Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs Part 25

Barrett Christy.

I grew up about an hour north of Philadelphia, in a town called Point Pleasant. As a kid, I kind of slid between groups. When I was like four years old, I wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer. [Laughs] I think my second choice was a fireman. And my third choice was a football player. I was half a jock and-I don't know-half a dirtbag. Just call me a tomboy, that'll be easier. [Laughs] I was into a lot of sports-gymnastics, I rode horses for a little while, tried that. In high school, I ran track and I played field hockey and lacrosse for a few years.

I went out west right out of high school. I always wanted to see the mountains and other parts of the country. I hadn't been out of the tri-state area my whole life, so I drove with friends and we just stopped anywhere we felt like and we ended up out in Lake Tahoe. We all sort of encouraged each other to get out of Pennsylvania. But we didn't think it through very well and some people ran out of money and figured it was time to go home. I only had seven hundred bucks, but I stayed. I liked it.

I kind of settled in for the winter and started skiing. I had skied from about the age of ten on, but only once or twice a year. I never really progressed much beyond the beginner level. And out here I was seriously challenged because the snow was powder and the slopes were much steeper than I was used to. And so I met some friends who were into s...o...b..arding and I thought that since I was having a hard time skiing maybe I should try boarding. It just looked like a lot of fun. Which it is. And the more did it, I found out I was pretty good at it-and I loved it. Coming down the mountain with good snow, there's nothing like it. You'll never find a better sport.

After about two years, I moved from Lake Tahoe to Gunnison, Colorado. I wanted to go to college, and Western State was there. And so was a mountain called Crested b.u.t.te. [Laughs] Seriously-the mountain was one of the main reasons I made the move. The area was perfect for me. We had really great snowfalls and I just boarded every day, and that's where I really developed my skills. I had a crazy routine, though. I would get up in the morning, go to cla.s.ses, then go s...o...b..ard and then hit the gym, quickly shower and change-and then go to work. I worked in restaurants. I had to work to make money to buy my ski pa.s.s. Looking back, there was so much I would do just to s...o...b..ard-because that was my reward. If I was going to make time for school and work, I was going to make time for s...o...b..arding, because you have to have a reward for the things that you do.

I don't know how long it was before I turned pro. I don't even really know exactly when I'd say I turned pro. Maybe it was when I got my first s...o...b..ard for free. I got one from a rep who worked for Gnu, and I realized, "Wow, I can have sponsors and get free stuff and maybe somebody will pay me enough to cover my rent and that would be great." I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Pretty soon, I started traveling more, going to compet.i.tions and photo shoots and stuff. Then I got a travel budget and it just sort of grew from there.

The way the compet.i.tions work, there are different events. There's racing-which are timed events where you're going against the clock. And then there are all sorts of freestyle events where it's more about style-you go over different jumps and there's different things like railslides. They've got judges looking at how high you can get, what kind of tricks you can pull. All that. And those are my specialty-the freestyle events. The ones that I do most are the Big Air, the Slope Style, and the Half-Pipe. Slope Style is one of my favorites lately. It's pretty cool because you have to be able to do more than just leap off the kicker and land and ride away. You have to be able to control yourself down the whole slope.

I'm constantly pus.h.i.+ng myself to do new tricks. Right now, I'm trying to learn more upside-down tricks. There's so many, and so many different versions. A lot of them are pulled from skateboarding, like methods or indies or tail grabs or nose grabs. But basically, what you do, you kind of combine a spin, a flip and a grab and you've got a trick.

I work on my tricks a lot. I use a trampoline sometimes. Or a diving board in the summer. So much of it is just visualizing and then working it out-rolling around on the floor. And when I try it out for the first time on the slope, hopefully it's a really soft deep powder day. [Laughs]

My first couple of contests, I did really well. I won the Amateur Nationals after riding the Half-Pipe only a few times. I think I was really just lucky. It was ignorance that made me so successful back then. I didn't think, "Oh, I'm expected to do well at this." I never thought of myself as a compet.i.tive s...o...b..arder. That wasn't even an issue for me. I was doing it because it was fun. I didn't care what people thought of me on the mountain.

