I have a cool job.

It’s actually a set of cool jobs; this one for The Naples Press, calling football on the radio via the Southwest Florida Game of the Week and my daily sports talk show on Southwest Florida’s Fox Sports Radio (free plug alert!) The trio of gigs affords me the unique ability to do what so many kids dream of but don’t get to accomplish: I get to go to ballparks and stadiums for a living.

This thought struck me again a couple of weeks ago, when I was standing at midfield chatting with an area high school football coach as his team warmed up in front of us. Teenagers filled with hopes and dreams, along with varying degrees of talent — those kids were preparing to play their hearts out on a Friday night.

So, too, was the opposing team behind us, another group of helmets and shoulder pads eagerly awaiting their chance to show up and show out under the Friday night lights. Movies have been made depicting the feel and aura of the moment, and there I was just casually idling away some time before I had to strap on my headset and go to work.

The young men (and women, in a few instances here in Southwest Florida this season) might not know it yet, but they are living the very best moments of their lives. I can’t remember what I had for lunch by the time the sun sets most days, but I can with vivid recollection picture the final moments of high school football when I was a teenager.

And now, many years later (insert old joke here), I get to keep observing those dreams and passing them on to you. It’s a gift, I guess, this ability to convert those fleeting moments into the printed or spoken word and share them with others. The talent, such as it is, is about the only thing keeping the rent paid and golf balls in my pocket … but it is a talent not everyone has.

Same goes for the weekday sports talk gig. That dream was always in the back of my mind during my days as a full-time newspaper man back in the day, as I would often appear as a guest of one show or another and was captivated by how live sports talk radio works. Now almost a year into my own show, that magic is at my fingertips every day — and let me tell you, nothing sharpens the senses quite like a producer saying, “You are live” and realizing the red-lit microphone in front of you requires instant, logical, entertaining, provocative thought.

I’ve covered thousands of sporting events featuring what seems like hundreds of different sports over the years — everything from Pee Wee football on a chilly morning to the Final Four, going from riding in a bus while watching marathoners over 26.2 miles to catching powerboat racing off our Southwest Florida coastline.

The one constant throughout all those adventures is that, without fail, each and every one of the participants, in all those events and sports, was a person trying their best. This is an increasingly cynical world, yes, but knowing that the Olympic Sailing Trials participant and the softball player that drove in the winning run to capture a state championship you just covered are equal in desire is heartwarming.

It keeps me coming back, searching for their stories and wanting to share them with you. Not everyone is Tiger Woods, bedecked in his Masters green jacket at a press conference sharing his thoughts after another win at Augusta National. But each one of those athletes put as much effort into their craft and wanted their win just as badly.

It isn’t just the winners, either. The losers in sports draw my attention just as much, knowing deep inside the pain of publicly trying so hard and failing delivers the most authentic bits from a person. Those stories can be poignant and captivating, and it keeps me coming back for more.

In so many ways, I decided way back when to join the circus instead of the rat race of adult life — chasing around teams and athletes and coaches, trying to crack into their brain and describe their moments in the sunor under those Friday night lights.

I get to go to ballparks and stadiums for a living. Is that awesome or what?

Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson airs weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on Southwest Florida’s Fox Sports Radio (105.9 FM in Collier County), and streaming on Fox-SportsFM.com.