The Connection of Sports + Travel
Where It All Started:
Some things just correlate better than others in life. For me, that would be sports and travel. Since I was a younger kid in grade school that grew up playing baseball as my main sport, my father and I have put a goal towards visiting every Major League Baseball stadium together and checking them off. I sit at 22 ballparks out of the active 30. And 23 if you want to count the old Texas Rangers ballpark, but we’ll keep it active. Yes, I’ve been to both the Oakland Coliseum and Sutter Health Park for the Athletics since I’m from the Sacramento region.
More Than A Game:
This goal or bucket list has led me to many different travel experiences, sights, sounds, and meeting new people. It’s something that I can take into other aspects of my life everyday that I learned just by jumping on an airplane and going somewhere. It’s also taught me how to get out of my comfort zone and be comfortable with being in an uncomfortable area, and make me really appreciate where I’ve grown up and the environment I’ve been fortunate enough to be raised in.
Beyond Baseball:
My most recent example of this doesn’t even have anything to do with baseball. I worked with NBC Sports this past summer at three different golf tournaments. The first one was the U.S. Open in Oakmont, PA. I flew out by myself and showed up to meet and work with people I had never met before. I learned a lot about myself for the nine days that I was there about how to treat different people and be okay with everyone having different interests or how they want to go about their daily tasks. Plus, we had to work long hours so that’s a whole other story. One of the days was 3am-10pm. Brutal. But for a college student, it was nice making some cash.
Breaking Stereotypes:
Where I was getting at was my third trip to Memphis, Tennessee. The bad rap that Memphis gets is unbelievable. And I definitely saw some rough parts of the area, but all things considered it had some of the most friendly people I’d ever met whether I was eating at a restaurant or simply walking around.
Hometown Reputation:
I’m used to people calling where I’m from not the best place in the country. Both Oakland and San Francisco are about two hours from me, and I can’t begin to tell you the amount of times they get a bad rap. Oakland more so than San Francisco, but still. I have family that lives in the city by the bay, and I spend multiple nights there every few months, and it is not as bad as people make it out to be, especially the media. Sure, there are rough areas, but you’re not going to visit those areas. In fact the nice areas are extremely nice.
What’s Next:
In future posts, I’ll break down various trips that my dad and I have gone on together— we’ll usually combine a few ballparks into one trip in a certain region.