I've seen the sport change so much. Just from year to year, it's grown by leaps and bounds. I think the first events I did, there were maybe fifteen or twenty women. Now they have to cut compet.i.tions off at a certain amount because there are so many, and contests are aired on TV channels, and I went to the Olympics last year-it's really come around a lot.

Back when I started, there wasn't a clear-cut ladder to climb. Even now, it's pretty loose. Like, with the Olympics, people first started talking about it a couple of years before it happened, but we didn't know if it was going to be an event or just a demonstration. And it was kind of up in the air until the last minute who was gonna go. It wasn't as though we were acc.u.mulating points over four years to see who was going to make the team.

I don't love talking about the Olympics, actually. [Laughs] The biggest rush was making it there. The feeling I got knowing that I was on the first ever Olympic s...o...b..arding team-that was just incredible. But otherwise, it's all kind of a blur. Or, more like, I choose to think of it as a blur. [Laughs] I did the Half-Pipe. It was the only freestyle event there. And I finished fourteenth out of twenty-eight. I would've felt better if I'd done my best and placed fourteenth, but I didn't. I fell. I would love to go again. But it's not an experience I like to dwell on.

Since the Olympics, I've been focusing on the bigger events and the stuff that's important to me. There isn't really a circuit. The sport doesn't work that way. There's the X-Games and the Gravity Games and the TV events-they're enough to keep you really busy. And they're the events that matter the most because they're the ones that are watched by a lot of people, so you can gain recognition and give your sponsors exposure on mainstream television. There are a few organizations like the I.S.F. or the F.I.S. that tally up points and eventually name someone world champion, but it may be somebody that no one has ever even heard of. Points don't really matter. I'm not even currently ranked, I don't think. [Laughs] I don't care about that. I never did.

Most of my friends who do this are the same way. It's not like we have to be pitted against each other to be good at what we do. In fact, we learn from each other a lot. And we all push each other. My friends will totally dare me to do stuff-within reason, of course. There's compet.i.tion, but it isn't like, "I'm going to kick your a.s.s. I'm going to win." It's more like my friends saying, you know, "You can do it!" Or, "Why don't you do that again?" Or, "Why don't you do that in the contest?" You know?

The way I make my living is sponsors.h.i.+p. I have a board sponsor, Gnu s...o...b..ards, and I work with Nike. Nike is my apparel sponsor. I help them design clothes and boots. And I have an eyewear sponsor, Oakley. Between the three, I'm earning a salary and I get royalties for anything that sells with my name on it.

I really like my sponsors. I've a lot of hands-on opportunities at Gnu because it's a small company. I'm very involved with the design of the boards, the artwork, everything. If I'm in an advertis.e.m.e.nt, I get to help put that together. And they did a s...o...b..arding movie this year and all the riders got to work out their own parts. And with Nike, I might have to talk to a few more people to get something done, but it's basically the same thing. It's a good relations.h.i.+p. I think they represent me very well.

A lot of companies use the s...o...b..arder image or personality to sell their product in this way where the idea is that we're all just crazy, hormoneraged, out-of-control, extreme people. I think it's a total misconception. I don't know anybody like that. None of us are out there to be totally crazy. We don't take uncalculated risks. We're all worried about the snow conditions and if the snow is stable or not. We're constantly thinking before we do stuff. There's so much planning and practicing that goes into it. Sometimes when you're playing the video games or watching the movies or TV, it doesn't show that everybody has to be smart about this. But if we weren't, then we wouldn't still be doing it-'cause it's dangerous. We're all pretty smart, welleducated. We're not like the Mountain Dew guys, or the Spicoli character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

I like talking to people-meeting people on the airplane or wherever I am-because they're usually shocked that I can put a sentence together and I'm a professional s...o...b..arder. And I don't have green hair and I don't have a bunch of tattoos. [Laughs]

It's not about being crazy-it's just not. If anything, it's just being on the mountain that really drew me in. You know, riding on the chairlift and being on top of the mountain and that cold, crisp, clean air, and soft snow-that experience is so incredible. Just being outside with nothing going on around you. The whole experience of it. There's so many different areas of s...o...b..arding-all the different events and styles, all the tricks. They're all pretty fun too, but it's not why any of us started and it's not what keeps us going. I think that being out on the mountain and riding from top to bottom with your friends, that's why you keep doing it.

