place it. You know that look, I give it as well when I know someone but can't pinpoint how. Any who, he asked my name and I told him and I also added that I used to work there years ago. He asked when and I told him in '99 & 2000....he said, those were great years. I answered back, yep it was a great time with some great people and a great team.

After a little more chit-chat and mouthfulls of pizza, time was up and as he exited the "cafeteria" he said thanks for helping out tonight Erin. I chuckled to myself after he left the room and realized that that moment would be the perfect capper to an already fun story for my next Urban Baseball Chick blog. (and now it is.) :)