Into the cauldron of uncertainty in sports Friday fell the PLL, which postponed the start of it season, and the XFL, which to the surprise of almost all of its staff went from a cancelled season to a cancelled business, as almost all employees were released following a conference call late in the morning, as the league seemingly went back on its plan to return for a second season and beyond due to reasons still unclear.
Into the ranks of the unemployed went several hundred, if not a few thousand, team and league employees, many of whom went into the venture in the last 18 months with eyes wide open on the success of the league, but nonetheless were caught blindsided by the sudden move Friday.
How it was handled and why is up for debate, and frankly, if you aren’t in the room its really hard to say what’s right and what’s wrong for the business. However one thing is clear, there are a lot of free agents on the market in the coming months who went about carving a disruptive niche, especially on the game presentation, communications and social media side, who will be valuable for someone, somewhere once the dust settles for business in the coming months.
The talents and innovation that XFL staffers portrayed was noticed far and wide, and that will serve them well in what comes next…however there is one staffer who quickly looked for and used his talents to start the “what’s next” right away.
I met Bailey Carlin last spring, right around this time. We were doing the junket for “Shaft” and had offered a spot to SI.com, but Robin Lundburg, who was doing most of their video couldn’t make the trip up to Harlem on a Friday afternoon. They almost passed on the opportunity, but longtime friend Laura Brandt, who was then coordinating video for si.com, asked a young social media staffer to make the trip up. It was on his day off, but young Bailey Carlin jumped at the chance to try something new, and a working relationship was born…out of his hustle and desire to show up when no one else could.
Bailey got the sit-down with the cast, and even was able to share the tattoo on his arm with co-star Samuel L. Jackson…as it was a line from Jackson’s role in the film “Coach Carter”…so things worked out well. It turned out the Bailey was picking up more and more experience as si.com kept shrinking staff, and was their defacto social media person for much of the year.
He later used another day off to come to Met Life Stadium and post live for si.com on the NFL’s Opening night, to the point where he was getting so much traffic that one of the SI writers who was at the game (and did not know he was there working behind the scenes) inquired if someone had hacked the MMQB account and started posting. One of the images he hustled his way into was Odell Beckham Jr’s first interaction with the Met Life crowd, a post that picked up a key retweet from LeBron James, and Bailey had again…on a day off…hustled himself into a prime spot.
The scaling back at si.com was not playing in his favor and he seized an opportunity to once again help invent a social strategy, this time with the XFL. Bailey was a key member in the XFL’s daily social experiments, one of the areas the league excelled at, and his expertise and acumen grew across many platforms over his time there, which effectively ended on Friday.
So when the news came, I reached out to him and several other XFL colleagues to see how he was doing, and he was surprisingly upbeat and excited about the future. In addition to the XFL social accounts, Bailey had developed a nice following on his own, and a post he did on twitter announcing his free agency received a solid response, even on a holiday Friday, to the point where he was asked to be the guest “social media director” for The Dan LeBetard Show this weekend, along with discussions about a host of other projects that came flowing in.
Why? Pretty common sensical.
Bailey knew how to network; he showed up and did everything anyone asked and then some; no task was too big or small, and he did whatever was needed with enthusiasm.
He is a task master. He worked the opportunity until it was done, and done right. Didn’t matter if it was tedious; if it had to get done, he got it done.
He is a learner. He blossomed over the past year because he took the time to listen and learn. He is not one to think that he had all the answers, especially in the every changing world of social media. If there was an angle to try or an Insta story to develop, he wanted to expand and get it done well. No arrogance, no ego.
He aspired to be better. Even at a place that was changing like si.com; he always looked for the new opportunity or the new platform to try. Sometimes he would get blowback from above, but that didn’t mean he didn’t try. And most importantly…
He has grit. Bailey wrote a pretty poignant piece you can read here about his battles with anxiety and depression. He was open and honest about it, and he used it as a tool to improve. It is atop his twitter feed today. He didn’t hide from an issue, he worked the problem and worked it well.
Now there are a growing number of Bailey Carlin’s I have been lucky enough to come across in recent years; young people not afraid to try new things but who are respectful learners as well. Each is excelling in their own way, and many have hit some speed bumps and bounced back. I am sure there will be many of them who were in and around the XFL who will be rising from this latest issue, and I can’t wait to meet many of them as we move down the road.
However for now I offer up someone who in these challenging times has rolled with a punch and is a great example of what smarts, grit, tenacity and the ability to listen and work an issue can do. No matter where bailey ends up, he will be great. He may not know today, but he will soon, and wherever that is that organization, or organizations, will be better for having him.
The XFL lost a lot this week, more than they ever would have on the field but the best wins for their talented staff will be coming, just in other places.