I'm twenty-eight. It's hard to say how long I'll last with this. It may only be a couple of years more. There's not a lot of stability in this sport. I mean, I'm going over fifty-foot jumps all the time. I could get injured and it could all be over. You can't forget that. You just never know. But I've never been one to know what I was doing from one day to the next, so I don't really worry about it too much.

I'm just happy-you know? I didn't expect to be doing what I'm doing now. I kind of thought that when you grow up, you get a job and it's something you probably don't like to do, but you make yourself do it. [Laughs] It wasn't something that I was looking forward to. But as it turned out, I didn't have to do it. I got to do this instead- come up to the mountain every day and have fun. I just basically got lucky.

I'm all about teamwork.

PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER.

Ruthie Bolton-Holifield.

I've pretty much been playing basketball my entire life. I have a really large family-twenty brothers and sisters. And basketball's an inexpensive sport, where you can play with ten people at a time. So it was perfect for us. We would put a bicycle rim on a tree and shoot through it. The court was gra.s.s. And as we played, the gra.s.s would wear down, wear away and just turn completely into dirt.

We'd have games all day long and just play and play until my mom made us come inside. We'd just play and play and play. Me and my sister, and a couple of female cousins, we took on our bigger brothers-and we killed them on the pick and roll. They couldn't figure it out. They just didn't know how to play it. And of course they would get mad and want to hurt you because they just can't stop you. My one brother would usually just eventually quit. You know, he would just stop after we'd beaten them three or four times.

And in high school, we were still all together. My sister, all us cousins, all us girls on the same basketball team. This was in McClaine, Mississippi. We didn't really need any plays or anything, we just whooped up on people. We went to the state champions.h.i.+p four years and won it twice.

I was always real compet.i.tive. If I couldn't beat you, I'd beat you up. [Laughs] But as a girl, I never really thought about doing it professionally. I had a sister over me-she was the one who was really expected to make a career out of basketball. I didn't take the game seriously until my junior year of high school, when she was getting recruited. Then, I was like, "Hmm, you can actually go to college and play basketball and they pay for your school too?" That was interesting, you know? [Laughs] Then my senior year I went to go see my sister play at Auburn. And she was really good, really inspiring.

My sister doesn't play anymore. She went to play in Europe after college because there was no pro league in the United States back then. So she played in Europe and then took a break to coach. And just when she decided to get back into basketball, after two years of coaching, she had a car accident and broke her neck. She was out four years. Then she tried out for the WNBA-for Detroit, and almost made the team. But in the end they cut her. And for my sister, that kind of closed the book on playing. But in a positive way. Like, she knows in her heart that she tried, and it just wasn't meant to be. And so she's actually my agent now. And I actually donated, well, not donated, but I gave her my gold medal. Because she always talked about the Olympics so much and she always wanted it. She's just been a real inspiration for me.

I followed her to Auburn. And we were really successful. I think our record was like-I think I only lost twelve games in my four years. Yeah, I think we won like a hundred and twenty. Which ended up being hard in a way, because when I went overseas after college, I'd almost always been in successful situations with basketball. And all of a sudden I was in Sweden and I was on a team where I had to do almost everything and we still lost a lot. That was really frustrating because I was so used to winning. And you get there and you do all you can do and you lose.

But I got used to it. I thought, "Okay, this is the pros. You lose and then you just get ready for the next game. And you just make sure you perform." And I did. You know, I was averaging almost thirty points a game. I was like the Michael Jordan over there. And it felt good. You know? Because I was more of a defensive player up till then. In college sometimes I would barely shoot five times. But I became a scorer there.

I learned a lot overseas. I really enjoyed it. My game developed tremendously. I think the reason I'm the player I am now is because I went over there. But getting the chance to be on the U.S. team in the '96 Olympics, now that was a real turning point for me, and I think, for women's basketball and women's sports as a whole. Because, I mean, our winning the gold medal, it kind of gave us a league-the WNBA-and a chance to play in our own country.

