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Jamil
“How are you feeling?” Harper asked me as her crew double-checked the lighting around us. A woman was standing over me, powdering away any of the shine that would be caught on camera.
“I’m not sure there’s a word I know that can describe the way my stomach is twisting itself in knots right now,” I told her.
She might not fully realize it yet, but I could see it. She was meant for more than even SC News. The world was just beginning to recognize the star that she’d always been.
“We go at your speed. When you want to stop, we stop.” Harper glanced at her notes one more time before she handed them off to one of her team members and settled into her seat, ready for the interview to begin.
“It’s time I stop shying away from all of this. Let’s do it.”
Harper’s crew counted her down to the moment they started recording. Each second they said making my heart race faster and faster until I feared it would speed away.
Breathe.
“Jamil Edman, it’s a pleasure.” Harper’s smile was a salve for my anxiety. I wasn’t doing this alone. The two of us were facing it together as a team.
“Thank you for having me,” I told her, trying to control the shake in my voice.
“This season has been a different experience than you had last year, even though you and the rest of the Cougars have been dominating at the top of the conference once again. There’s been heightened media attention and business deals. How are you managing all of that?”
Here it was. I could either give Harper the rehearsed response that Nico had drilled into me all these years—the one he would still want me to give to lessen the blowback—or I could give the truth.
“It’s a learning experience,” I told her. “Every athlete that plays professionally knows this comes with the job. But it takes getting used to.”
Harper’s wheels were turning as she listened to my response, trying to follow my lead on how this interview would go.
“You’ve been noticeably distant from media and signings this season. Some have even come to comment that they miss the carefree player they’re used to. Would you say that this frenzy of attention has a play in that?”
What would be the worst thing that could happen? You lose your career? It has already taken away so much from you. Or you stand up for yourself. You place boundaries. Just because you get paid to play a sport and have extra attention doesn’t mean people have a right into your life.
“After last season, I wasn’t expecting the kind of attention that came with the accolades I received or the records I broke.
I’m just a regular guy that fell in love with the game of baseball as a young kid, like so many others out there.
At first, the extra attention didn’t bother me.
Until I started seeing people trying to take photos of me outside of my own home or mobbing me when I was doing errands like any other normal person.
To manage all of it, I pulled away from the fans and from the media as much as I could.
I hoped that people would give up eventually and the attention would die down, but it only seemed to make the interest grow. ”
Harper had a way of making the lights and cameras directed at us fade away. The nerves I had at the start of the interview were dissipating and all that was left was me and her.
“From a fan perspective, I think it’s natural to want to know more about the guy that chased down an unbreakable record and beat it with ease.
Baseball is America’s favorite pastime. It’s one of the first sports nearly every young kid learns to play, but not every young kid grows up to break historical records like you have.
Don’t you feel like you owe it to the fans to interact with them? ”
“Playing on a public platform in a league with such a large fandom, the scrutiny and interest is bound to come. But the upward trajectory I’ve been shot into this past year has taken me away from that normal level of scrutiny and interest that I’m used to and into a completely different stratosphere. ”
“Much like that of a celebrity,” Harper supplied.
“Exactly,” I agreed. “And that wasn’t necessarily what I signed up for when I started this entire journey.
I just want to play baseball and share that love with the fans.
The rest of it, I can do without. I don’t need people trying to take pictures of me while I’m at the supermarket.
I don’t need people driving by my house because the address was leaked online.
I don’t need people digging into my personal life.
If I want to share those things because I think they’re relevant for the fans and baseball community to know, then I will share those things. ”
Harper smiled at me. “Boundaries.”
“My family didn’t sign up for this. They’re normal people with normal lives. They’re not the ones signing up for commercials or brand gigs. I’ve had to use myself as a shield this season just to give them the kind of privacy that I wish I had.”
“You’ve always displayed your passion on a different level.
You’re unfiltered and joyous. You exemplify exactly why people love the game of baseball.
I think if what you’re asking of the media and of fans is to take a step back, they’d be more than happy to do that if it meant continuing to watch the game of baseball through your eyes.
It’s poetry in motion when you play. It would be a shame to limit that kind of talent.
