There’s no place like home … unless it’s just like everyone else’s.
When I finalized my internship to come out to Brooklyn and paid the hefty sum to live here, I started to imagine what my place would look like: the flat-screen TV, the private room, and room service that leaves a chocolate mint on my pillow every night.
To my surprise (but not to my editor’s), many of the same thoughts excited the Cyclones players as they headed to Brooklyn. But why wouldn’t that be the case? They, too, were coming to the big city to do for a living the thing they loved most. And for many of them it was, just like it was for me, the first time living in the big city.
Reality quickly set in for all of us.
I’m stuck in the St. George Hotel, sharing a small room with another student, splitting a tiny fridge and one old, glass-tube television.
And many of the Cylcones are shacking up with teammates at a Holiday Inn Express in Gowanus where, no matter how much the signing bonus was, there are no private rooms, no gold-laced pillows, and certainly no chocolate.
But we’re all intent on making it work.
“It’s back to freshman year a little bit,” said Cylcone center-fielder Patrick “Too Infinity and” Biondi, who is a couple weeks removed from playing at the University of Michigan and now shares a room with L.J. “Mini-Maz” Mazzilli. “We got two guys in a little room, and we’ve had a lot of fun with it.”
Over at my complex, things are pretty much the same. We are all here for the same purpose. We’re all from different places around the globe. We’re all attempting to make our first real mark on the professional world. And we all have each other, to a degree, to rely on when adversity sets in. We could form some of the most unlikely of friendships while we are here. I mean, a music production intern from L.A. would have little reason to hang out with a journalism intern from the backwoods of Arkansas.
But here we are in Brooklyn, forming a friendship.
The Cyclones roster brings together players from as nearby as Greenwich, Conn. and as far away as Caracas, Venezuela. These guys, who would have virtually no chance of bumping into each other in any other circumstance, are now brought together to work for the same goal: winning a championship and making it to the next level. Manager Rich Donnelly was amazed by the friendships made when two people from different backgrounds meet on the baseball field.
“A guy from the Dominican Republic is going to meet a guy from California and they’ll be friends forever,” Donnelly said. “That’s special. There aren’t a whole lot of people who get to say that.”
What is it like for baseball players who have just met to live together in the city? Outfielder Jared King, fresh out of Kansas State, and living with first baseman Matt “Bright Eyes” Oberste, straight out of Big 12 foe Oklahoma, said the adjustment to Brooklyn and the living arrangement has been different, but enjoyable.
“It’s a great city, a ton of people and new ways to get places,” King said. “It’s always good to get a different change of scenery from what you’re familiar with. (The living situation) isn’t bad, we’re not there too much during the day.”
I guess he’s right.
Sure, none of us have a whole lot of space to work with, and we don’t get any treats on our pillows, but our small and modest living spaces are where we can say our real professional careers took off.
And that’s worth more than chocolate.
