Lil Wayne performed at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence before his most recent tour officially started a couple of weeks ago. A few days later, while I was doing my usual running back and forth between the office, the copy room and the press box before a Providence Bruins game, I encountered a question about that show that I never would have expected to hear. Some people would call it stupid, or naive or insert-your-favorite insult-here. I call it refreshing.
A teenage girl walked through the restaurant that overlooks the ice/court/stage area in the Dunk and pulled me aside. She asked where the concert had been, and she was surprised to hear my response: all the events are in the same general area, and a crew changes the ice to parquet or hardwood or whatever a stage is made of. She clearly had never heard of a conversion crew, and she might not have ever been inside an arena like that before. The fact that she was so amazed by such a little thing made me take a step back. It was actually nice to see someone interested by something as simple as a bunch of guys working long hard nights using power tools. The means (and even the end sometimes) get overlooked in many different aspects of people’s lives. Staying those extra few minutes to make sales calls, holding the door open for that person who’s a couple of strides behind everyone else, and saying that extra thank you with a smile always make a difference, whether it’s immediately noticeable or not.
Assembling a stage may be a different story, but it doesn’t mean we can’t have the same respect for the people who do it or the same bewilderment of what it allows. The next time I see something I’ve taken for granted, I’ll be sure to remember how valuable it is. I’m not talking on the level of a sacrifice bunt here, as much as I’d like to make a baseball reference. I will honestly thank the next person that does something nice for me. I hope it’s soon.
If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.
*****
Head on over to the other posts in the “From Minor League Baseball to… Minor League Hockey” series if you liked this post.
Nick Gagalis 
Leave a Reply