After we won that gold with style and cla.s.s, I think we sort of made a platform for women in sports. We made a statement. We were saying, "Yes. We can play the game and we can make it exciting. We might not dunk yet, but we can make it exciting. Now put us out there and sell us!" [Laughs] If we had lost, they would've said, "See, I knew they weren't going to do anything. They're not good enough yet for the public eye." But we won. We did. And-so I think it was just crucial in so many ways for us-because people saw that this was the right time to start a U.S. league. A women's league.

And now it's doing excellent. A lot of people have said, you know, "I don't even watch basketball but I tuned in one time and now I love it." And it's not just women-the men are starting to watch it, the boys are starting to watch it. We started with, on average, almost five thousand fans at each game, and now it's ten. And that's really great and I think it's here to stay. We're just getting the recognition, finally. I mean, even personally, I've been recognized more this year than I ever have: "Oh, you play for the Sacramento Monarchs." Even in the airports people recognize me. Some of them might not actually know who I am-they might think I run track or something [laughs]- but they recognize me.

The hard thing about the pros is you're dealing with a lot of different personalities. You're dealing with players that have been stars on their college teams, All-Americans, that dominated in Europe. That have been this and that. And then when we all got to the pros over here, a lot of us, our roles maybe changed a little bit. Instead of being a star, some people have to be supporting players. And see, some people can't deal with that. Some people are used to being in the spotlight all their life and then all of a sudden they get to this particular team and their role changes. Because the coach has to figure out a way for eleven all-stars to play together. Because that's pretty much what each team is-it's an all-star team-they're taking the best players out of college. And to be successful, there has to be a chemistry with all these great players, and I think that's hard sometimes.

I've been lucky. I've been on Sacramento three years, and I've gone from being a no-name to a name. You know? I wasn't an AllAmerican in college, now I am an All-Star in the WNBA. But even so, you know, I think my role on the team is changing a little bit since the first year. For one reason, we have a lot of better players now. We have a lot more weapons, a lot more scorers. I'm still a leader. I'm a veteran player. And I lead by example. But I'm not averaging as much as I did the first season.

We're winning now. We're a better team. And so I'm doing now what I need to do to help us win. And I don't care because, you know, I'm all about teamwork and if we win as a team then it's all good. I do whatever I can. One game I might have to score more. One game I might have to rebound more. One game I have to do it all. But whatever I have to do that night, that's what I want to do.

I think I'm a leader because-well, it's not so much like I'm turning around and going, "You need to be here! You need to be there!" That's not me. I like to initiate the intensity. I like for people to feed off me. I like to come into the game and make a difference. That's what I mean by being a leader. People feed off my energy.

It's hard sometimes. Some nights you play badly and you still have to lead. You have to still be part of it. You can't get all into yourself. Because even Jordan, you know, he had some nights where his scoring wasn't there, but his presence still made a difference. You know, his leaders.h.i.+p still made a difference. So if I'm not having a great night or even if I'm on the bench, I want to be like, "Come on, Nikki, you can do it-keep your stance." Or, "Come on, Latasha, be careful with your body!" I still want to be supportive. And I still want to be respected as a player who uplifts everybody. I don't want to get so upset I go to the end of the bench and get within myself. That's not what I want to be. I want to be able to give energy, not take it away.

I mean, you know, I had a game this season, I had thirty-four points, I think I had eight a.s.sists, like nine rebounds. That was one of my best games this season. And I've had some other good games, too. But the games I really cherish-well, I think, to me, my best game ever really was the first game of the World Champions.h.i.+p last year. I only had, like, seventeen points, but I made them at crucial times. And my defense was there. I hadn't been playing. I had missed like five games because of my knee. But I came back in that first game and I made a difference. And that game meant so much to me. I wasn't having the best night, I was doing okay, but I was in the game the last ten minutes and we were actually down eight or nine points and I made a difference. I was there at that crucial time with my defense. My defense was great-I had some great rebounds. And we won. And games like that are really the games that stand out in my mind, because I made a difference when it counted. Not because I was the star.

