拼到死,只為證明自己- NBA唯一女性經紀人 - NBA

心得:
不管是白手起家，還是靠爸靠母靠別人
人家給你飯吃，你也要有本事捧得起

然後，Malcolm Brogdon 真的是很有趣的人

以下正文開始
I’ve had to work my ass off to prove myself’: Meet the NBA’s only female agent with a client

拼到死，只為證明自己- 遇見NBA唯一女性經紀人

Danielle Cantor selects a unique ringtone for every client. Whenever Milwaukee Bucks center Greg Monroe calls, a hybrid hip-hop and jazz song plays. If she hears a kick drum cut through a loud beat, it must be Monroe’s teammate Malcolm Brogdon. At this moment, in a ninth floor Northwest Washington corner office designed as a monument to success, the sound of rapper 21 Savage, Otto Porter Jr.’s favorite artist, signals that the Washington Wizards forward is on the line.

Danielle Cantor 幫每個客戶都設了專屬鈴聲。
例如公鹿中鋒 monroe是爵士嘻哈，
如果聽到鼓鼓的音樂，那就是新人王 Brogdon。
在此刻，華盛頓的辦公室響起了21 savage的鈴聲，
那代表疑似張伯倫兒子的 Otto Porter在線上。

Soon, Porter shows up to debrief before the start of the NBA season with Cantor and David Falk, the super agent who once represented Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing. Cantor is Falk’s lone partner in his sports agency, F.A.M.E., but in the NBA she holds an even rarer distinction: the only woman, among approximately 30 certified by the National Basketball Players Association, to solely represent an active player.

很快的，Porter出席了和Cantor和David Falk的季前簡報。
Falk曾經是Michael Jordan的經紀人，
全盛時期號稱20%的NBA球員都是它的客戶，
而Cantor則是Falk經紀公司F.A.M.E的獨立合夥人。
事實上，Cantor有個更特別的身分，
球員工會認可的經紀人中，
唯一一位直接代理現役球員的女性經紀人。

While Falk serves as the primary agent for F.A.M.E. clients such as Porter and Monroe, Brogdon elected to sign directly with Cantor.

當Porter和Monroe和Falk代表的F.A.M.E簽約時，
Brogdon則選擇把經紀約直接簽給Cantor。

“As a minority in this country, I think it’s important that you give other people that are overlooked or not given similar opportunities — you give them a chance, as well,” said Brogdon, who in June became the first player in NBA history selected in the second round to win the rookie of the year award. “I know what it feels like to be overlooked in the business or not be given credit or just not to be given an opportunity.

今年曾來台灣，說退休後要去拯救非洲窮人的Brogdon
身為史上唯一的二輪新人王，Malcolm Brogdon表示:
在米國這個國家，
給予那些無法得到相同待遇的邊緣人一些機會是相當重要的。
我第二輪才被選中，
我知道在工作上被人看沒有，甚至連機會都沒有是什麼感覺。

“I thought it would be breaking the glass ceiling and we’d be doing something special together.”

我相信我和 Cantor 組團可以做一些特別的事，
而這些事將會打破這個行業的天花板。

Cantor tailors a brand that best fits the personality of Brogdon, a four-year college player and Virginia graduate who holds a master’s degree. For his first sponsorship deal, she chose a bank. The week before training camp, she flew to Milwaukee to sit in on his five-hour commercial shoot and, after Brogdon weighed in a little less than the Bucks expected, Cantor smoothed things over with the team. While there, she also put in face-time with Monroe, dining out and holding his last contract discussion
before he hits free agency in 10 months. By that weekend, Cantor was overseeing Porter’s move into his new home in Arlington, which comes after F.A.M.E. helped him negotiate a four-year, $106 million maximum contract to remain with the Wizards this summer.

