Off-Topic Question: Most Important Non-Baseball Thing in your Life

Definitely tops the list.

I’m working more on the later two more lately…

I just spent the weekend in St. Louis at the National Autism Conference. It may not be actually the most important thing in my life (wife-children of course) but it is something I have dedicated my professional life toward in last 5 years especially. Met some amazing people.

Without a doubt. I’ve been married 40 years, and she’s my best friend as well as my wife.

…which also includes some very close friends.

There’s a lot that I value more highly than baseball. I could live all right without baseball, though it’s No. 1 on the list of things I could live without.

I have a few important shows coming up, one of them is a museum. I’m also a programmer and that keeps me busy when I am not in the studio. As you may have guessed, such work has no office. You take it everywhere you go. So baseball is my vacation from this stuff. I’m looking forward to the offseason. It’s as much fun to me as the season is, in terms of hot stove talk and prospects.

:)

I’ve been a Padres fan since I moved to San Diego at the age of 8. I became a student of the game sitting in the upper deck at Jack Murphy Stadium through the summer of 1984 as Tony Gwynn, Steve Garvey, Terry Kennedy and the late Alan Wiggins tore their way through the National League. I spent the summer of 1987 rotating through eight different replica jerseys and batting practice shirts. I had tickets to Game 6 of the 1998 World Series in Yankee Stadium, which I never got to use (a fact for which Richie Garcia missing strike three on TIno Martinez is only about 30% to blame in my mind!). I was at the last game at Qualcomm and the first at Petco. I now live on the East Coast, and frequently sit at my computer into the weeeeee hours of the morning to watch my team online.
All of which is to say that this evening was quite a disappointment for me, and I was really ready to be pissy.

Then, I sat at the dinner table with my daughter, got to have her fall asleep with her head on my arm, and when I got her into her pajamas, the squeezed me and said “You’re the best, daddy.”

Some day, the Padres will actually win a World Series, and it will be really amazing. Just not as amazing as she is.

… University of Washington football and basketball … I truly hate when college basketball ends.

My family comes first. Gardening also keeps me sane in the summer between Boxscores.

My folks divorced when I was 29, and Ill tell ya, my relationships with both are as good as they’ve ever been. My love of sports, especially baseball, comes from my dads stories of the old Baltimore Orioles, my brother and I bond over our Ravens, and I can even talk to my sister now thanks to her stint at UA (Roll Tide).

Ok, friends and family and all that.

First, last, and always. He’s 16 years old but he’s still my best friend.

Her amazing drive and ambition in the face of struggles and the sort of childhood abuse that cripples most people inspires me every day. Family in general. The importance of these relationships has deepened remarkably as I hit 40.

Music, specifically making it. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t write songs and sing. Everyone should be blessed to have one or two things they do better than almost anyone else.

which tops all always, it has to be my job. I have a lot of friends, great ones at that, but when you own a business it becomes you’re life. When it’s a very public business, it encompasses it even more. Not lamenting at all. Food, Music, a bar- all a great way to live in my opinion, but when you get down to the nuts and bolts, it’s still a business and the rent doesn’t pay itself. Another weird thing about owning a business non-sports related is that you detach very quickly. It’s not like I’m any less of a Mets fan in 2010 that I was in 2000, it’s just now I can’t stand the losing because of the way the operation is run is so obviously flawed in a business sense. For a lot of time, the Mets were an outlet, now they are a source of consternation which makes it even harder to stay on board. And when you can’t stop the idiotic cycle that is the Mets these days, it sort of turns me off. The exact reason I can’t root for the Knicks anymore- Isiah Thomas…off-tangent rant over….

The moment they came into my life, my entire perspective and all of my priorities changed. From that point on, my #1 duty became to make sure I do the best I can to set them up as well as I can to have the best life they can. I guess it used to be all about me. Now it’s all about them.

Hey John, I can’t help but notice you haven’t thrown your own answer in here. While you certainly seemed to at least obliquely reference it in your “how I got into this crazy business” post, I’d be curious to hear your own specific answer.

The most difficult and most important thing in my life is keeping myself happy. In order to do this, I need a good balance of family, work, education, reading, religion, philosophy, art, exercise, friendship, sports (especially baseball), and other visual entertainment.

I am never able to pursue everything, but keeping the above in mind helps me keep a good mental balance and perspective. This in turn helps me to be the best husband, father, employer, employee, friend, student, and so on that I can be.

Faith, Family and Friends. These are things that should be important to all of us. The best things usually come from the people you surround yourself with.

Aside from that, music, by a hearty margin, is my next favorite thing after baseball. Listening to, playing, writing. It’s all great stuff.