Aubrey’s Analysis

The other night I had the pleasure of joining a Zoom call with the legendary John “Flip” Filippelli. For those who may not know who “Flip” is, here are a few of the accomplishments he’s achieved throughout his 50 years of sports broadcasting experience.

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra Museum Humanitarian Award, helped launch and build the YES Network, MLB on Fox and Baseball Network, senior adviser/former president for the YES Network, New York Yankees Lifetime Achievement Award, NYU Sports Business Executive of the Year and the only person in sports broadcasting with 100 national and local Emmy nominations.

Whew! Now that we’ve established who Filippelli is, let’s get back into what the experience was like.

Upon joining the meeting, the first thing I noticed was the row of Emmy Awards lined up overhead on the shelves behind him. I’d approximate a visible 10 in the small viewing frame that Zoom allowed. Below that sat around three to five camera lenses that “Flip” utilized for photography.

Eventually I, along with fellow students/alumni of Dan Patrick’s School of Sportscasting, got to hear about Filippelli’s life growing up in New York and the advice he had to share. One of the many wise sentences that stuck out to me was “Find a purpose for your passion.”

It sounded very familiar to one of our core values here at the Crestview Bulletin, “Passion for what you do.” See, when you’re passionate about something, you care deeply about it. Whatever your “product” may be, you make sure it feels good, tastes good, looks good and, in my case, reads good.

You have all your ducks in a row wearing the same uniform and walking in step with one another and none strays from the line. That’s how much passion can drive someone. But it can also hurt you.

If too passionate, you may think the achievement is too far, or you try too hard and begin to bury yourself. You could crumble under the weight of the pressure. Which brings us to another point made by Filippelli.

“Pressure is a privilege.”

Now, think about this. How often do you hear about someone being under pressure? Most of the time it’s probably during Game 7 of the World Series with two outs and two strikes, down two runs, or a 50-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock that either puts your name in the rafters or becomes one of the greatest “what ifs.”

In those moments, you see what you’re made of. That pressure to do well, to succeed, it makes the neurons in your brain begin to fire off ideas. A procrastinator might thrive in these conditions because the pressure of last-second work makes them work.

Lastly, Filippelli spoke about breaking away from a tour at NBC to walk around the offices and ask for a job when no one knew who he was, and how after working downstairs he got caught on a closed set of Saturday Night Live to be told he needed permission to be there. And that if there was a next time, “You tell them Lorne Michaels says you have permission.”

The lesson here is, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Did Filippelli break the rules a little? Sure. But look at where it got him. He paired that lesson with “keep learning.” Mistakes often lead to knowledge. Constructive criticism from a boss or a partner is learning from your mistakes.

So be bold, be passionate, make mistakes and keep learning!