Respect = Success

Chapter three of my book "Cutting The Game, Inside Television Baseball From The Director's Chair (www.cuttingthegame.com) is titled Respect = Success.
In this chapter, I write about respect for the game and the team, the crew and the fans.
I am fortunate and very grateful that there is a mutual respect between our Producer, Mike, and myself.
He is the best baseball Producer in the country and I am lucky to I sit next to him.
Mike and I also have a mutual respect with our home TV crew. This crew is "baseball smart" and they work their butts off.
Mike and I are proud of the product we televise and we tip our caps to the crew.
We work for the best organization in baseball if not all of sports. The St. Louis Cardinals do everything in a first class way and we understand what a privilege it is to be part of this wonderful organization.
The home clubhouse manager for the Cardinals is Rip Rowen.
Rip was honored before the game by the team for being named 2009 major league baseball clubhouse manager of the year.
We recorded the on-field presentation and aired it during the game.
This honor is well deserved and everyone in the Cardinals travelling party respects Rip for the fine job that he does.
Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter is one of the fiercest competitors in all of sports. This is the side of Chris that the fans see. Chris is also a wonderful family man. Before the game tonight, a little league team of which Chris' son Sam is a member of walked on the warning track with other little league teams.
We had a great shot of Chris waiting for the team and having a team photo in front of the dugout with the players and some fathers of the team. This was a wonderful moment. We aired this moment during the game/telecast and the quality of our show was greatly enhanced.
We respect Chris as a person and a player and this moment captured this respect.
The Cardinals beat the Mariners 4-2 and our telecast was excellent.
The best moments of the show occurred before we went to air.
The best moments of the telecast happened because of our respect for the team and the game, and our crew and the fans.
Respect = Success.