I was shocked about how much I learned about sports during this class. I thought I was going to know most of what we learned but I was wrong. There is so much to learn about sports that no one will ever know it all. The selected topics were good ones although I feel some important aspects of sport is left out like motorsport and hockey.
The part I liked about the class the most was the blogs. At first I thought they were annoying and a waste of time I found myself enjoying writing every blog. I also enjoyed reading and commenting on others blogs. I also enjoyed seeing what everyone else thought about the different topics pertaining to sport. Often times after the ethical issue projects no one would voice their opinions but instead voice them using the blog. It was nice to have the blogs; it was away for people to feel more comfortable about voicing their opinions.
I also really enjoyed hearing the ethical presentations. I liked when groups selected current topics to talk about. I thought everyone was going to do previous issues like Pete Rose, but I was wrong. This put a swing on the class that made me enjoy it more.
Overall this was a great class. Although, I don’t see how it will help me greatly in my future career it has made a slight impact. I know more about different sports now and hope to take that to different jobs I have.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Greatest Athletes of the Century
It is hard to define what a “great” athlete is considering the different expectations in different sport. Every sport is different so criteria such as ability, dominance, character, public adulation and social impact may be different depending on the sport. What I have decided to do is find 10 of the most popular sports are and decide what athletes dominated, set a historical mark, was the face of the sport or helped the sport grow. The 10 sports that will be observed are NHL, golf, tennis, motorsports, soccer, college football, NFL, NBA, baseball and Olympics. After deciding which the greatest athletes in these sports were I then ranked them according who meant the “greatest” to that sport.
#10- Tennis- Billie Jean King
Tennis will be a hard sport because many men and woman had made an impact on this sport. After taking my history of sport class though I will have to choose Billie Jean King as the greatest tennis player. She impacted the sport of tennis greatly not only for woman but for men too. After defeating Bobby Rigs in the battle of the sexes it helped make a stance for woman sports across the country, not only in tennis but in other sports too. I selected her primarily on her public adulation. She was a positive role model to many.
#9-Hockey- Wayne Gretzky
The first sport is NHL, the national hockey league. This is almost an obvious choice it is Wayne Gretzky. He fulfilled every criterion to make him a “great” player. He played for many years and had many accomplishments in the sport. He set 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won nine MVP awards and ten scoring titles. Wayne Gretzky is the face of hockey, if anyone asked someone who does not follow hockey that much “name a person who played hockey” most of the time the answer would be Wayne Gretzky. He had a huge impact on the sport. After retirement he coached the Phoenix Coyotes and also part owned them. He became a hall of fame player and was the 10th person to be inducted before the 3 year waiting period. The impact he made on the sport is what makes him so great.
#8-Golf- Arnold Palmer
Next is the greatest sport from golf. Golf is a hard one because there have been many great golfers. The obvious choice in many eyes would be Tiger Woods but I am not going to choose him, no not because of his recent drama in the news. I did not select him because yes he is the riches athlete but he got there with some help. This would be the help of Arnold Palmer. I selected him primarly on his ability, character traits and historical impact. Arnold Palmer made the sport popular, with help from 2 other guys Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. He has received many other honors one being athlete of the decade during the 60s. Palmer was a great for many people he shined in the business world and in family life. He was a tremendous golfer. He was one of the most popular and accessible figures in history.
#7- Motorsports- Dale Earnhardt
Motorsport is hard to choose because there are many different styles of racing. What I am going to look at though is the one that is growing here in the United States and that would be NASCAR. The most dominant and the greatest driver to date has been Dale Earnhardt. He impacted the sport greatly, after his passing during a Daytona 500 race to this day there are still Earnhardt #3 flags all around the infield. He has 76 wins and 7 championships, tied with Richard Petty. He was a great leader for NASCAR and his sudden death impacted the sport enormously. He was a charitable and generous man off the track but on the track considered the “intimidator.” He truly was the greatest NASCAR driver in the past century.
