This week, I was flattered to be interviewed on Zach McCrite’s popular About Sports Radio podcast. Zach asked if there was ever a point in my sports broadcasting career when I doubted myself.
Of course there was! Doesn’t every sportscaster experience that at least once? It wasn’t my ability I started to doubt as much as it was the chance that I was ever going to get where I wanted to go.
My goal was to go as far as I could in sports broadcasting. I didn’t care if it was play-by-play or sports talk show hosting. At the time I experienced my self-doubt in 1999, I had considerable experience in both.
At the start of ’99, I was a sports update anchor and talk show host on XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego. I was hosting weekends and mid-week fill-in and had regularly hosted the night show for many months. However, we had an all-star talk lineup and I was never full-time.
My football, basketball and baseball play-by-play experience was similarly extensive, but again, largely part-time.
My son and I enjoy racing Hot Wheels. It’s always exciting to see how far we can get them to go. We don’t care which car goes farthest – we just want to make one of them go as far as possible. That is how I felt about my career ambition. I didn’t care if it was NFL, NBA, MLB or major college play-by-play. I didn’t care if it was network sports talk show hosting.
I just wanted to go far.
Just a few months into 1999, my big break came when ESPN Radio Network called my boss looking for a new host. Long story short – I got the gig.
I bring this up with you because there was a message I wish I had thought to share with Zach McCrite when he asked me if I had ever doubted myself:
Trust in yourself. Many people who quit never realize how close they were to achieving their goals.