The seasonal jobs start in the last weekend in August and lasts thru the week before Christmas and it is only on Thursday’s, Fridays, and Saturday’s. I do get paid and sometimes I get free food at my seasonal jobs, but that is not why I have em; I have em cause I love what I do!!
So know you’re probably wondering, what the heck do I do?
Well, my full-time job is at Chase Bank in the Unclaimed Property department. I work Monday thru Friday, 8am to 5pm.
My seasonal jobs revolve around FOOTBALL. I am a statistician for high school football games (radio and tv) and also UTSA football games. I started doing high school football radio stats in 1997 and tv stats in 2009. I just started UTSA football stats this year.
When football season starts, I make sure I got everything I need for Thursday and Friday on Wednesday; that involves what I wear to work and what I eat for breakfast and lunch those two days. Dude, Thursday’s and Friday’s are extremely long days for me that start at 6:30am and end around 11:00 or Midnight; but I always get a jolt of energy at 5pm (I just flip a switch and wholla, I am on for football)!!! Yes, I am tired when I come home, but I got 8 months to recuperate!!! Saturday football games are easy since I can sleep in; no early preparation is needed!!!
The majority of the football games I work are in the San Antonio area and from where I work and live are not that far of a drive. I do hit congested areas for a few stadiums, but that is called 5pm rush hour and everyone wants to get the hell home!! I just want to get to the stadium and when I see the stadium lights, I always get goosebumps!!!
If I am available, I will work road games and most of those are in the playoffs. Last year, I worked a game at Reliant stadium in Houston and Cowboys stadium in Arlington…that was awesome cause I got to run around the field like a little boy and take pictures!!! After the game in Arlington ended and the media were interviewing players and coaches, there was an unmanned golf cart and a cone got stuck on the gas pedal and it hit several folks on the field. Everyone one was alright,but a really strange sight.
During the football games, I can’t get caught looking at the cheerleaders; I have to watch the action on the field and keep track of a bunch of stats like total plays and total yards, first downs, 3rd down conversions, 4th down conversions, penalties and yards, punts, turnovers, time of possession, individual and total rushing and passing numbers for the offensive players, drive summary, how long a particular play was (that could be a pass, run, punt, or kick-off and also the return on a punt or kick-off.
I use a dry erase board to keep track of everything and yes, there have a been few instances where I have forgotten the number I am updating so I have to make up a number and pray to the “football gods” that it is close. I do sometimes compare my stats to the official stats and I am really close to those numbers. I won’t brag, but I am good at what I do. The abacus and the human calculator are two of my favorite nicknames. Yeah, there are always numbers floating in my brain!!!
I am Vanna White and that is my dry erase board.
The only time I missed a lot of high school football games was when I worked for San Antonio Spurs from 1999-2002. Even though the Spurs gig was a part-time job for me, a lot of the games were played on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening. My radio boss man knew that the Spurs job came first.
My other jobs before and after the Spurs never had anything on those nights. I couldn’t even count how many games I have worked and I am a stat man so I should know this!!!
At all of my jobs, I have had extremely generous managers who allowed me to work a flexible schedule so I could work football games.
Last April, I started a blog and when football season started last August, I wrote articles for each game I worked (it was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it). During the ride home from the games, I would often talk to myself and begin plotting my article!!!
This season, I continue to write articles for each game I work and have incorporated pictures of each particular stadium, the press-box, the broadcasters, the teams, and of course the food I eat!!!
I even thought of a clever way to get more awareness of my blog and that involved allowing my football buddies to write guest posts for me. I wanted 16 of them, but only ended up getting 6. Next season, I will try something different to get more awareness on my High School football articles. I was thinking business cards but I am open for ideas. Last week, I purchased my own domain name: www.mdlblog.com (that is a good start).
From January till August, I relax a lot, take a bunch of naps, watch television, and blog, but I also really enjoy spending time at home with my wife. Yes, this banker, stat man, and writer is married!!!
We met at Washington Mutual Bank and in October of 2007, I was telling Nina (my wife) that I was going to Smithson Valley high school for a football game and was concerned about getting lost since it was very dark out there. I rambled on to her that a few years ago, I was pulled over by a Comal County sheriff’s officer after a game at Smithson Valley. Since she lived in that area, she gave me her phone number and said, “call me if you get lost, don’t worry how late it is.” Soon after that, we started to hang out outside of work and well, the rest is history.
Nina calls herself a football widow and every August, she says, “I will see you in January!“ Before she got her full-time job, Nina would always make sure I had food when I came from the games and she would stay awake just to see me. After she got her job, I come home to a sleeping wife and have to rely on leftovers, fast food, or whatever is in the fridge or pantry, but that is fine with me!!!
Thinking about everything I have on my plate, I find it absolutely amazing that I am doing it and doing it pretty damn good. I am used to being busy and really good on time management. I also don’t wear myself down at any of my jobs and don’t stress out over stupid little things.
Now that you read this, you’re probably wondering, “when did I find time to write this?“ Well, I have actually been writing and tweaking this for several weeks during the football season.
Tomorrow, I am heading to Austin, TX (about a 90 mile drive) for a High School football playoff semifinal game between the San Antonio O’Connor Panthers and the Houston Lamar Redskins (the winner will play in the state championship game at Cowboy’s stadium in Arlington on December 22nd). I really hope the O’Connor Panthers can win! You can read my recap of that game along with pictures on Sunday.