I just love the compet.i.tiveness, I love the challenge of trying to win. Like last night, I didn't have a great night last night, I don't think my defense was that great, I got penetrated on a lot. But you know what? Today I can't wait to go to practice because I can't wait to work on that. To get better. I always want to get better and I always love the challenge. Because we got a game this weekend and I'll be defending another tough girl and I want to win. And to get better and to win-it gives me so much confidence, it lifts my self-esteem and that's what sports-and that's what life is all about. It's being positive and getting uplifted and getting better. And one thing I love about basketball is it's such a team sport. You're all working together on these things, and if you're down one night, another girl can pick it up for you and you can still win. I love that. And the environment is great, and you're doing something you love and you're getting paid for it. And then you get to travel and then they pay you to take pictures and smile. It's such an awesome life. I have so much to be thankful for.

And I am thankful. I spend a lot of time answering fan mail. I do it all myself. And I write back to these girls personally. Some of them are fans of basketball, some are not. I just think it's so important-I consider it an honor to be able to reach out to these girls in their early years, when they can really be positively influenced. And I actually have met some of the ones that really stand out. Some fans I even call. I remember I called a girl and she was like-when I called her, I told her who it was and she just dropped the phone. She ran and her daddy got the phone and he said, "Is this Ruthie Bolton?" And I said, "Yeah." He said, "My daughter is about to have a fit. She just can't believe you actually called her." And there's actually another fan, a girl from Florida, that I've stayed in contact with. She's in high school. And she's actually coming to visit me next month. That makes me feel good. It gives me, you know, energy, and it motivates me and it makes me feel more complete because I feel like I'm doing something more than just playing basketball. I'm making an impact off the court.

You want to be a great player, you know, hit that three-point shot, play great defense. But that will soon be forgotten about. The impact I can leave off the court will go a lot longer. To be able to say something to a young girl that will keep her from dropping out of school, or getting on drugs or getting pregnant at a young age-that's so much more important to me. And I see where-I go to different organizations and speak to kids and teenagers. Someday, I want to work with high-risk teenagers. I want to be like a counselor with kids because I feel like I'm one of their peers and I feel like I could have a more positive impact than somebody in a nice suit who's been doing it for twenty or thirty years. I feel like there's such a need, you know? Our teenagers are going astray and they need some guidance and I do feel like I could really help them. And even now, when I talk with them, I see the impact that I make and it just-that gives me strength.

Things are great right now. I love my job. And you know, the big picture-women's basketball-it's great. Everything's great. To get to this place of recognition we've gotten to, it feels so good. Business and promotion-wise, there's still a long way to go in certain areas. The union was able to make some leeway in the pay scale this past year. But still, of course, we make nothing compared to the men. I think rookies make only twenty-five thousand dollars. It needs to be more. And hopefully once the league really gets established, the salaries will go up. I know some players are making-with endors.e.m.e.nts-some players are doing really good. But it still needs to go up.

Because when we do well, it opens doors. People say, "There's women's basketball. They're great, the fans love them. Look at that!" You know? And now, "There's women's soccer! Look what they're doing now!" It's just all over the place-women are showing men, showing the public that yeah, we can play sports, we can do more than just be housewives. We can perform in sports and do quite well. We're strong and we're compet.i.tive and we accept the challenge.

Off-season, you know, I go to the rec gym and play pick up games with the guys, and a lot of guys may not know me. So we divide teams up and things. And after they see me play, they're like, "Do you play in some kind of a league? You have to play basketball for a living because you're good." So I'll be like, "Oh, yeah, I play in the WNBA." And they say, "You do, for real?" And they just get amazed. And what gives me inspiration and what makes me know that women's sports are definitely coming along, especially women's basketball, is when guys come up to me and say, "I want to play you one-on-one. You want to challenge me?" You know, for guys to even say that, that means they must have some respect for you. And it happens a lot. They come up like, "You think you can beat me? You think you can beat me?" And I'm like, "Get in line, wait like the rest of them." And they're like, "Yeah, yeah, okay. Uh-huh." I say, "You don't want none of me. You don't want none of me. You don't want none at all."

The people I represent don't need any

more buddies or friends.

SPORTS AGENT.

Kenneth Chase.