#6- College Football- Red Grange
College football greatest player was someone we learned about in class. This would be Red Grange. He was an early player of the sport but dominated in it. He led the University of Illinois to a Nation Title. Rader said in his book “Grange was admired for both his practice of traditional virtues and his sudden break runs on the field of play.”A sports reporter labeled him the “galloping ghost.” Grange is most known for his 4 touchdown quarter against the University of Michigan. He was a great player and did incredible things for the sport.
#5- Olympics- Jesse Owens
Olympics greatest athlete is hard because Olympics are made for greats. The one that made a political impact and was great at the sport he competed would be Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was a track runner he won four gold medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. His determination in the sport he competed and the strength through the raising problems in Berlin made him great. Even though I could name a few other athletes that made more of a competitive mark on the Olympics none made a mark like Jesse did, that alone made him great.
#4- Soccer- Mia Hamm
Soccer will be easy for me because I am a soccer player and I had one player that I idolized when I played. This would be Mia Hamm. She was a great player and did many things in the community. She was the face for women soccer for awhile and many girl soccer players looked up to her and saw her as an inspiration. Hamm was also a dominant player in her sport scoring the most international goals (158), male or female. She won many championships with different teams she also won an Olympic gold medal. She also played in most-attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185. There is no doubt that she changed the sport of woman’s soccer and possibly even soccer as a whole.
#3- NFL- Jim Brown
NFL’s greatest football player of the century would be Jim Brown. He has been labeled the greatest pure runner in the NFL. He set many records in his nine year stint. When he departed the NFL he held records in single season rushing with 1,863 yards and a career rushing yards with 12,312. He also holds many other dominant records too. He was a leader on and off the field. He established the Amer-I-Can program and was a big social activist. His overall dominance in the sport is what made him be one of the greatest athletes.
#2-NBA- Michael Jordan
NBA’s greatest player is Michael Jordan. He was great player on the court and also is a great business professional off the court. He has received many awards a few being 2 Olympic Gold Medals 1984, 1992, 6-time NBA Champion , 6-time NBA Finals MVP, 5-time NBA MVP and countless others. He was a role model for many including basketball greats that play today like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. He made a huge impact on the basketball world. His impact makes him the greatest hands down NBA basketball player of the century.
#1- Baseball- Babe Ruth
Baseball greatest player is Babe Ruth. Ruth along with the other chosen athletes made a big impact on the sport of baseball. Ruth had a 21 year long baseball career. He also has many all time records 3rd all-time homerun leader (712), 4th all-time run leader (2,174) and 1st all-time slugging leader (0.690) these records are only a few of his many. Many considered him “the sultan of swat” or “the bambino”. Rader wrote “he never struggled for successin baseball.” The public adored him, people admired him and he dominated baseball so there is no doubt that he is the greatest baseball player of the century.
#10- Tennis- Billie Jean King
Tennis will be a hard sport because many men and woman had made an impact on this sport. After taking my history of sport class though I will have to choose Billie Jean King as the greatest tennis player. She impacted the sport of tennis greatly not only for woman but for men too. After defeating Bobby Rigs in the battle of the sexes it helped make a stance for woman sports across the country, not only in tennis but in other sports too. I selected her primarily on her public adulation. She was a positive role model to many.
#9-Hockey- Wayne Gretzky
The first sport is NHL, the national hockey league. This is almost an obvious choice it is Wayne Gretzky. He fulfilled every criterion to make him a “great” player. He played for many years and had many accomplishments in the sport. He set 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records, won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and won nine MVP awards and ten scoring titles. Wayne Gretzky is the face of hockey, if anyone asked someone who does not follow hockey that much “name a person who played hockey” most of the time the answer would be Wayne Gretzky. He had a huge impact on the sport. After retirement he coached the Phoenix Coyotes and also part owned them. He became a hall of fame player and was the 10th person to be inducted before the 3 year waiting period. The impact he made on the sport is what makes him so great.
