With a life dedicated to being a voice behind the sports world, journalist Sarai Nazaire worked her way through the ranks to become one of the youngest and most sought after faces for sports television. Her will and honor to not only be accurate in...
Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark." ― Bryce Courtenay
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"Superstar, I'll see you next week."
Without a verbal response, I lazily threw up my arm to bid the notoriously loud mouthed and yet highly esteemed Steven A. Smith a wave as I trekked towards the elevator. Once my middle finger tapped the round button so that it would illuminate, my head lightly plopped against the wall in frustration and yet an ounce of relief filled my core at the reality that I'd be on my way out of Bristol, Connecticut within the next couple of minutes. The faint ding signifying the elevator's arrival couldn't come fast enough but much like I had been doing for the last thirty minutes or so, I dragged myself onto it and allowed the doors to close without ever pressing the button for the ground floor. In its stillness, I briefly centered my thoughts with deep breaths as I'd learned to do in bullshit meditation sessions but the lax state of mind I sought after never happened within my form. I accepted that particular defeat as I finally pressed the button to descend to my awaiting chauffeured SUV.
"Enjoy your weekend, Fred." Ol' Fred. He's been security within this building since it's 1987 existence. If you let anyone tell it, he's more historical than the building itself. Anyone who is anyone within the sports world has walked through these doors and encountered this man. He's a landmark, gem, and is hailed as the favorite by all who have taken just a couple of minutes to have a brief conversation with him. He's a counselor, father figure, big brother, comedian, and even a free consultant full of ideas when he wants to be. I don't think I appreciate anyone within this company more than I do him. He's earned that bias quite well.
"You as well superstar. Yet again you've had one hell of a week and as always, you conquered it in only a manner that you know how to do. You know you're my favorite right?"
Superstar. It's a fairly new nickname that I've acquired around the building over the last couple of months and it's stuck like flies on shit ever since the infamous diatribe I went on that left my co-hosts baffled into silence while it awoken the sentiments of the entire country. I'm the estrogen on The Sports Haven, a sports news and debate show and now podcast that I share with Chad Johnson also known as "OchoCinco", a now retired Kobe Bryant, and sports journalist Scott Manelli. We were originally ranked third in ratings behind Sports Center and First Take until I thoughtlessly opened up my mouth and drew an interest and following to the show that has evoked a variety of responses amongst our executives and critics. What came out of my mouth was once an opinion I quietly mustered on my own after tapping into my journalistic instinct and doing some general research for the sake of feeding my own curiosity and desire to understand the perspectives of others. The source of said research? New York Giants wide receiver Odell Cornelius Beckham Jr.
I scoured the internet for days looking into his early years as a high school student at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana. The stats within those four years alone would have anyone deeming him to be an athletic freak of nature beyond the likes of Michael Jordan or Lebron James because the guy was a letterman in three different sports. In football, he played wide receiver, running back, and corner back. His junior year and senior years were statistically awing. His senior year he had nineteen touchdowns and over a thousand receiving yards. Only one other player in the school's history had ever had that many. He was an all-district selection for his junior and senior years in basketball and then he had the audacity to follow in his mother's footsteps by excelling in both sprinting and jumping in track. The man even had the opportunity to play for the junior national team in soccer but opted out of it. His talents heightened at Louisiana State University and once Jarvis Landry joined him, they were unstoppable. He won the Paul Hornung Award and led the SEC with thirty-two kickoff returns for 845 net yards in the 2013 season. He declared for the draft his following year.