I played football from seventh grade all through college. I couldn't get enough football. I even played some for a minor league pro team in Syracuse while I went to law school there. That was it as far as my playing career went, but I've remained interested in football always, and after law school I joined a financial advisory company and I got a number of NFL players to become financial clients. Through them, I began to meet sports agents and we tended to really hit it off, and the work was more exciting to me than financial advising. So I started doing some independent contracting as an agent and one thing led to another, and I ended up joining this firm called the Marquee Group, which is where I am now.

The Marquee Group represents athletes in all major American sports and we've just started getting some big entertainment clients- Michael Bolton, Billy Joel, some people like that-but I work almost exclusively with football players. It's my area of expertise, and it's essentially a unique sport as far as representation goes, because unlike any of the other major team sports, in football, the average pro career is four years long. That means that if you play in high school and college and make it to the NFL, chances are by the time you're twenty-eight years old, you're retired. Your career is over. The end. So you better make a lot of money very fast. Which puts a lot of pressure on your agent.

The main reason football careers are so short is that the NFL imposes a salary cap on its teams. It's complicated, but basically, the salary cap represents the total amount that each team can spend on its players. This year the cap is like fifty-two million dollars, and you have certain top individuals-your star players-who are making four or five million per year each. But once you pay those millionaires, you have to pay almost everybody else the league minimum, because you gotta carry forty-six guys on the team, plus five guys on the practice squad-and maybe ten of them are eating up almost everything the team is allowed to spend.

And here's the really tough part: the minimum salary for firstand second-year players is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and league rules say it goes up to two hundred and eighty-five thousand the third year. So what happens to a lot of these minimum guys is that they get into their third year, and the team looks at them and says, "Why would I pay this third-year guy two hundred and eightyfive thousand when I can pay a rookie half that?" So a guy who has been around three to five years but hasn't established himself, he's gone. He's history.

That's where I come into the picture. My job is to get the players-both the superstars and the minimum guys-as much compensation as possible to try to provide them with a secure financial future.

Primarily, I help them get endors.e.m.e.nts. And Marquee has the best people in the business in that department. There's a guy here who does nothing but seek out endors.e.m.e.nts. And he is outstanding. I tell him the players I have and he'll get them products to endorse, appearances to make and other off-the-field money. You'd be amazed how many businesses want to be identified with a professional athlete. I mean it's not just Michael Jordan and Nike-these million-dollar endors.e.m.e.nts-there's a whole range of situations. You're opening a new restaurant or Footlocker? You get a football player to show up, that's great. Instant credibility. Or a regional advertising campaign. There's so many opportunities. The fees range from the thousands to the tens of thousands to the really big deals. Everything helps.

Of course, I also do contract negotiations. But with most of the young players, the salary cap pretty much dictates everything. There are things you can do with bonuses and incentive clauses that kind of get around the cap-but by and large, the NFL has a pretty rigid hierarchy as far as salaries go-an upper cla.s.s and a lower cla.s.s and not much in between. So you really gotta get those endors.e.m.e.nts.

I think the work is meaningful. Tremendously. I remember when I was a kid, my dad and I were looking at Life magazine, and I saw a picture of Joe Louis, the ex-boxer, opening up a door to a casino in Las Vegas. The caption was like "Greeter Joe Louis," and I said, "Dad, what's he doing?" And my dad told me he was a doorman. And I remembered my dad telling me stories about Joe Louis-how when he was growing up Joe Louis was the greatest thing that ever happened to the African-American community, because even white people had to say he was the best. He was one of the first AfricanAmerican heroes that was accepted by everyone. So you took pride in that, and here was this guy who was reduced to opening doors for people and shaking hands because someone had basically stolen all his money. People hadn't managed it correctly, and people had taken it from the beginning, and I thought if I ever got in a situation to help guys like that, I would. And that really motivates me.

Motivation is necessary, I think, because this is pretty hard work. Especially during the late fall, when I zero in on college kids who are eligible for the NFL draft and let them know about our organization and how we take care of our clients. All week pretty much around the clock I'm at the office on the phone with them and their parents. Then on the weekends I'm traveling to see games and meet with players in the states where you are allowed to talk to players who want to talk to you.

