Opportunity is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a good chance for advancement or progress. In life, opportunities are not always granted; sometimes they happen by chance.

Chance. Something happening, almost always, unpredictably and sometimes without a cause. By chance, an opportunity can come along.

This past spring I began a last minute search for internships. By the last week of classes I thought I knew what my summer would be like. I would be in my hometown working with a baseball team in a collegiate summer league.

I had also applied to several teams in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, another college summer league, and at the last minute, I found out I had an internship with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. I was left with a tough choice: stay at home for the summer or move to Cape Cod where I knew no one, had nowhere to live and no income with less than a month to put it together. It would appear to be an idiotic choice to take on that internship with no plans. I couldn’t pass up a summer on Cape working in a league known to produce baseball professionals like Chuck Knoblauch, Nomar Garciaparra, Joe Girardi, Buster Posey, Matt LaPorta, Tim Lincecum, J.J. Putz, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis and Barry Zito.

I packed up and moved to Yarmouth, Mass. on June 10. I found an advertisement on Craigslist for a room in a house for $150 a week and I lined up a job with a local Stop and Shop, but I was still heading to a place where I knew no one.

Luckily, the first day I went to the baseball field I met plenty of great people. Everyone involved within the organization made the experience unlike any other I’ve ever had. Two broadcasters, Chris Gilmore from the University of Georgia and Cody Normand from Hofstra University, along with Ryan Gallant from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, really helped make the internship great. Not only are they good friends, but they helped me work to become better at reporting on baseball, and reporting in general really. I was able to meet Peter Gammons and Buster Olney because of these guys, and spontaneously bought tickets to a Red Sox game less than an hour before we needed to leave for Boston because Chris convinced me.

The entire group of interns made me feel at home there. Toward the end of the summer, I had the opportunity to move from my original Craigslist abode and into a house with two other interns. Pearl and Katie, you turned the summer around for me. I no longer felt awkward all the time because I was living in some stranger’s basement.

It wasn’t just the interns who made things special. Steve, Cathy, Joe, Melissa and all of the other members of the organization made all of the interns feel welcome. They were always there when we needed them, and for that I am so grateful.

Coming back to school, while I love Oswego, was not something I looked forward to. Oswego has always been a home away from home, but now Yarmouth has taken its place. Sure, I only lived there for two months, but it felt so much longer. Hopefully I’ll be able to return next summer and root for the only Red Sox team that matters, Y-D.
Seamus Lyman
News Editor
slyman@oswegonian.com