Cantor也幫Brogdon挑選了銀行業，作為第一個贊助廠商，
以符合它擁有碩士學位的NBA球員形象。
為了這個贊助，在季前訓練營開始前，
Cantor飛到密瓦基陪Brogdon拍了5個小時的廣告定裝照。
並順利處理公鹿對Brogdon體重太輕的碎唸。
也和Brogdon的隊友Monroe討論，
明年3年15億的合約走完後，該何去何從。
因為不適用一粒一休，
所以周末時，Cantor還要關心它們的大客戶，
剛簽下4年32億頂級合約的Portor，新家搬得如何。

This ability, to passionately advocate on behalf of her clients to NBA general managers or even moving companies, helped convince Porter to sign with F.A.M.E. in 2013.

這種熱情向NBA各隊總經理代表客戶，
甚至moving companies的能力，
也同樣說服了Porter選擇和F.A.M.E簽約。

“First impression was, ‘God dang, who is this woman?’ ” Porter said. “She’s fierce. She gets stuff done.”

Portor表示: 當初看到First impression，
我就想，我的老天鵝啊，這新人那來的，感覺超殺的。
而它真的順利的完成了工作。真貨無誤。

The mother of two young girls, the Potomac-based Cantor was recognized this month by the SportsBusiness Journal as a “Game Changer,” an honor given to 35 women in leadership positions across sports. While Cantor didn’t even realize she was the only current female NBA agent with a client until she was informed by the publication, NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts said the fact that there aren’t more is disheartening.

這位有二個超萌女兒的人妻，
剛被雜誌評選為35位改變遊戲規則的體壇女性。
而Cantor本人也是看到新聞才知道，
原來它是NBA唯一的女性經紀人。
球員工會主席Roberts表示遺憾。

“It is an incredibly, incredibly competitive field. I suspect that there’s more dirty laundry than I even want to admit exists,” Roberts said. “Agents themselves tell me it really is a raw-knuckled brawl kind of business. It may be that it’s just the kind of work that women just find distasteful on some levels. I suspect that not a lot of women are trying to knock on these doors, and that disappoints me.”

Roberts表示: 經紀人這行是個無法想像的戰場，
雖然我已是工會主席，
但我懷疑它們有更多巷仔內才懂的骯髒小祕密。
經紀人只跟我說，它們跟MMA生死格鬥沒二樣。
也因為太多淺規則，好像沒有很多女生想做這行，
我其實還蠻難過的。

Cantor has never really felt like a pioneer — even though she has always kind of been one, stretching back to her days as a ballgirl in the first season the then-Washington Bullets hired females for the job.

就算其實常常是團體中的唯一，
但Cantor從來沒有覺得自己是個什麼先驅，
就像它以前在華盛頓子彈，是子彈喔，當女球童時一樣。

Growing up in Bethesda, it was normal to be one of the boys. When Noah Cantor and his buddies played football, so did his little sister. The peer-like relationship of the Cantor siblings was cemented one day at their grandmother’s house when Noah was teasing Danielle, pinning her down. She fought back by knocking his front tooth out.
“Some of us were probably a little more scared of her than she was of us,” Noah said.

時間再往前推很多點。
身為一個在Bethesda長大的女生，個性像男生也是很合理的。
哥哥和朋友玩美式足球，Cantor也跟著玩。
當Noah哥哥在祖母家，用固定技把Cantor壓著調戲，
Cantor就直接把它哥的門牙尻下來以玆反擊…
Noah表示: 有些朋友覺得，Cantor比男生還可怕。

That intensity translated to the soccer field, where Danielle was an All-Met goalkeeper at Whitman High School. During a Maryland state finals game for her club team, the Bethesda Shakers, a fearless Cantor lunged to stop a breakaway. The move saved a goal, but Cantor sustained a concussion. She left the field in an ambulance.
She was “very, very competitive,” former Whitman High girls’ soccer coach Sam DeBone said of his four-year varsity letter winner, calling her “the kind of athlete every coach would like to have.”
“In fact,” DeBone added, “if I had a whole team of Danielle Cantors, I’d be very successful.”