#8-Golf- Arnold Palmer
Next is the greatest sport from golf. Golf is a hard one because there have been many great golfers. The obvious choice in many eyes would be Tiger Woods but I am not going to choose him, no not because of his recent drama in the news. I did not select him because yes he is the riches athlete but he got there with some help. This would be the help of Arnold Palmer. I selected him primarly on his ability, character traits and historical impact. Arnold Palmer made the sport popular, with help from 2 other guys Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. He has received many other honors one being athlete of the decade during the 60s. Palmer was a great for many people he shined in the business world and in family life. He was a tremendous golfer. He was one of the most popular and accessible figures in history.
#7- Motorsports- Dale Earnhardt
Motorsport is hard to choose because there are many different styles of racing. What I am going to look at though is the one that is growing here in the United States and that would be NASCAR. The most dominant and the greatest driver to date has been Dale Earnhardt. He impacted the sport greatly, after his passing during a Daytona 500 race to this day there are still Earnhardt #3 flags all around the infield. He has 76 wins and 7 championships, tied with Richard Petty. He was a great leader for NASCAR and his sudden death impacted the sport enormously. He was a charitable and generous man off the track but on the track considered the “intimidator.” He truly was the greatest NASCAR driver in the past century.
#6- College Football- Red Grange
College football greatest player was someone we learned about in class. This would be Red Grange. He was an early player of the sport but dominated in it. He led the University of Illinois to a Nation Title. Rader said in his book “Grange was admired for both his practice of traditional virtues and his sudden break runs on the field of play.”A sports reporter labeled him the “galloping ghost.” Grange is most known for his 4 touchdown quarter against the University of Michigan. He was a great player and did incredible things for the sport.
#5- Olympics- Jesse Owens
Olympics greatest athlete is hard because Olympics are made for greats. The one that made a political impact and was great at the sport he competed would be Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was a track runner he won four gold medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the long jump, and as part of the 4x100 meter relay team. His determination in the sport he competed and the strength through the raising problems in Berlin made him great. Even though I could name a few other athletes that made more of a competitive mark on the Olympics none made a mark like Jesse did, that alone made him great.
#4- Soccer- Mia Hamm
Soccer will be easy for me because I am a soccer player and I had one player that I idolized when I played. This would be Mia Hamm. She was a great player and did many things in the community. She was the face for women soccer for awhile and many girl soccer players looked up to her and saw her as an inspiration. Hamm was also a dominant player in her sport scoring the most international goals (158), male or female. She won many championships with different teams she also won an Olympic gold medal. She also played in most-attended women's sports event in history with an official attendance of 90,185. There is no doubt that she changed the sport of woman’s soccer and possibly even soccer as a whole.
#3- NFL- Jim Brown
NFL’s greatest football player of the century would be Jim Brown. He has been labeled the greatest pure runner in the NFL. He set many records in his nine year stint. When he departed the NFL he held records in single season rushing with 1,863 yards and a career rushing yards with 12,312. He also holds many other dominant records too. He was a leader on and off the field. He established the Amer-I-Can program and was a big social activist. His overall dominance in the sport is what made him be one of the greatest athletes.
#2-NBA- Michael Jordan
NBA’s greatest player is Michael Jordan. He was great player on the court and also is a great business professional off the court. He has received many awards a few being 2 Olympic Gold Medals 1984, 1992, 6-time NBA Champion , 6-time NBA Finals MVP, 5-time NBA MVP and countless others. He was a role model for many including basketball greats that play today like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. He made a huge impact on the basketball world. His impact makes him the greatest hands down NBA basketball player of the century.
#1- Baseball- Babe Ruth
Baseball greatest player is Babe Ruth. Ruth along with the other chosen athletes made a big impact on the sport of baseball. Ruth had a 21 year long baseball career. He also has many all time records 3rd all-time homerun leader (712), 4th all-time run leader (2,174) and 1st all-time slugging leader (0.690) these records are only a few of his many. Many considered him “the sultan of swat” or “the bambino”. Rader wrote “he never struggled for successin baseball.” The public adored him, people admired him and he dominated baseball so there is no doubt that he is the greatest baseball player of the century.
