Remember the t-shirts?? I used to scoff at them, mostly because I grew up in New Hampshire with automatic loyalty to Boston. As I spent more time in Beantown and fell in love with the city and the Celtics, I naturally adopted the sports rivalry between the two cities as my own. More than once, I said out loud, “New York’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” Ha! God has such a sense of humor! When CBS Sports Radio came calling, I maintained some skepticism about working in the Big Apple. For awhile, I even entertained the notion of commuting from my house in Connecticut to lower Manhattan five days a week. Now four months into this new phase of my life, my entire perception has changed. Total about-face.
One of my favorite things about New York is the constant energy. At every hour of the day or night, there are people on the streets, in cabs, on the subways and trains. You’re never truly alone in New York. More often, the opposite is the case – too many people trying to cram into a finite space. Penn Station is a perfect example. Navigating that transportation hub in the daytime should be an Olympic sport. Thousands of people moving at various speeds in whatever direction they feel like moving, many of them with heads down as they try to use their phones at the same time. No rhyme or reason, no way to predict which way they’ll go or how to get out of the way. Inevitably, you lose all sense of personal space in Penn Station. But there’s such a sense of accomplishment every time I traverse that sea of humanity successfully! It daily blows my mind that so many people can use mass transit to get where they’re going on time with relative ease. How does it happen?? I have no idea, but I love being one piece of a huge puzzle.
It’s impossible not to be enamored by the diversity in New York. A plethora of colors, races, ethnic mixes, languages, cultures, backgrounds, personalities, positions, and lifestyles – with nearly all sporting different kinds of headphones. Ha! It fascinates me to look around my subway car and realize how unique we are as human beings. There are no two people exactly alike, and nowhere is that more evident than NYC! I never get bored with people-watching here, but that means I can’t miss the homeless people who look for a warm spot to sleep at Penn Station next to a trash bag or cart full of their belongings. One of the heartbreaking contrasts in New York – so much money but so much poverty.
I take the train into Manhattan twice a week and drive the other days. No matter what’s going on or how much traffic I’m battling when I approach the Lincoln Tunnel, the New York skyline always takes my breath away. The Empire State Building is usually decked out in some array of colors to celebrate a local sports team or event. Even better, the first new World Trade Center tower is nearly completed. It’s always lit up from the top floors to the ground level – a pillar of light to represent the hope, spirit, and strength of a city and a nation that will never forget.
There is supreme comfort and peace in knowing you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. That’s the case with me in New York. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever anticipate living and working in the Big Apple, but I’m so grateful for a job and employer that allows me the freedom to spread my wings. CBS offers an amazing challenge with the chance to be creative and comfortable in my own skin. I get to do what I love, so I can’t help but love the city where this takes place. Yes, I HEART NY!
A huge thanks to all of you for listening to me on CBS Sports Radio. You’re finding me on Facebook and Twitter (@ALawRadio) to weigh in and you’re also calling the show on a regular basis. You read my blog, and you make the job so much more fun with your participation and interaction.
People keep asking about my hours and how to listen – on a “normal” week, you can hear After Hours with Amy Lawrence Friday and Saturday nights from 11p-3a PT (2a ET) and Sundays from 10p-2a ET (7p PT). To find a station in your area, check out cbssportsradio.com, and you can also listen to the shows live on the website. For you techies who need the show to be portable, download our radio.com app! Wooooo!
Play by Play Day by Day with Amy Lawrence 