Grilling Jason Grilli & Calling Him Names

I made a mistake last night.  I was speaking with Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Jason Grilli and, when I began to say his full name, as I do when I start every recorded interview - you know, where I say, "This is Jimmy Scott and you're listening to Jimmy Scott's High & Tight, presented by a sponsor to be named later" - I do that before every interview.  It reminds you I'm me (I don't need the reminder).  But it also means I'm doing this stuff for free.  For you.  There ain't no sponsor in the near future.  I'm not even trying. 

Back to my mistake.

I said my intro thing and then it was time to introduce Jason Grilli.  I got the "Jason" part right.  I didn't get the "Grilli" part right.  "With me tonight is Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Grimsley."

Oh sh*t.

Do you remember Jason Grimsley?  If you remember The Mitchell Report, which even the raccoons that rifle through my trash have read, you'll recall Jason Grimsley is the former relief pitcher who ordered HgH and had it shipped to his home.  Unfortunately, due to the illegality of HgH and its negative (or positive, if you ask Barry Bonds) characteristics, some individuals in the Federal Government knew about this little package being shipped to Jason Grimsley's home.  They knew so well that Jason had ordered it that they delivered it themselves, undercover.  And when their real identities became known to Mr. Grimsley, they asked him his source and who else was using... Well, the whole story became much of the basis for The Mitchell Report.

So I called a clean, faith-loving (will explain in a moment) man who I'd spoken with only a handful of times a user of illegal performance enhancing drugs.

Not a good way to start an interview.

Jason Grilli laughed.  He got it.  I apologized and said that's a mistake I didn't want to make twice.  The funny thing is, Jason Grimsley hadn't entered my mind until I had to say Jason Grilli's name out loud.  Then BOOM!  Out comes Grimsley instead of Grilli.

We started again.  I went through my schpiel.  "...sponsor to be named later..."  then got to his name.  "With me tonight is Jason Grimsley."

Sh*t!  Sh*t!  I did it again.

Take Three.  I apologized again, wrote down the word G-R-I-M-S-L-E-Y and put a big X over it.  Maybe that would learn me a lesson.  It did Thank heavens.  I got it right on the third take and away we went.

So why Jason Grilli (believe it or not, I just typed in Grimsley and had to backspace)?  I got to Jason via LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals.  There are loads of baseball players and people from MLB and others there that has helped me get some of my interviews.  Jason is up on LinkedIn because of a company he runs called Perfect Pitch Marketing.  What he does is sell and market VOIP, voiceover internet protocol; in other words, it's a telecommunications company that has video phones and can also be your one-stop shop at home for cable TV, internet, and telephone.  Pretty cool.  We talked about it during our interview. 

You see, Jason has a plan.  He's gone through two major elbow operations.  He knows how close The End of a career can be.  Sometimes years away.  Sometimes just one pitch.  He's setting himself up so when The End comes, he's ready.  He'll have his "thing" to do, he'll generate some income, and he'll be able to reinvest his passion and competitive spirit into something new.  He's going to be okay, whenever The End comes.

The faith part?  Jason is a Christian.  It's hard for me to talk about religion and being a Christian and all that.  But it is interesting, the role Faith plays on a ballclub and with the players we see on TV.  He thought it would be great to talk about.  So we did.  And I'm glad we did, because he gave some insight into clubhouse religion that I've heard little discussion about.  He's a good guy, that Jason Grilli.  I think you're going to like him.  In fact, our interview went so well, I'll have to make it a two-parter.  It's got that much stuff in it.  Including the faith stuff.

Which makes me glad I didn't bring up the Faith until the end of our interview.  We would have needed a Take Four or Take Five if we'd started with it.  Why?  Remember the pitcher Jason Christiansen?  His name just popped into my head.