戰場轉到了用腳踢的高中足球場上。
Cantor成為了校隊的全能門神。
在一場州冠軍決賽中，Cantor奮力撲救了一個單刀切入的射門，
然後，它就腦震盪了…

高中教練表示:
Cantor相當的有競爭企圖心，每個教練都會想要它。
事實上，講白一點，如果能夠整隊都是Cantor的形狀，
那我將會是個很成功的教練。

Cantor suffered so many injuries — once, as a Bullets ballgirl, an errant Juwan Howard pass broke her nose, her second such injury — that she grew adept at self-diagnosing torn and pulled muscles. She imagined she’d become a sports physician. But after tearing her medial collateral ligament her sophomore year at Penn and toughing it through one more season, she chose to focus on finance. She graduated from the Wharton School of Business and accepted a job at SFX Sports Management in 2000, tasked with
marketing professional athletes.

天降大任於斯人也，算了，講白話文好了，
反正就是Cantor受過很多傷。例如當球童時，
被史上第一個1億美元合約的Juwan Howard把鼻子弄壞掉;
自己把自己醫壞掉，它本來想當個運動醫學醫生的。

後來大二時，它就轉系了，
轉到賓州大學華頓商學院，當了辜仲諒的學妹，蔡承儒的學姊。
然後2000年畢業後，在SFX 運動管理公司得到一份工作，
負責marketing職業運動員。也因此與Flak相遇相識。

(SFX為了拓展經紀事業版圖，
在1998年以超過30億台幣收購了 Falk成立6年的經紀公司，
當時Falk約47歲。
收購完半年，Jordan就從公牛隊退休了。)

While some of her peers closed the business day at happy hour, Cantor remained in the office, cold-calling Sacramento pizza shops, grocery chains and car dealerships to land sponsorship deals for Mike Bibby, a Kings player who was a Falk client at the time.

Cantor是怎麼工作呢?
(魯蛇我覺得聽起來像神話，這行業不是該更黑暗嗎)
一樣，同事去放假，它就在辦公室打拜訪電話，
從達美樂打到好車大聯盟，
就為了幫當時Falk的客戶Mike Bibby拉贊助。

Falk took notice. By 2007, he’d decided to relaunch his agency as a boutique operation representing only NBA players. F.A.M.E. would sign only a handful of clients and hire even fewer executives. Actually, just one: Cantor.

Falk注意到了這些事。2007年，
Falk決定走只專營少數NBA球員的精緻路線，
重起它的經紀人公司 F.A.M.E，且只雇用少數員工。
事實上，所謂的少數，
就是整間只請你Cantor一人的意思。

“I’m sort of a bit of a contrarian,” Falk said. “The fact that there are so few women is like motivation for me, just to be different. I like being different. I like setting the trends instead of following the trends.”

Falk表示: 很少女性會引起我改變的動機。
但事實上，我有點喜歡逆勢而行，
我喜歡引領潮流，而不是跟隨潮流。

On business trips, Falk and his executive vice president are a package deal. He and Cantor have been together for every negotiation over the last decade. They sit courtside to watch their clients on the NBA stage. Cantor, who avoids the subject of her age, has bristled at times for being judged on how the relationship looks. Once, while in the arena of a Central Division NBA team, the owner’s wife assumed Cantor was Falk’s girlfriend.

在每次的商務旅行，Falk總是和它的執行副總裁Cantor綁作夥。
在過去10年，它們一起參與了每一次與對手的談判，
也一起坐在球場邊第一排貴鬆鬆的座位，看著它們的客戶。
但你還是可以很容易一句話惹怒Cantor，
包括它的年齡(2000年商學院畢業取得工作，現在2017年)，
還有它與Falk的關係。
像某球隊老闆的夫人，
就以為Cantor只是超級經紀人Falk身旁的一個妹。

“My goal is to prove myself with owners and GMs, so they know who I am and they respect me — which I think has happened,” Cantor said. “But I’ve had to work my ass off to prove myself.”

