‘The best job in the world’

One hour before the start of an Orioles game at Camden Yards in April of this year, I did what had become a work routine that I first started doing 30 years prior: I stood in my broadcast position on the field near the O’s dugout in front of a live television camera awaiting the news anchors in the studio to toss to me for my sports segment the 5 p.m. news. As I listened for my cue to begin, I thought about how many times I’d been in that familiar spot, and how much I enjoyed being at the ballpark, interviewing the players and team personnel to present the latest updates to the viewing audience.

After I completed the live report, a man standing nearby caught my attention. He was an Orioles fan who had a pre-game field pass, and while watching batting practice he also watched my report.

“You have the best job in the world,” he said to me with a smile.

“I really love what I do,” I replied. “I never take this for granted.”

I also knew it was likely that I wouldn’t have “the best job in the world” much longer. My TV contract was expiring in June and that would mark 40 total years in the business. I had begun to discern a transition out of broadcasting to focus fully on my family and on service to those in need in the Baltimore community.

Being a sports reporter was something I wanted to do since I was seven years old. My parents gave me a tape recorder for Christmas when I was that age, and I proceeded to interview family members and call play-by-play of imaginary games in the backyard with my brother, Joseph. Years of fun and fantasy gave way to reality when I turned 17 and told my mother I wanted to go to journalism school. She told me that I would be good at that job, and I carried her encouraging words with me for the rest of my life. 

Sports reporting jobs at local TV stations in Iowa, Ohio and Baltimore highlight my career resume, along with a network sports position at CNN in Atlanta. I traveled to wonderful places, met and interviewed memorable sports figures, worked with talented professionals and made life-time friendships. I thank our Lord for the blessings of a full and complete working life, one that exceeded my dreams and expectations. 

I made public my intention to retire from broadcasting in July. I was asked many times if the decision was difficult. No, it wasn’t hard because I had clarity in my heart, mind and soul about what mattered most to me: my wife, Megan, and our children Michael (8 years old) and Christian (6 years old). Being a husband and father is the “best job in the world,” and I knew I couldn’t do that job as well as I wanted with a demanding TV news schedule. 

Life is full of sacrifices, and we all make them. Working parents do what they must to provide for family, and the demands of employment often limit precious time at home. My TV schedule allowed me to see the boys in the morning and I walked them to school. Most days, that was the last time I saw them. I would leave for work at 2:30 p.m. and not return home until past midnight.

Megan remarkably – and without complaint – handled the boys’ school pick-up, homework, after school sports and activities, dinner, baths, and bedtime. I would check in with a FaceTime call during dinner, but the gesture usually made me feel more absent from where I knew I wanted to be. 

Football seasons were especially demanding with commitments to numerous Ravens shows, including a one-hour Sunday morning pre-game show. My family and I drove separately to Sunday Mass and I would leave immediately after to rush to the stadium or the studio to do a show. My hope was to get home at night before the boys went to bed.

One low point was when my son Michael first started playing little league baseball. When he got his first hit, Megan was there at the field, and I was in the press box at an Orioles game. Meg texted me a video of Michael’s joyous moment. I felt joy for him, but anger at myself. I should have been there.

I will be there now, and it’s my choice – not a difficult choice at all. The TV station offered me a contract extension to continue doing “the best job in the world,” but the job I had always wanted was no longer the job that mattered. Being fully present as a husband and father is what matters.

On Sundays this fall, instead of leaving Mass in a rush to go do the Ravens pre-game show, I will instead help teach Sunday school at St. John the Evangelist, our parish in Severna Park.

When school starts, I’ll walk my boys to school and volunteer as a classroom assistant and recess monitor, and I’ll be there to pick them up from school, help with homework, coach their sports teams and help with dinner, bath and bedtime.

Leaving the TV schedule behind also gives me more time to devote to continued service to food collection and distribution to the needy at St. Casimir in Canton, as well as helping at the St. Vincent De Paul food pantry in Severna Park. Megan and I have joined the parish welcome committee at St. John the Evangelist and I have joined the Knights of Columbus chapter there.

I will also serve on the board of Partners in Excellence scholarship program which provides tuition assistance to Baltimore City youth so they can have access to a Catholic school education. I also serve on the board of Casey Cares, a wonderful group that helps critically ill children and their families. 

In summary, I’ll be busy! Yet, it is the kind of busy that I know God has called me to: husband, father and community servant. I am blessed to embrace what is truly the best job in the world. 

Mark Viviano was a guest on the Aug. 18, 2024, episode of Catholic Review Radio. Click play below to listen to the show.

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