Some states have statutes that prohibit agents from having any contact with players at all until they have finished their athletic eligibility at the end of their season. I frankly think these statutes are unconst.i.tutional. I mean, acting students aren't prohibited from talking to theater agents. But the states feel that they have to protect these kids from some agents-and I won't name any names-who cheat. Cheating does happen. Some agents go on campus and take the kids out to dinner when they are forbidden by law to do so. Or they have other college kids tell the players that they really want to meet with them and so on. Some have even been known to give players money.

But most agents don't cheat. And n.o.body here cheats. We feel- actually, we know-that we're as good as anybody out there as far as contract negotiations, as far as endors.e.m.e.nts, and as far as overall representation. There's an a.n.a.logy my boss makes that I like to quote: "If you had a bad heart, who would you want to operate on you? Would you want the best, or would you want somebody your coach recommended who was one of his friends from school? You'd shop around for the best guy, wouldn't you? And if you were shopping around and one of the surgeons said, 'Hey, I'll give you thirtyfive bucks if you come to me,' wouldn't that make you a little skeptical of the person's services?"

The same logic applies when you're picking an agent. These players, when they choose representation, are making one of the most important decisions of their young lives. It can mean the difference between leading a life of financial security and being a twenty-eight- year-old guy with no money in the bank and no real way of getting any. It's a tough world all around, and it can be particularly hard on ex-athletes. But just as these football players live in a cutthroat world, so do I. There are only fifteen hundred jobs in the NFL and there are a lot of agents out there, and a lot of guys who want to be agents, so I'm in a high-pressure area. You can make a thousand calls, but if you don't produce, it doesn't count. You have to sign clients and keep them or you're gone.

Fortunately, a large part of securing clients is establis.h.i.+ng a trusting relations.h.i.+p with them, and I think I'm pretty good at understanding and relating to these kids. My job is really all about my personality. I use it all the time, and maybe not the way you would expect. I mean, I'm a joker and a fun-loving guy, but the people I represent don't need any more buddies or friends, they need somebody who they can feel confident about handling their business affairs. So until I'm in a situation where I feel that these guys understand where I am from a business perspective, I'm pretty reserved personality-wise around my prospective clients. Then maybe I start to joke around, and I think that side of my personality maybe helps solidify the relations.h.i.+p.

I absolutely love this job and I'm thankful to G.o.d that I am able to do it. It's lucrative-I get a percentage of everything my clients get- but more than that, I enjoy it. I think it fulfills my potential better than any other job could, because it encompa.s.ses my love of football and my financial skills and my personality. I feel very lucky. I've got a big smile on my face and I'm having fun.

I'm a prost.i.tute, a therapist, and a

squash pro in that order.

SQUASH INSTRUCTOR.

Josh Easdon.

I'm dyslexic and I went to special schools for it where squash and tennis were very popular. Squash stuck with me. I started playing tournaments and I really got involved. I used to play six or seven hours a day. I'd get up around five in the morning before school, do a practice, and then a group lesson. I'd get to the clubs early on the weekend and wait for the doors to open. I got to be pretty good. And then I went to college at Va.s.sar and played number one. I was the captain and second team All-American.

When I got out of school with a degree in art history, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was bartending and working at Sotheby's and teaching squash part-time. The members at the New York Athletic Club liked me and they wanted me to be a full-time person there, and I decided that it would be a pretty cool thing to be paid to do my hobby and I didn't really like it at Sotheby's. So it was a pretty easy transition.

So now, technically speaking, I am a teaching squash pro. But in reality, I'm a prost.i.tute, a therapist, and a squash pro in that order. And what I mean by that is that I provide a service and I have to give my clients what they want.

A lot of very intense business people come here and use squash as an outlet. Some get up before dawn, they get into the office before anyone else, they're working really hard, they need this two-hour pocket of the club. This is their social life. And sometimes squash is kind of like a fantasy for these high-powered people-they need to feel that they are great. So I let them win games. And I work at it. I mean, some of these guys I teach are really good, although there's n.o.body who can beat me at the club. But I still have to run to keep the rallies going. I work hard to make it seem like it's a game and they're having a fun time.

