The Final Act Here at STACK

The culmination of three very interesting weeks at STACK was exactly that... interesting. Tuesday offered one of the most unique and downright awesome experiences of my life. The much anticipated Breslow interview at Progressive Field had crept up on us. Brian, a photo team, and I went down to the ballpark to chat with a real Major League pitcher.

We arrived at 2 o'clock even though the Breslow interview wouldn't happen until 4:15. Brian and I basically just used our media passes to wander throughout the back hallways of Progressive Field. We walked down to the Clubhouse and Locker rooms, we gave our warmest regards to Terry Francona and Chris Antonetti as we strolled past the manager's office, and we gave a cool head nod to Nick Swisher and Asdrubal Cabrera. It was surreal.

Once Breslow finished his long-toss work, our photo team whisked him away and took some uncomfortable pictures of him doing the "Thinker" pose with a baseball. After the photo crew wrapped up, the Sox's PR guy directed all of us to the dugout and I introduced myself to Craig and began the interview. We covered his childhood, his time at Yale, his Sister's cancer, and some of his MLB career in a 15 minute interview.

Then Brian and I wandered through the ball park a little more, heading up to the Press Box to see writers like Paul Hoynes and the announcing crew of Matt Underwood and Rick Manning.

Once we got back to the office at around 5:15, I transcribed most of the interview and headed back to The Jake (Yup, The Jake) with a friend and my media pass still attached to my hip. We roved throughout the ballpark due to my full immunity and ended up sitting a couple rows behind home plate. I left him for 2 innings to get a new vantage point from the Press Box and on a beautiful summer night the Indians walloped Breslow for a 5-3 win. I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me.

On Wednesday I had to get to work immediately in order to produce the Breslow piece before project ended. Brian and I spent some time dissecting the interview and I spliced and diced until I had what I wanted.

Brian walked me through his edits and I reproduced a finished copy. It should go onto the internet relatively soon and it might just show up in a print copy later this fall or winter.

As I stated before, my time at STACK was interesting. But not the interesting that carries a bizarre connotation, instead the interesting literally meaning of interest. I was thoroughly intrigued by almost everything that occurred in the office even though sometimes it meant researching heroin usage in Cleveland or marking at least 250 boxes of magazines. I learned the word ebullient while at STACK and when I was walking through the unseen private hallways at Progressive Field I was that word, ebullient.

Thanks for a pretty cool 3 weeks, STACK.

Peace,

Doe