Why poker?
Flipping through channels I noticed something that has been bothering me quite a bit every time I see it. This is the playing of poker on ESPN. ESPN stands for Entertainment and sports programming network. I don’t like when it is played on ESPN because ESPN is a channel for sports. Although poker is a game it is not a sport and I feel as if they could put something better in place instead of poker. Poker is a game and is fine to be televised on TV but not ESPN. I feel that there are many other sports that don’t get as much broadcast on TV that they could replace instead of showing the same poker tournament over and over. In class I have learned about many different sports that I did not know much about previously. Learning about new sports is a great way of learning more about sports. Also soccer does not get nearly enough coverage and maybe that is why it is not as popular in the United States. Woman sports would also be a good replacement, they don’t get any coverage either. Sports like rugby, cricket and other international sports would be a place to start also. This will get more people involved with becoming more cultured. Either way there are a lot of other real sports that could fill in this time of poker.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Moving of Coaches
Recently Notre Dame found their new hire for head football and the winner is…Brian Kelly. This was a shock for me to hear because of Brian Kelly is the coach at University of Cincinnati. Cincinnati had a great year this year going undefeated, winning the Big East and also receiving a bid to a BCS bowl game. Kelly and his Bearcats are scheduled to play in The Sugar bowl vs. Florida. I feel as if this move is a terrible choice as the Bearcats are practicing making game plans for this big game. This added a huge distraction that the underdogs do not need. Kelly’s transfer leaves his players in shock one of his players stated he was “fairly disgusted" and hoped Kelly would "pack his things up and get to South Bend in a hurry,” as reported by Matt Hinton at Rivals.com. The kids that are about to compete in a BCS game do not have a coach nor want to hear anything that their coach has to say. The team is going into this big game alone, and this should not happen because they did not go through the season alone. They were let down and left feeling like they are not good enough for their coach.
The issue that comes up season in and season out is that of coaches choosing new teams before they complete their seasons. Nick Saban is good example of these transfers. Another good example would be when Rich Rodriguez transferred from West Virginia to Michigan. The town of Morgantown was furious and has never forgiven Rich, a guy they trusted in and relied in to support his team. These transfers should never happen during the season and I dislike it when coaches do it to their teams. I also feel that the school that is looking to hire the coach should not contact the prospects until their season is over. Just because Notre Dame’s season is over does not mean everyone else is done. Wait until after season to make an announcement like this it is not fair for the teams, fans or school.
Monday, December 7, 2009
World Cup
On December 4th was an exciting day in sports for most of the world. This would be the day that they picked the groupings for the first round of the World Cup. The world cup will be held in South Africa this year. The first match will be held on June 12th, 2010.
What I thought was the most interesting about watching the draw was how they pick whom will be in what league. They made it so that it was random and no biases put in the seeding. They first divided the top seeds and place them in a bucket. These are the seeds that won the bid of number one seed during the qualifying matches. The host country also receives the number one seed. A1 is where the host country goes after that they then pick from the bucket for which country will get B1-H1. After finding the number one seed they then divide the rest of the countries in 3 different groups by their geographical area. After picking which country gets which group A-H, they are also picked for a seed 2-4. Watching this was really interesting, I really enjoyed how they picked and it left a since of anticipation for the viewers. I also think separating the countries by geographical area was interesting and feel they do that so there is no hostility between close countries.
The only reason I really watched this was to see where the US was going to be seeded. Many people and I too feel that the USA got off with an easy grouping. Which will give the US a great chance to move onto the second round. We are grouped with England, Slovenia and Algeria. There is always the ‘death group’ which is a group no one wants to be in. This year that group probably is Group G which has Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea. Each team are the more stronger and dominant teams in their geographical areas. On top of that Brazil is considered the best team in the world and Portugal has the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo.
