Family cut him off. School debts piled up. He took an unpaid job with the minor-league baseball team in Pittsfield, Mass., selling outfield billboard ads and pouring cheese over concession-stand nachos, while covering rent by working 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the post office.
That job earned Mike Tannenbaum the nickname, "Clavin," as in Cliff, as in the postal worker character in the sit-com "Cheers."
How hard do you chase your dream?
Tannenbaum entered law school in New Orleans and took another unpaid sports job, this one with the New Orleans Saints. His boss, Bill Kuharich, now a Cleveland Browns executive, didn't believe he was serious and assigned him to shred documents.