Jackie

"Did you see Jackie Robinson hit that ball?
It went zoom in cross the left field wall
Yeah boy, yes, yes
Jackie hit that ball"
--Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball, Woodrow Johnson

Every once in awhile, while on assignment for something from work, I'm able to step back and appreciate the magnitude of what I have the fortune of witnessing in person. It's rare that these moments have any sort of historical significance (Hooters girls? Playboy mansion?), so it's awesome when those occasions do arise. One such occurence took place in Chicago in January (photo here), though with nowhere near the significance of this past Sunday.
As a Padre fan, I was obviously excited to be producing a shoot at Sunday's Dodgers-Padres game (especially on the heels of Jake Peavy's dominant performance Saturday night), spending a couple of hours on the field before the game, talking to players and coaches and veterans about the impact of Jackie Robinson, who was honored across Major League baseball all day. This was the featured game, nationally-broadcast, and the last game of the day, so all of baseball's eyes were upon it.
Some of the highlights included meeting Peter Gammons (the BEST baseball writer ever, no question), to whom I could listen for hours on end; chatting with ESPN soccer sideline reporter Allen Hopkins for awhile (and realizing how much I need to find a way to mix some soccer into my work); interacting with Don Newcombe (another guy I could listen to forever--stories about having dinner with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin telling him how important he and Jackie's work was before he could even try to do what he did), Dave Winfield (Padre hat in the hall of fame, by the way, not Yankee), Mike Cameron (he and Dibble evidently rode the "Jordan bus" together in Birmingham back in the day, and Nomar (a fellow South Bay-er); standing behind home plate for the entire ceremony, and literally being moved to tears at the end of the national anthem, when fireworks went off and Don Newcombe saluted directly in front of me--all the weight of the day, the trials guys like Jackie and Newcombe went through, the work they did to make baseball such an international, interracial game, and the impact they had on America and the world, not just MLB, all hit me at once, and I was overcome.
There was a great episode of SportsNight in which Casey McCall telephoned his son, sleeping at the time, and woke him up to watch a runner about to break a world record (there was a back story about his struggles to get to that point), and it spoke of the rare moments when sports can be so much bigger than just a ball and a bat (or just a ball), and this was definitely one of those times. I was fortunate just to be in attendance, a witness to a great tribute to a great man.
And oh by the way, I was also fortunate to head up to the Shuppers' suite after the pre-game festivities, enjoying a few Dodger Dogs (and assorted other edibles) in the company of Bill, Nick, Joel & Kristi, and Bob McGlashan. Good times.
Final non-Jackie-related note: I've found myself becoming more and more obsessed with the Premiership as the season has gone on, not just Newcastle and Manchester United. I found it sad (but kind of cool) that I could accurately give the name of every Premier League manager when looking at the list of club names. Just finished watching Manchester City-Arsenal live on FSC (and I'm TiVo-ing Man U-Sheffield U at home right now), watched two or three matches over the weekend, and the fixtures are coming fast and furious now, with games almost every day of the week (all the matches that were rescheduled for the FA Cup or Champions League schedule are being forced into midweek action now). Here's what we could be headed for as the season winds down: Chelsea and Man U both won their FA Cup semifinals over the weekend, so they'll face off in the FA Cup Final (at the new Wembley Stadium) on May 19. They're also both in the Champions League semis, so if they win (the Red Devils over AC Milan and the Blues over Liverpool), they'll match up in that final as well. And finally, only three points currently separate the two squads atop the Prem, which makes their May 9 date a HUGE one. I can only wish more people I know were as into this stuff as I am.