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Marilee Lorusso
Sports Editor

The smell of Cracker Jacks and hot dogs is in the air and it couldn’t smell sweeter. Fans are flocking to the nearest home fields for one reason: It is baseball season and I couldn’t be more excited.

This time though, I probably won’t be able to just be a spectator during the whole season. But I do get to see and be a part of what goes on behind the scenes of games. This is all because I am interning with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Our season just kicked off and we had our home opener on Monday.

This was an exciting day for me because, as many of you know, I am a huge baseball fan.

During the off-season, I started interning in the community relations department. This is an area that I am very interested in. I wasn’t completely sure about what I should expect with the experience, but so far, everything has exceeded what I thought.

The off-season seems to be the time when the front office is the busiest.

The primary task I had during this time was to go on reading challenges with the mascot, Tremor. Looking back, this was a great learning experience, a way to get to know the community and it was just all-around a good time.

Tremor and I visited numerous elementary schools close to Rancho Cucamonga. I read a story, which is about Tremor, while he acted it out.

Even though I had to wake up pretty early to get to the schools, it was an amazing experience. I loved seeing the faces of the children light up when Tremor burst into the room after they yelled and cheered for him. It was also a lot of fun to answer all of the questions they could come up with about Tremor, which included how old he is to what his favorite food is.

Being able to do this solidified that community relations is something that I am really interested in eventually pursuing as a career.

I think things like this are what makes Minor League Baseball and sports teams in general important and special to the communities surrounding them. Being able to reach out and connect with the community, I think, is really important, especially with the young fans of the game.

Being a part of the Quakes organization as an intern has also allowed me to see how much work goes into being a part of the front office of a professional team. There is a lot going on behind the scenes that not a lot of people know about.

I have to say that I enjoy interning for the Quakes because I am from the area so it’s nice to see familiar faces at games. And it is also great to have a short commute down the 210 or the 10 to get to the stadium.

I have gone to many games and have had a great time at every one, but now I get to see the other side of the game. While my friends are having fun at “Thirsty Thursday,” I’ll be right there with them like before but just not doing the drinking.

So even though I won’t get a chance to hang out with my friends, kick back and catch the game, I am excited about running around with my supervisor and working in other departments to get more experience. We are only four home games in with the whole season ahead of us. I’m enthusiastic about being a part of the behind-the-scenes team and I can’t wait to see what happens.

Marilee Lorusso, a senior journalism major, is sports editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at mlorusso@ulv.edu.