Cantor表示:
我的目標是讓球團的老闆和總經理知道我是誰，
並且贏得它們的尊重。
我想我已經做到這點。但我是用我死命工作換來的。

At the negotiating table, Falk does most of the talking while Cantor sits back and observes, her mind running through the spreadsheets she has created to prove their players’ worth. When she does speak, it’s refreshing.

在談判桌上，Falk主導了大部分的談話，
而Cantor則是默默的坐在後方觀察。
Cantor的思緒清楚的在它準備的表格奔馳，
並且用以證明球員的價值。
當Cantor一開口，是讓人覺得清爽甜美的。

“David Falk is a man who’s done an awful lot in this business, to say the least. He’s a man that people in this league respect … but at times, everyone needs a buffer and Danielle is definitely that for David,” said John Hammond, the Orlando Magic general manager. “Danielle can be sometimes a friendly voice, a calming influence to some of us and I think that’s why she’s appreciated.”

魔術隊的總經理Hammond1表示:
Falk是這行中受人尊敬的大人物，但它做事很兇狠啊。
所以我們和Falk交流時，需要一點潤滑，而Cantor做到了這點。
Cantor有時能對我們發出，很友善的聲音或冷靜的招降。
我想這就是Cantor備受讚賞的地方。

Though on the surface Cantor is a foil to Falk — right down to their contrasting appearances as a blonde woman with piercing light blues eyes and a 67-year-old bald man — their business partnership is a match made in Type-A heaven.

雖然一個金髮碧眼的女人配上67歲的光頭阿伯，
是很讓人無言的鮮明對比組合。
但在工作上，它們二人可說是天作之合。

“Here’s the deal: I like to be behind the scenes. And I don’t like people talking about me or writing about me,” she said, enunciating so precisely she bares her teeth on every consonant. “But when I’m in a negotiation, when I’m in a recruiting meeting — game on.”

Cantor一字一句清楚的表示:
規則就是這樣，平常沒事的時候，
我不喜歡別人討論我，也不喜歡別人對我寫東寫西，
我喜歡待在幕後就好。
但當我在談判桌，或球員招募時，那比賽就開打囉，廠廠 !!

As the partners waited for Porter to join them in the office, Cantor was very much in the spotlight, getting coached by Falk as they squabbled over the direction of her photo shoot.
“Relax. Just relax,” Falk said, watching Cantor glare out of the window. “Don’t wrinkle your forehead.”
Then he offered: “Want me to tell you a joke?”

當合夥人在辦公室等候Portor的加入時，
Cantor是鎂光燈的焦點，
同時也和Falk嘴一下它這次受訪照片的拍攝方向。
Falk一直告訴Cantor: 鬆一下~鬆一下，不要皺眉頭啦~，
需要我 TELL YOU A JOKE 嗎???

“No,” Cantor responded, holding her pose. “[The photographer] told me not to smile. He said, ‘Look natural.’ ”
She expressed how uncomfortable this felt, particularly the attention, because this is a game she’d much rather play in the shadows. Her goal is to be respected, not recognized. Besides, she’s busy.

Cantor表示: 不要啊，攝影師說不用笑，自然就好。
Cantor表現出了它在眾目睽睽下的不自在，
因為這不是它喜歡玩的方式。
它的目標是被所有人尊重，而不是被所有人認識。
而且，它很忙。

While she was tied up with the shoot, Falk asked if he should make an important call that was on her to-do list. Cantor responded bluntly: “No. Please don’t.”

當Cantor快被拍照煩死時，
Falk問它是否要一通排在待辦事項上的電話。
Cantor直接表示: No~~~，不要!! 謝謝!!

Falk got the message, turning away and smiling.
“She’s the boss,” he said.

Falk收到了指示，轉身笑著表示: 金罵伊係老大 (一u一) /

下面為華盛頓郵報官方臉書連結
https://www.facebook.com/washingtonpost/posts/10156730104862293

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