From High to Low and Back Again January 2008
By Charles Wasilewski
2006 was a fantastic year for me as a sports fan. My Rutgers football team went undefeated through nine games and cruised to its’ first-ever bowl game victory.
I was sky-high. My family and I enjoyed a great trip to Houston for that Texas Bowl game, which the Scarlet Knights won handily, 37-10 over Big 12 team Kansas State.
Back home after that memorable and inspiring trip, I wanted to extend my excitement and do something new to support my favorite team. While I had donated money over the years and attended games both dreary and delightful, I saw new opportunities.
Around that time I read ASGMC's The Greatness Project challenging me to come up with a new goal. So I dreamed up the idea of a Web site to emphasize the "Just Keep Chopping" rallying cry that Rutgers football leans on. ("Just Keep Chopping" is the slogan that head coach Greg Schiano came up with, based on a story about being lost in the thick woods: You
just have to pick up your axe and start chopping; pretty soon, if you keep chopping you'll be able to find your way out.)
I thought I'd come up with a logo and merchandise that would capture this idea - and I'd share the proceeds with Rutgers.
Now I'm naïve, but not naïve enough to think that the little effort I was starting would amount to much of a difference in a place with a multi-billion dollar budget such as a university. Still, I wanted to tap into my passion for the sport and the university (I have two degrees from Rutgers) and give back a little something to a team that had inspired me during some tough times that I experienced.
Then the obstacles started popping up. There were the usual challenges: coming up with ideas, researching merchandise, setting a budget, finding the right resources, and promoting the idea.
I also discovered that the University had filed for copyright registration for the term "Keep Chopping." That was fine, but it meant that I had to get approval from a bureaucracy for anything I did. Without going into specifics, let me just say that that process proved to be trying before it was fruitful.
The roadblock was significant enough that I asked myself: "Why am I bothering to do this?" After all, this was a hobby, not a job, something to enjoy in my spare time to feed my passion. The answer surprised me.
I found out I was not doing it for Rutgers, or for the team, or for the fans. Yes, all those people and things inspired me, but I found out I was doing this because I wanted to. I wanted to support an idea - and found out I still do, even with the roadblocks and obstacles.
The $160 donation I made as a share of the proceeds from tee-shirts and books sold through ChopChamps.com might not sound like much. But, in retrospect, I'd pay a whole lot more to learn what I did: don't do something because you expect something back; do it because you love to.
Charles Wasilewski is a businessperson and Rutgers graduate who started fan web site ChopChamps.com in 2007. He can be reached at info@Chopchamps.com.
The Greatness ProjectTM is researched and written by:
Scott Asalone & Jan Sparrow
Copyright © ASGMC, Inc. 2008