I can’t wait 6 months for the World Cup to start! I really wish that the United States got as excited as the rest of the world did but luckily I have a close set of friends who are soccer lovers and we will be enjoying the festivities of World Cup 2010.
If you would like to learn more about the World Cup 2010 visit
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/index.html
U-S-A!
-Megan Meade
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Arena District
While enjoying my Thanksgiving Break the last thing I wanted to think about is school. It is hard to do though when upon arrival after the 3 days off we students have two weeks left to finish up those last projects and papers. Although, thinking about school came in an indirect way. Tonight I went to the Columbus Blue Jackets game, before entering we ate at Boston’s, a gourmet pizza shop. While partaking in these events I thought back to our class a couple weeks ago and how we talked about how professional sports are good for the community. Also how teams move to areas where the sport will strive the most. Although we talked most about how teams move from one city to another in this case it was about bringing one sport back to a city that left 14 years prior, this sport is hockey. I connected the ideas of class discussion and the book and about what the Blue Jackets coming to Columbus has done for our city. I feel it has made a huge impact. When the Blue Jackets came they built the arena in a run down part of Columbus. No one ever really visited nor wanted to. Once the arena was built they labeled the part of the city The Arena District. This brought a lot of business to this area of Columbus. With the arena many different classier big name restaurants came also like Clotters, Boston’s, Boca di Beppo, O'Shaughnessy's and many more. Hockey came to town in 2000 and ever since this area has been growing. They just recently put the Columbus Clippers a minor league baseball team across the street from the arena. This is a new beautiful stadium with more attractions than the previous location of the Clippers stadium. There is also many different music venues for people to attend and condos so people can enjoy living in the city. Overall bring hockey to Columbus was a great idea and it has helped the city so much. The only problem will be keeping it here and winning!
Friday, November 20, 2009
A story of a hero
Last night news across Ohio even the world announced the passing of Stefanie Spielman. Stefanie Spielman was the wife of Ohio State’s all-time great linebacker and Lombardi award winner Chris Spielman. Stefanie was a lady full of courage and strength. Stefanie has been fighting breast cancer for the past decade and has had 5 different lapses with it before it ultimately took her life. Chris and Stefanie were public figures in the Columbus area for their work with Ohio State University's Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. They also made Race for the Cure a big event in Columbus many people wear pink wigs in support of Stefanie’s fight. Stefanie even started the Stefanie Spielman fund for breast cancer research. Stefanie was not only fighting the battle of her own cancer but also helping to fight the battle for all the other women with breast cancer. Chris and Stefanie have been married for many years and were high school sweethearts. They have 4 children Madison, Noah, Macy and Audrey.
Chris had a great football career. He was top linebacker of his time and was drafted to play football in the NFL with the Detroit Lions, then traded to the Buffalo Bills and a quick stint with the Cleveland Browns. Chris ended up putting his career on hold during the 1998 season to take care of his wife and his family. After returning to football in 1999, it ended quickly with a neck injury. Chris has done a great job with holding everything together and supporting his wife. This love and commitment is what many fans would love to see more professional athletes possess.
Overall Stefanie’s fight was a public fight gaining support from all of Columbus. This news was really sad for me and for many in the Columbus area. These two were the leaders for the fight for breast cancer. Their initial goal with this fund was to raise about a quarter of a million dollars and before Stefanie’s passing they raised more than $6.5 million. I wish Chris and his family the deepest respects and hope that they continue to raise money for The Stefanie Spielman Fund. She was truly a great leader and had a great compassion and love for people. She will be truly missed.
