Guess what! I was lucky enough to convince one of the YES men (named Lou DiPietro) to let me interview him about his AWESOME job. Any Yankee fan has to agree, working for the YES Network definitely has some perks! Ready to read about them...?! Here you go!
Me: Do you or do you not have the
best job in the world working for the YES Network? I am going to go with you do
have the best job...
Lou: Yes, of course I think I do!
Seriously though, I get to pretty much watch and write about sports for a
living, and as a lifelong Yankees fan, it’s especially a thrill to be working
for their network and to have the kind of access that I do with the team. Same
thing goes for things, like, say, this year’s Pinstripe Bowl, which lets me go
to Yankee Stadium to watch a Notre Dame football game, which is an honor in and
of itself.
Me: Being a big football guy do
you follow the Temple University football team? Tough season this year.
Lou: Tough is an understatement!
Yes, I do follow TU football, and men’s hoops as well. The four years I was in
school (1997-2000 seasons) we won I think 11 games total, so it’s not like I’m not used to it! But, it
made the few years Al Golden was at the helm that much sweeter; even in the
MAC, it was nice to see my alma mater succeed for a change.
Me: Are you like most who say
that "fandom" goes out the window after a while or are you still a
Yankees fan at heart?
Lou: Everyone is different, but
for me, it hasn’t. Of course, you have to conduct yourself as a professional in
public, and I will say that working in baseball has changed the way I watch a
game, but that inner fan, the one that spent a night roaming the streets and
bars of NYC in November 2009 so I could make sure I got a good spot on the
Yankees parade route – is still there.
Me: If you had to choose... what
would be your favorite encounter with an MLB baseball player (a Yankee or a
player on another team)?
Lou: I’m not sure if I could pinpoint
a specific moment, so I’ll say this: perhaps the best feeling is seeing a guy
come up through the system and getting to know him from trips to spring
training or a minor league park, then seeing him in the clubhouse at the
Stadium and they remember you. Our whole team feels that it is important to
start a good rapport with guys early, and that’s the payoff. David Adams is a
great example of that, and that’s how we’ve been able to create great content
like our long form features on Adams and Preston Claiborne – because we’ve known
them for years.
Me: Being what you describe as a
"native New Englander" how do you like working for a New York based
operation?
Lou: I grew up in southwestern
Connecticut and spent a lot of time in NYC as a child, so I’ve always been a
New Englander by geography but a New Yorker at heart. I guess that means I like
it?
Me: After working for the World
Wrestling Entertainment brand do you consider it to be a sport, fake or not?
Lou: Even WWE brands it as
sports-entertainment, so I’d have to say no. I believe that those guys and
girls are great athletes on the whole and what they do has a very athletic
element, but it’s no more a sport by definition than a snowball fight.
Me: How many baseball stadiums
have you visited in your lifetime?
Lou: Counting ones that no longer
exist 11: all four New York stadiums and both in Philadelphia, plus Tropicana
Field, Joe Robbie Stadium, Comerica Park, Camden Yards, and Comiskey Park. I am
one of many that has the dream of going to all 30 ballparks (or at least all 30
cities) in my lifetime, and that may end up becoming a reality in a little
different capacity than I expected!
Me: What is your favorite sports
moment?
Lou: Wow. I’d have to say it’s
one of these three: watching the 1994 Rangers skate the Stanley Cup (because
that was the first of my “teams” to win a championship), watching the 1996
Yankees win the World Series (first time my favorite team won a title), or watching
the 2008 Phillies win the World Series at Citizens Bank Park (first time I ever
saw a team win a title live). All three were awesome in their own way and in a
completely different way.
Me: What are you're thoughts on
the departure of Robinson Cano, the "disagreements" with Joe Girardi,
and the general reasoning that has a ton of Yankees fans jumping off the cliff?