I don't just go out and lose to everyone, though. There are people who are more into strategy, so we talk strategy and I play them and it's more of a true learning thing. Then there are other people that I become friends with and I'm simply there as a sounding board. I'll play them as hard as they want me to play them. Usually, I'll play one level above them so they can get a good workout. Then there are other guys that want to test their ability and see how many points they can get from me, so they'll say, "Kick my a.s.s, Josh, make me run all over the courts." So I'll beat them nine-one or nine-two. But they want that.

I get a taste from the moments that I talk to them of what my clients' lives are like-a small sliver of an idea of what they are like outside the club. The sport doesn't have the same access as, say, basketball or baseball. A lot of the squash courts are located in private clubs so you have to join a club to play. You have to have a certain income. It's not readily accessible to a wide range of people. I'm not getting street kids in here, I'm not getting many different ethnic groups. I teach mainly white people-mainly men, adult men. It's a business club. Some of these people I admire, some of these people I admire pieces of, and certain people I don't want to be like. I mean, some of these people go to restaurants where I know they spend my monthly salary on a meal. And that's, you know, that's great. But at the same time, I think some of the successful people here put up screens so that they can get their job done. And then they aren't able to put those screens down. They're caught up in what they're saying, but they can't listen. I don't want to ever lose listening.

I'm always trying to figure out whether the student is having a good time. I'm always asking myself, do I need to push them a little? Is it time to have a fluffy fun lesson? A lot of times, I ask them what they want because they are paying for this time. I have to check and see that I'm delivering the product that they want. Sometimes I try to sneak in things that they may not say they want but in the long run they will want, maybe doing a little practice on a certain shot. Then later on, when they get better at that shot and start winning, they appreciate it.

There are times that you have to deal with people, give lessons to people who aren't pleasant. There are times when I'm like, "I'll be very glad when I get paid, but right now I'm not in the mood." But you gotta get psyched up for it 'cause you can't let them know that you are not in the mood for it. You're selling yourself and your sport. People won't come back if they think you're not interested in teaching them or you're not having fun. You have to make everybody feel that it's a very personal session. That's similar to a lot of jobs, including prost.i.tution. [Laughs]

I get a weekly stipend from the club, which isn't very much. I make my money mostly from teaching lessons-forty-five minutes for twenty-five dollars. I have some regular students, but you have to make sure you have those lessons coming in. I also make some money by stringing racquets, but I don't get paid enough. So I've gotta hustle. All the same, I really enjoy it.

Squash has done so much for me. It comes back to the idea of being dyslexic. I always found school difficult. It was a very intimidating environment. But on a squash court, I'm with one other person, it's a one-on-one situation, and it's a situation I've excelled in and that really gave me confidence when I was growing up. Squash built up my confidence and my character. And now, as an adult, I've met people and matured so much more through teaching. I mean, I came out of a very intense squash place where I worked really, really hard and my whole life was squash and it took me a long time to realize where other people are coming from. Now I'm like where I know that everyone is playing or doing things for different reasons. I've learned how not just to play well, but to address people-and I've learned how to listen. So not only am I doing something that's fun for me, but it's fun for me to teach it.

Growing up, I had really good teachers, but I'm not really trying to imitate them myself. It's not that I don't agree with their ways of teaching, it's just that I'm teaching in a different environment. I was taught in a very intense environment where the kids were taught to be great squash players, to compete and to win. Most of the people I teach now are here for completely different reasons. So I'm not as intense about things as my teachers were. That was about razor-sharp strategy and win, win, win. Now I'm just overemphasizing that they have fun. I feel like I'm in a sitcom or something-put in something of value in every episode. I try to do that in every lesson. Maybe I won't feel like that in ten years. Maybe I won't care as much, but now I still have that fire, that's how I feel.

There's this one gentleman who's seventy-five years old who I teach once a month. It's always a pleasure to get on the court with him. In the last three years, I've never beaten him, I've never taken a game from him. After every game, we go through this little ritual. He says, "Thanks for the gift, Josh." And then he serves the ball for the next game. These little things, I enjoy these moments. It's not just a job. I'm not just sitting behind a desk or on the other side of a phone, I'm a real person.

What we do is illegal. Not immoral,

but illegal.