This is a picture of the Spielman family during Chris Spielman's induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Big One
“The big one” this often time is described as a crash that happens during a NASCAR race. Most of the times these big accidents happen when the drivers are racing at a restrictor plate race. Restrictor Plate races are often bigger tracks that drivers can reach maximum speed before making it one complete lap around. The two tracks that are most known for these races are Daytona and Talladega. These two tracks are where most of the accidents happening. Recalling back to 2001, when Dale Earnhardt crashed on final laps, which ended up costing his life. Talladega is the fastest track in the NASCAR circuit and drivers can reach up to speeds of 200 mph. Talladega racing is tight and can get up to 3, 4 and sometimes even 5 cars wide. At extremely fast tracks this can cause for big crashes that involve many of the cars. This causes a problem with the connection fans have with the race and drivers have during and after the race.
They race at Talladega twice a year and last weekend NASCAR had their final race at Talladega. This race also was the first race at Talladega where NASCAR officals were going to watch closely on aggressive driving. They did not want to see any bump drafting or passing in the corners. This made the drivers more cautious because they did not want to get penalized for an accident. With the drivers being more cautious it caused more tension and with 5 laps left many of the cars were fighting for position which caused a crash. This crash was between about 4 but it caused Ryan Newman’s car to flip so the NASCAR officials decided to red flag the race so they could get everything cleaned up. A red flag means that all cars have to stop which creates an equal shot at winning the race. If a red flag was to happen in the last couple laps then they would just automatically have a 3 lap final, basically an overtime. This gives the teams 3 laps to fight for first place, which is what happened this weekend. After going back to a white flag an even bigger crash happened between about 13 cars. These cars were closer and fighting for position right after the white flag which caused many cars to go spinning. This crash happened to the racers that were 6 cars back from the lead. The race cannot be red flagged twice so it caused the last 2 laps to end in a caution. “The Big One” always is known at this track and it is not the first time that they had to red flag the race so that they could finish with an “exciting ending.”
The problem is as a race fan I don’t like watching this 3 lap overtime; I don’t find it exciting at all. I feel like NASCAR needs to create more rules at tracks like Talladega so that fans can see an exciting end to a race. Basically all the laps that happened on Sunday did not count because many of the people involved in the crash were lap leaders and those who dominated the race. If fans just wanted to see a three lap finish they would watch drag racing. Caution endings does not make racing exciting, some of the other tracks have photo finishes but at tracks like Talladega this never happens, most of the time it ends in a caution. Officals tried to find the answers this weekend but the "big one" still happened and fans went home unhappy. They need to find a solution to this so they can keep the fans involved and wanting to come back to Talladega.
A clip that I added was a serious accident at Talladega,It happened at the spring race in 2009.
-Megan Meade
Monday, October 26, 2009
Ethics and Shoes
This ethical issue is about shoes. Recently there has been a shoe dilemma for Marcus Jordan, the son of basketball great Michael Jordan. Marcus Jordan is a freshman at University of Central Florida. Marcus signed to play basketball for the school. During the signing he stated the only way he would play is if he could wear Air Jordan’s when he played, so UCF agreed and said he would be able to play in his Jordan’s. This becomes an ethical issue because UCF has signed a contract with Adidas and as many know the Jordan brand is part of Nike. The university could lose up to $2 million if Marcus wears his family’s shoes. The contract between UCF and Adidas is an exclusive $1.9 million contract states the athletes and coaches are required to use Adidas shoes, appeal and game equipment. This contract right now offers discounted prices and does not give free stuff to the Athletes. The contract is set to end in 2010 but UCF and Adidas were talking about expanding the contract to 6 more years, this will also give the school more free shoes, appeal and equipment.The people at Adidas are not happy with the fact that UCF told Marcus that he could wear his shoes. They feel like since they are holding up their contract than so should UCF. The next issue comes between Marcus and his brand loyalty to a company that has supplied so much to his family. Marcus does not have a problem wearing the other Adidas sponsored items he just wants to wear the shoes.