Lou: Robinson Cano has always
been great with me personally and professionally, and he did what he felt was
best for himself personally, so you can’t hate him for that – and if he really
had issues with Joe, over batting second or anything else, then that’s his
right to ply his trade elsewhere. I don’t agree with his statement that the
Yankees didn’t show him respect, but again, that’s his opinion. As for Yankees
fans jumping off a cliff…relax. Is a Kelly Johnson/Brian Roberts platoon at
second base as good as Cano in theory? No, but with all the other improvements
the Yankees have made, it could be perfectly fine. Remember, this is a team
that turned scrap heap pickups like Scott Brosius into heroes. Let’s re-visit
this in, say, 2020 when Cano is 37 and see how well he did in Seattle and how
well the Yankees did without him.
Me: What are your day-to-day
responsibilities like (during baseball season)? How are they different during
the offseason?
Lou: My official title is content
editor, and there is no such thing as a “typical” day in my world, so I always
answer this question with this statement: My day-to-day responsibility is to
react to my surroundings and create, gather, or facilitate content for our
website in any way I need to.
Some days, I’m at the Stadium
or Barclays Center, where my main function is the same as any other beat writer
but I may be called upon to help our video team shoot something, or do some
research for our production crew, or anything else the team needs. Some days
I’m in the office, where I could be writing, or cropping photos, or collating
four sets of picks for the This Week in Football yearly pick ‘em contest, or
recording podcasts/helping create video content with Doug Williams. And some
days I’m on location doing various things. Such is life.
During the Yankees offseason
the chaos dies down a little bit as we switch our focus to the Nets or the NFL
or other topics, but as this winter has already proven, there’s still plenty of
Yankees-related activity to worry about!
Me: How did you get to where you are today?
Lou: A lot of hard work, a good bit of talent, and a little
luck! My boss at YESNetwork.com was my boss at a previous job, and even though
I wasn’t the easiest person to work with at times, he knew my capabilities and
asked me to come to YES when an opportunity arose. There’s a good piece of life
advice in there too: even if you hate where you are, always try to make a good
impression with your work and never bite the hand that feeds, because you never
know who is watching.
Me: We now live in a social media world. How important is it
to you to interact with fans/readers?
Lou: Very! I always try to answer commenters on my articles or
Twitter followers when and where I can. Obviously I won’t react to people who
bash my work and there are some subjects I can’t or won’t discuss, but on the
whole, I’m never averse to a good back and forth discussion or unwilling to
answer questions/give opinions/etc. And, to me, it’s a trip that complete
strangers actually care about what I say; I prefer to keep my private life
private so I won’t ever necessarily open up my Facebook to people or anything
(I might make exceptions), but if I put something out there in my “public”
persona, it’s fair game.
Really, I think that in today’s world, that’s an important
part of building trust with the fanbase. You’re not always going to be the one
to break news, but if you build a rapport with your audience, it will be easier
to keep eyes on your work no matter what.
Me: Do you think the Yankees have
a legitimate shot, even as early as it is in the offseason, at the World Series
in 2014?
Lou: Of course. They still have
some holes, but they’ve made a lot of big improvements offensively, and have
guys in the system who may not be sexy but are capable of being back-end
rotation starters.
Me: I do not know if you read the
blog much but Daniel Burch has made it his life's mission, and the blogs
mission, to forgive all steroid users. What are your thoughts on steroid users,
their chances for the Hall of Fame, and Alex Rodriguez specifically?
Lou: I know nothing more about
any specific players, and won’t comment on A-Rod until/unless everything is
known and his fate is decided. I think what MLB is doing with the joint drug
agreement is good and a necessary step for the health of the game.
...I HAD TO INCLUDE THIS QUESTION (OBVIOUSLY)
Me: Is Andy Pettitte a starting
pitcher?
Lou: Yes! And a darn good one, too!
Me: Who is your favorite Yankee
fan? (There is only one right answer)
...I may have been fishing for compliments at this point
Lou: There’s this girl who
follows me on Twitter that’s a very passionate fan, and she’s pretty cute, too,
so I’d have to say her. Or Billy Crystal.
Me: Can I Pettitte?
Lou: If you ask nicely, maybe!
Follow him on twitter @LouDiPietroYES and maybe if you're nice (and lucky), he'll answer your questions too.
