And she looks at me and she goes, 'Would you like this size or this size?' "And I ask the woman at that Starbucks in the hotel to make a drink. His career was taking off, but he still had moments of frustration. He started traveling the country to call college football games.
#White sox play by play tv
"And there were moments where I was like, 'Am I going to get out of here? Like, I know I'm good, but when is great gonna come?' "īenetti realized working in TV could help him get to the top, so he put aside his reservations about being in front of the camera - landing a part-time broadcaster job with ESPN in 2011. And all of that that comes with it drains you completely and thoroughly wears you out," Benetti says. "In the minors, there are just days when you've had games 14 straight days and six-hour bus rides in between. The intense schedule and nagging doubts started to weigh on him. After graduating from Syracuse in 2005, he then started a decade-long stint as a minor league baseball radio announcer - while getting a law degree from Wake Forest University. Because if I make a mistake, people are going to then go back to what they saw and think that I'm just incapable of doing not only this job, but any job,' " he says. "There was a level of, 'I can't make a mistake. "I get hired as the sports director, and one of the people who ended up not getting the job put up on instant messenger, 'At least he'll be a great story for somebody's magazine one day,' " Benetti recalls.īenetti began to wonder if his disability was all people would ever see in him. But Benetti's rise through the ranks also dug up some familiar issues.
"Oh, let me go do radio because you can't see me." Jason Benetti Before long, he was running Syracuse’s sports radio department. "Like, 'Oh, let me go do radio because you can't see me.' "īenetti graduated from high school in 2001 and continued his radio broadcasting career at Syracuse University. "I think, like, how very transparent I was about everything," Benetti says. "īenetti used his announcing gig to get into his high school’s radio program. "And I would say, 'Coming up next, "Our Children," ' or 'Wheels of a Dream,' or whatever it was. "He sent me up to the top of the press box and had me announce the sets," Benetti says. So he suggested another way for Benetti to stay involved. The school band instructor could see Benetti was struggling but didn’t want him to feel left out. "And, basically, the band would go kind of in orbit around the planetary 'me' which, if you're not trying to draw attention to yourself, not a great way to do it." "They put a tuba on a stand for the first couple of tries at marching band for me," Benetti recalls. "Let's go do it writ large, when instead I could've just played the trumpet." "Oh, let me go play the tuba because it's the largest musical instrument, like David against Goliath," Benetti says. You’d figure he’d pick up an instrument that was light and easy to carry, right? Wrong. So he tried out for the marching band at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. I mean I, in first grade at points, was at school in a wheelchair and then had, like, the 'Forrest Gump' leg braces."īenetti had a passion for sports, but he wasn’t able to play in organized leagues. "When people see it, they don't really know what to make of it at first. "You can’t see me, but I walk with sort of a halting gait," Benetti says. He grew up hearing other kids making comments about the way he struggled to make eye contact and the way he walked. Benetti was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a toddler. When the games were on, Benetti was in his element - having fun like any other kid. "And I would do play-by-play of the games while I was playing with my friends." Baseball or whatever, NHL 94, like that sort of thing," Benetti recalls. "So I would play Madden or whatever baseball - Ken Griffey Jr. His announcing booth? Whatever living room he and his friends were playing video games in. Jason Benetti remembers practicing to be a sports broadcaster when he was 12 years old, doing voice impressions of Harrelson. The "Yes" was a nod to Sox announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and one of his signature calls.īenetti had big dreams - and one big obstacle to overcome. "And then at the end, I wrote in large letters, 'Yes.' " "I said, 'I want to be the White Sox announcer,' " Benetti says.
But the guy who grew up a baseball fan in Chicago’s south suburbs knows what he wrote. In the Benetti family treasure trove of keepsakes, there’s a letter Jason Benetti wrote in elementary school explaining what he wanted to be when he grew up.īenetti doesn’t quite remember which teacher gave him the assignment. (Ron Vesley) This article is more than 2 years old. As a kid, Jason Benetti practiced his play-by-play skills while playing video games.
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