I really know how Marcus feels about being loyal to his father’s company but I also feel that since Marcus has signed to play for an Adidas campus than he should have to respect that contract and wear all Adidas stuff. He has grown into a new world and new environment and should realize that not everything is about his needs. If he still wants to play ball than he should respect the contract and wear what all of his teammates are wearing. Marcus does not have a contract with Nike stating all he is going to wear are Nike’s he just feels obligated to because his father is the owner of the shoes. This does not mean Marcus has to lose ties with the Jordan brand, he can wear his Nike shoes everyday but when it comes to game days he should just put on the Adidas shoes like all of his other teammates. This is a tough issue to choose sides but what do you think? Should Marcus wear Adidas? Or Should Adidas just let him wear whatever is comfortable and also keep the contract with UCF?
-Megan Meade
Limon,L. (19 October 2009). Central Florida's promise to Michael Jordan's son jeopardizes school's lucrative Adidas contract. Retrieved from
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Homecoming Symposium
This past Friday I attended the homecoming symposium. I went and heard Dan Jones speak on things that will help you. Dan Jones is the Vice President of the event marketing division for Intersport. Dan has worked in the sport industry for 14 years and has been with Intersport for 7 years. This was a great opportunity to hear about what Dan did to get to the point where he is at and also learn about the different options in the world of sport marketing. Dan gave us 4 main tips on choosing a job the first one was, are you passionate about it? The next three are, can you be absolutely great at it, will it achieve your financial goals, and the last one is can you be proud of your job. He also gave us advice in getting a job in the field he said get as much experience as possible, be persistent, always use real communication and get outside of comfort zone. The other part of his presentation which this was the part I was most interested in was learning about the company of Intersport. I never thought about working with a company like this and after hearing his presentation it made me think that I would really want to have a job in this industry. His number one advice was don’t limit yourself to traditional jobs. One that that he said was there are numerous opportunities in sports industry other than the traditional working with a team. Intersport works in three different divisions; sport marketing, television, and digital. Intersport is a business to business marketing and that is one of the reasons why many people don’t know about this job. I really enjoyed his presentation and am glad that I went and saw him.
After listening to his presentation I used it to connect it to the class. This company deals with sponsorships and marketing brands at sporting events. One thing I first though about was the enclosure movement. When they closed baseball fields in with fence and charged admission to enter. They did not speak much about sponsorships of fields after this happened but I am sure many companies started to jump on the opportunity to be the head sponsor. Now looking around almost every park has a sponsor in the fields name like PETCO Park or Minute Maid Park. Another part of class that I thought about that has influenced the job of Dan Johns was when we discussed the top most influential events. Number one was ABCs Wide World of sports this would have affected the television department at Intersport.
For those of you who did not get to see Dan Jones and see what the organization of Intersport is like check out their web page at
http://www1.intersportnet.com/what_we_do.html
-Megan Meade
After listening to his presentation I used it to connect it to the class. This company deals with sponsorships and marketing brands at sporting events. One thing I first though about was the enclosure movement. When they closed baseball fields in with fence and charged admission to enter. They did not speak much about sponsorships of fields after this happened but I am sure many companies started to jump on the opportunity to be the head sponsor. Now looking around almost every park has a sponsor in the fields name like PETCO Park or Minute Maid Park. Another part of class that I thought about that has influenced the job of Dan Johns was when we discussed the top most influential events. Number one was ABCs Wide World of sports this would have affected the television department at Intersport.
For those of you who did not get to see Dan Jones and see what the organization of Intersport is like check out their web page at
http://www1.intersportnet.com/what_we_do.html
-Megan Meade
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Hello fellow blogger and classmates! I am Megan Meade and I am a Sport Management with a minor in Marketing. I have just recently switched my minor from Spanish to Marketing. I choose to switch because I love the Spanish language but I did not like learning it in the classroom. I am from Grove City, Ohio. Grove City is 15 minutes south of Columbus, Ohio for those of you who don’t know. Living very close to Columbus I have been raised Buckeye. I have pictures of me wearing Ohio State attire practically right out of the hospital. Then have ever since followed and loved them. My first memory of watching the Buckeyes came during the 1995 season with Eddie George. I remember when he ran everyone would shout EDDIE! Ever since he has been one of my favorite athletes and I followed him up until he retired.
