Before I dive into my actual background, my name might stick out to you. Not because your wondering what parents are naming their kid Scott in the 21st century or what part of Italy my family came from. As the product of old school parents whose roots do in fact trace back to the stone streets of Sicily, my goal is to live up to my family name, but build it by my own blueprint.
I’m Scott Sandulli, a second-semester undergraduate senior at Arizona State expecting to graduate with a Bachelor’s in Sports Journalism this May. I grew up in central Connecticut, minutes away from the original ESPN campus in Bristol, and I’ve aspired to make a living out of sports my whole life. Despite playing baseball throughout my youth, my inability to hit a curveball, among several other factors, kept me from living out my boyhood dream of playing center field for the New York Mets before even the varsity team at Southington High School considered me for such a position. Whiffing on the game itself however, ended up being the first home run I ever hit. And in my good fortune, I had plenty of runners on base.
I mentioned my hometown’s proximity to ESPN, which is no coincidence. My parents worked behind the scenes at the worldwide leader in sports television throughout my upbringing. My mom, Amy, was a floor director for studio shows such as SportsCenter, Outside The Lines, and Sports Reporters. At the same time, my dad, Matt, was an executive producer of live events, including Sunday Night Baseball, the College Football Playoff, College Basketball Championship Week, and Saturday Night Fights. Sports of all kinds, especially baseball, were indoctrinated into me for as long as I can remember. When school allowed, I’d join my parents in ESPN’s hallowed halls and on some of their work trips, and such privileges gave me extraordinary experiences that fueled my fire for sports.
As I’m sure you’re thinking, yes, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with some of the greatest athletes of all time, and most renowned sports journalists in the world today. Without a shadow of a doubt, I was a spoiled child. My parents, who were anything but, did their best to school my brother and I in the ways of the old country. They worked hard, through determination and passion, and built a wonderful childhood for us. My life’s goal is to do my part in passing it on, regardless of if people think I genuinely deserve the life I have, or am drinking from the nepotist’s bottle.
In my professional life, I’m extremely exclusive as to who I divulge my background to. The sports journalism industry is cutthroat. Job openings are highly competitive and people are quick to turn their back on you for an opinion or accomplishment they are in disagreement or jealous of. There have been multiple occasions where I have introduced myself to professors, managers, notable people that will respond with either my mother or father’s name. I’m not ashamed of my family, couldn’t be more prouder in fact, but everytime I accept myself as Amy or Matt’s son, my instincts as an overthinker tell me this person I’m talking to has in their head that I was handed everything I have on a silver platter.
That could not be further from the truth.
After I couldn’t cut it as an athlete in high school, I tapped into my passion of sports with my innate ability of storytelling. I loved to read and write as a kid, often testing out way above my classes, and became infatuated with connecting the everyday story with the deeper meaning, romanticizing life as my way of celebrating it. With a strong voice and an unlimited mind, I broke out of my adolescent shell. I began to write articles on sports topics purely for enjoyment when I was 14, eventually outsourcing my work to a couple of different small fan sites while I was still at home. I didn’t shy away from a microphone and camera either, doing public address announcing and keeping statistics for the same high school baseball team that was quick to run me out of tryouts as a freshman.
I used these materials, done always out of personal enjoyment, to build a beginner’s portfolio that assisted in my acceptance to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. In one day, I packed up my entire life from Connecticut, and shipped out west, knowing absolutely nobody and pretty much nothing, to chase my passion.
Now as brave as that sounds, I’m no Superman. My first semester, I sat in my dorm room eating grilled cheese and watching as opportunities to ge involved went right past me. Thankfully, I got my bearings in the nick of time, and came back for the spring semester to throw myself into several student organizations dedicated to sports coverage. Through radio hosting, play-by-play announcing, videography, photography, sportswriting and studio production, I blossomed into true multimedia journalist, turning my passion into a true skill.
In less than four years as a student journalist, my work has earned me opportunities with heralded news publications and companies such as Yahoo Sports, Arizona PBS, ESPN, Pac-12 Network, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Kansas City Star and more. I’ve been a credentialed media member at landmark sporting events that include the Summer Olympics, College Football Playoff, NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Major League Baseball’s spring training, the PGA Tour, and countless college athletic events.
My rise was meteoric, and I’d be ignorant in saying the opportunities my parents were able to provide me with did not give me boost in my professional life. My main fear in this line of work was always bein told that they were responsible for why I was succeeding so extraordinarily. They may have been the runners on, but I stepped up to the plate.