When you look back on your career thus far, what are you most proud of? ”
“I’m most proud of getting to play for a team like the Chicago Cougars in a city filled with such amazing, energetic sports fans.
I may be biased, but Chicago has the best fans for nearly every professional sport.
I’m also most proud of how I’ve played the sport—for myself, my family, and for my teammates.
Baseball is the one place I’ve had the chance to be my most authentic self and Chicago has embraced me for that. ”
“Your love for this city is evident. From your charitable donations to your support of other professional teams, you find ways to support the people of Chicago.”
I nodded my head. “And I’m not done yet. I’ve got a lot of different things up my sleeve coming for this city that I’m excited about. I recognize how blessed I am and I want to share those blessings with others.”
Harper shuffled the papers in her lap. “I want to backtrack to last year. You haven’t talked much on last season’s performance, and as I mentioned before, you are on the track of either repeating or even beating it under much more difficult circumstances from the sounds of it.
How do you get in the zone and stay in the zone to continue to achieve such success with the kinds of distractions being thrown at you this year? ”
My eyes locked on hers. The truth was, I finally had something outside of the game that I was excited for.
Something that felt more important. Something that provided itself as a distraction to the nonsense.
That something was her . I held her gaze long enough her cheeks turned a light shade of red and I was confident that she knew what my real answer was.
The one I wouldn’t dare give in an interview.
Harper Nelson was an unexpected addition. She was the shining light guiding me through treacherous waters. The kind of serendipity that was beginning to feel like fate. If I had to live through this period of my life over again, I would do it if it meant meeting her once more for the first time.
“Being surrounded by good people that make the rest of the world fall away,” I finally told her, watching her swallow hard. We were finally at the starting line together and I wanted to make sure she knew I was all in.
“What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind once you decide it’s time to hang the glove up? I know that’s years down the line, but you’re constantly building your legacy every day. You’re being compared to the greats, you’re breaking records. What is it though that you want to be known for?”
“I want to be known for the kind of person I was first and foremost. But, of course, the history books and the records that people say I’m chasing are always in the back of my mind.
It’s going to be a lot of hard work to get there.
But even if my name is cemented next to some of the greats, I want fans to comment on my character first before they ever bring up my statistics.
I want people to see the love I have for the game, the love I have for the people in my life, and the desire I have to be a good role model for the next generation.
If I can do that, I can walk away from this game happy. ”
Harper’s eyes were shiny as she nodded her head at her cameraman, confirming that we got what we needed. The room was silent, no one daring to move.
“You did amazing,” Harper breathed, reaching across the foot of open space between us to take my hand in hers. One tear slipped from the corner of her eye, and I reached up to brush it away with the pad of my thumb, leaving it there for a second longer than necessary.
“Thanks to you,” I told her. “I don’t think I ever would have been able to do this if it weren’t for you.”
Harper smiled. “It takes a team.”
“It does and I’m glad you’re on mine.”
I offered her my hand as I stood up out of the chair. “Do you think your boss will be satisfied with this?”
She shrugged. For the first time, she looked indifferent about that conversation. “I don’t care at this point. I’m just glad I got to use my platform to help you. If I don’t get the promotion after this, then it’s time I move on. I shouldn’t stay somewhere that doesn’t value my worth anyways.”
“You have every right to fight for what you want,” I told her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re a proven asset to the network. It’s time you started making a few demands of your own.” We helped her crew clean up the space we were using for the interview. “And I’m not just saying that because I selfishly want you in Chicago.”
“I doubt Terry would even listen to me if I told him I deserved a job.”
As I handed the last piece of equipment off to Harper’s team, I turned to look at her. “Weren’t you the one who encouraged me to do this interview when I thought there was nothing that I could possibly do to fix my own situation?”
Harper rolled her eyes at me, but a small smile was playing on her lips.
“You’re Harper Nelson, start acting like it. Now I think it’s time we head home, don’t you?”
Harper’s eyes widened and it only made me grin wider as I extended a hand toward her.
“Home?”
I lifted one shoulder in a playful shrug. “My home is wherever you are, Moon.”
The smile she gave me was dazzling. “Okay, then let’s go home.”
Table of Contents
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- Page 46 (Reading here)
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