Bucci Says It Best for Referees

If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know that I love to read John Buccigross from ESPN.  His writing is funny, a bit out-of-the-box, and, most improtant to me, very passionate.  The guy loves NHL hockey and gives us just a little different view on the sport than your average "vanilla-plain" NHL sportswriter.

I read this following excerpt from Bucci, and I thought of the life of a hockey referee immediately:

Hello Mr. Buccigross,

I am currently a freshman at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, majoring in communication. I, like many of my fellow freshmen, have asked myself what it is I want to set myself up for when I get out of school. After thinking about it, I realized my dream is to find myself in a similar career as yours. The real reason I wanted to e-mail you today is to ask what you did (as far as schooling and previous jobs) to get to this point in your career. Any tips are more than welcome, as well!

Ryan Anderson

I am asked this question a lot, and it is understandable. If there was e-mail when I was in high school and college, I would have sent Chris Berman an e-mail asking the same question.  

The only advice I can give you is from my path.  

My parents gave me a tape recorder when I was 12, and from that day on, I knew I wanted to be either a professional athlete or broadcaster for those who were playing. This was pre-ESPN, so my dream was play-by-play. I played with my tape recorder as a play-by-play man and disc jockey.

I chose a college, Heidelberg University in Ohio, small enough to compete in NCAA sports and equipped with a campus radio station (DJ), a school newspaper (writing) and a campus television station (broadcasting). I was there for four years.

Then, I was willing to work for free, five days a week, for five months at a small television station on Cape Cod while working part time at Chess King (simultaneously proving my passion for television and lack of long-term fashion trends). Then, I was willing to go to an even smaller cable station in the next town over and work there for more than five years for about $17,000 a year. This was poverty wages considering I had a wife and two kids. I ate pasta most nights and qualified for free baby formula (not for me) and, yes, cheese. Eventually, I increased my small salary by also getting a job at an all-news and talk radio station; I had to get up at 5:45 a.m. to record 60-second sports reports that ran all morning. This paid $6,500 a year, which was like hitting the lottery at the time. I no longer had to put grocery expenses on my credit card.

Later, I got a job at a larger station in Providence, R.I. (44th-biggest market in the United States at the time). This was my first real foray in television news. I was in Providence two years before I somehow wound up working 30 feet from Berman's desk at ESPN. I was 30 years old.

Besides that quick rundown, how did I get here? Again, I'm not really sure. Ryan, all I can give you in terms of advice is my approach, which may not be the best for everyone, I suppose. I didn't call in sick until my 15th year in the business. (Watch. Tomorrow: BUBONIC PLAGUE!) I've tried to write and/or read each word with all I've got, knowing effortless talent has never been my companion in anything except eating mozzarella sticks. So, I'd better write from the heart, and I'd better have decent hair.

I didn't listen to anyone else when I was young and poor because I believed that everyone was wrong and let chance furnish me with what I needed. And when someone like you asks me how I got such a cool job and how I've had the opportunity and honor to write a hockey column for the past 10 years, I tell them "accidental birth year and pure, unadulterated luck." I got lucky, babe. I hope you do, too.

Wow, that sounds a lot like the life of a referee who wants to make it big -- go out, bust your butt, drives 1 zillion miles on your car, go work some Squirt D's at 7:00 a.m. on New Year's Day, give up your Thanksgiving, Christmas Break, Valentine's, and any other social function/holiday that the rest of the 'normal' world thinks you should attend.  Don't forget to bust your butt, working out like a Banshee when no one is watching (did he say he recorded himself in his bedroom when no one was listening?  I know that Clay Matvick did that, too!).  Oh yeah, I also forgot to say that you need to have the MOST extreme Mental Tuffness, carry a MUCH higher level of expectation, and go about your business when those around you just want to slack off.  Oh...don't forget the luck.  Definitely gotta be lucky. 

Mr. Buccigross...thanks for the career advice!