That was the year that was
(with apologies to That Was The Week That Was, a TV show from the '60s)
2006 was the year that Joy of Sox really got off the ground, and we’re proud of what we’ve managed to accomplish on a shoestring budget. We’ve interviewed 10 top notch scientists, plus a lama , a sports historian and an outfielder, and we have the pieces in place to finish things up in ‘07. Our accounting shows that we accumulated more miles traveled than dollars spent, with trips to New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix/Santa Fe under our belts. Unfortunately, the scheduling gods were not with us, so each of those stops had to come on a separate jaunt. But lots of memories, and lots of fun.
2006 ended with a bang – our first interview with a member of the 2004 Sox. Outfielder Gabe Kapler was kind enough to spend a morning with us, sharing his views on team chemistry and team success. Ironically, we spoke with him the day after he announced his retirement as a ballplayer, and the start of his new career as a manager (first stop – the Red Sox Single A team in Greenville, South Carolina). And he has what it takes to succeed in that field – insight, intelligence, personality, savvy and common sense. Of all our interviewees, he has the highest ratio of brains to brawn (the highest product, actually, not ratio, since he has lots of both). That’s pretty impressive, considering that we interviewed a few potential Nobel Prize winners too (though they were a little bit past their physical peak, shall we say).
Gabe inspired us with his view of baseball as a vehicle for developing good people, rather than accumulating big paychecks. In fact, he could have played in the bigs for another year or two (he’s only 31), but chose to forgo the big money for a chance to shape young lives. He’s sold on the importance of team chemistry as a key factor in building success, and his eagerness to ride those proverbial minor league buses from game to game along with his players will certainly help to build those intangibles. And he was kind enough to offer to put in a good word for our project with the Red Sox’s senior management (which Joel and I both predict he’ll be joining at some point down the line – our over/under for him to be managing the Red Sox at Fenway was 5 years).
So what’s in store for 2007? A final few ballplayer interviews (Bill “Spaceman” Lee is confirmed, and hopefully Schill and Big Papi will line up for us in Fort Myers), a couple of science demonstrations at Fenway (using the Princeton gizmos to measure fan intensity), some outside funding from those mysterious donors in the sky, and an opportunity to creatively edit our story in the post-production phase (with plenty of vintage video clips from Major League Baseball, some computer animation to illustrate crowd coherence and waves of adulation, and maybe even a high-profile Sox fan as a narrator). After that comes ESPN, PBS, Sundance and Cannes!
Thanks again for your interest and support, and have a happy, healthy and joy-filled New Year.
2006 was the year that Joy of Sox really got off the ground, and we’re proud of what we’ve managed to accomplish on a shoestring budget. We’ve interviewed 10 top notch scientists, plus a lama , a sports historian and an outfielder, and we have the pieces in place to finish things up in ‘07. Our accounting shows that we accumulated more miles traveled than dollars spent, with trips to New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix/Santa Fe under our belts. Unfortunately, the scheduling gods were not with us, so each of those stops had to come on a separate jaunt. But lots of memories, and lots of fun.
2006 ended with a bang – our first interview with a member of the 2004 Sox. Outfielder Gabe Kapler was kind enough to spend a morning with us, sharing his views on team chemistry and team success. Ironically, we spoke with him the day after he announced his retirement as a ballplayer, and the start of his new career as a manager (first stop – the Red Sox Single A team in Greenville, South Carolina). And he has what it takes to succeed in that field – insight, intelligence, personality, savvy and common sense. Of all our interviewees, he has the highest ratio of brains to brawn (the highest product, actually, not ratio, since he has lots of both). That’s pretty impressive, considering that we interviewed a few potential Nobel Prize winners too (though they were a little bit past their physical peak, shall we say).
Gabe inspired us with his view of baseball as a vehicle for developing good people, rather than accumulating big paychecks. In fact, he could have played in the bigs for another year or two (he’s only 31), but chose to forgo the big money for a chance to shape young lives. He’s sold on the importance of team chemistry as a key factor in building success, and his eagerness to ride those proverbial minor league buses from game to game along with his players will certainly help to build those intangibles. And he was kind enough to offer to put in a good word for our project with the Red Sox’s senior management (which Joel and I both predict he’ll be joining at some point down the line – our over/under for him to be managing the Red Sox at Fenway was 5 years).
So what’s in store for 2007? A final few ballplayer interviews (Bill “Spaceman” Lee is confirmed, and hopefully Schill and Big Papi will line up for us in Fort Myers), a couple of science demonstrations at Fenway (using the Princeton gizmos to measure fan intensity), some outside funding from those mysterious donors in the sky, and an opportunity to creatively edit our story in the post-production phase (with plenty of vintage video clips from Major League Baseball, some computer animation to illustrate crowd coherence and waves of adulation, and maybe even a high-profile Sox fan as a narrator). After that comes ESPN, PBS, Sundance and Cannes!
Thanks again for your interest and support, and have a happy, healthy and joy-filled New Year.
posted by Rick Leskowitz,MD at 11:01 AM
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