Background on the Author

Hello again, welcome to round 2 of the most exciting blog on the planet (not exactly). Because I got a little carried away in the initial installment, I would like to take the time to share with you some of my background in the sporting world. Also, I want to hear what readers have to say about what they read, or any other comments regarding content inside this blog. Feel free to add your two cents. In order to do this efficiently, it is only fair that you (the reader) are given a little information on me (the author).

I hail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I can assume at this point that quite a few of my classmates have clicked the “x” on their web browser after reading that statement. Naturally, I am a fan of the professional sport franchises that call the city of Pittsburgh their home, the Penguins of the NHL, and the Steelers of the NFL. A sharp-minded reader would point out that I omitted the ‘Pirates of Major League Baseball’ from my list of teams above. That action was very much intentional. In 2005, I decided that enough was enough, and I would no longer bring myself to lend support to a team that operates at the management and ownership levels in the way that the Pirates have consistently done since 1993. Often times, I act as though a baseball team does not exist in Pittsburgh, and this has probably diminished my interest in the sport to some degree.

I could continue to discuss, at length, the reasons why I loathe the Pittsburgh Pirates. Perhaps I will save that information for another post on another day.

Anyway ...

As stated in my answer to the question posed on the class discussion board, sport has been an outlet of creativity and imagination for me through out my life, continuing to this day. Somewhere around eighth grade, I realized that I was not an elite level athlete and I should probably look at different outlets in order to remain involved with athletic competition. Fast forward through the years in between, and this is what brought me to Bowling Green State University. Currently, I am a Junior, studying Sport Management – with a Sport Enterprise specialization.

With a decent level of certainty, I can say that I am a fan of, and have at least moderate viewing interests in, all sports (including NASCAR, Soccer, Golf, etc.). As a youth, I played Baseball, Soccer, and Basketball for many years, and was a member of the Baseball and Basketball teams in high school. Around age 8, I successfully persuaded my parents to allow me to play the game of Hockey, a move that had a profound effect on my complete adoration of the sport. It goes without saying that 2005 was a rough sporting year for me because of the NHL Lockout (thankfully, the Steelers were able to capture their 5^th Vince Lombardi trophy in early 2006). To wrap things up, this past year was nothing short of superb as my two favorite teams in their respective sports, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pittsburgh Steelers, brought home world championships.

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In closing, I realize that I may have alienated myself from the readers (hopefully not my Professor) as I spoke about my allegiance to sports teams. To make amends, I offer you a video clip of Cleveland Cavaliers superstar Lebron James’ opening monologue from Saturday Night Live.

Enjoy and good day.