My biggest sport passion not as a fan would be soccer. I love the sport of soccer. I have played for many years starting at the age of 8. Ever since that age I made it my life. Starting at the age of 13 I played year round up until I graduated high school. June to November would be high school and then December to June I would play with Grove City Futbol Club. Once I graduated high school I made a big decision not to play anymore and choose a bigger school away from my hometown. I was bummed until I realized I did not have to hang up my cleats quite yet. My freshman year I started playing Club soccer here, I also participate on different summer league teams. Although it is not year around I still love it. Now to make up for not playing as much I officiate for high school teams in northwest Ohio. This has been a great chance to make a little extra cash, stay involved with soccer and also meet many different athletic directors and coaches. I have also started coaching with an area recreation team. Like I said I love the sport of soccer! It will always be part of my life. I also hope that I can start working for a soccer team. My true dream would to start over in England then come back here but who knows?
Besides soccer I enjoy watching every sport, some more than others. I have been raised in a household that loves sports. We always would watch many different sporting events together as a family. Sport often times would be what we based our family vacation around. Football, soccer, baseball and NASCAR…yes NASCAR, has always been our favorites in our household. Once the Columbus Blue Jackets came to town we started to watch more hockey games too. I am a Cincinnati Bengals fan and can only remember a couple winning seasons. One of the winning seasons I got to go to a game and watch the Bengals beat the Giants and Eli Manning. It was the day after Christmas and freezing but it was worth it. We stick with Cincinnati when it comes to baseball also. We go to many Reds games over their seasons because we live about an hour and 15 minutes away. This makes it easy to make it a day trip. I have always had the opportunity to go to Columbus Crew games since they were so close, I had many birthdays there.I loved going and watching Brian McBride but when he left we stopped going to as many games and I kind of regret not going. Once hockey came to town we now attend many of those games and they are a ton of fun. When hockey came it was one thing that inspired me to go into Sport Management. I want to work with a team to create that atmosphere that they do for their fans. I have gone to different games on all different levels of sport. I will always remember my favorite game. Even though the outcome was not that great I will never forget this experience. The game was the 2008 OSU vs. Penn State. This was a great experience with such a festive atmosphere. I believe that night we set the record attendance in the shoe. A chance to be in the same stadium as Joe Pa too is great because he is a great coach and motivator.
Lastly, I have gotten experience many things but one thing I really want to do is to go to an Ohio State/ Michigan game. I want to go to the game at The Shoe and the Big House. This has always been my goal and I will do everything to achieve it. These teams both bring lot of tradition to college football. I hope when I do go to the game it is back to being one of the most important games of the year.
Watching college football has always made me want to be involved with sport. I just had to decide where the best place for me would be. At first I wanted to be in sport journalism but because of my lack of desire to write all the time and not be an excellent writer I did not think that was were I belonged. I then found Bowling Green's program and over these past years I have learned there are assortment of opportunities for sport management majors. I have been doing many different things in sport to find out what I like to do most. I have volunteered with the ticket office. This summer I also have done some guest production work with Curves, a womens workout facility. I have decided that I really want to work with the community and bring them more into the game so anywhere with community relations or ticketing/promotions is my desired position.
I really feel like I have so much more to say...but told you so much. I look foward to learning more about sport as I hardly know any history.
¡Eso es todo tengo que decir!! ¡Adiós!
Megan Meade
My biggest sport passion not as a fan would be soccer. I love the sport of soccer. I have played for many years starting at the age of 8. Ever since that age I made it my life. Starting at the age of 13 I played year round up until I graduated high school. June to November would be high school and then December to June I would play with Grove City Futbol Club. Once I graduated high school I made a big decision not to play anymore and choose a bigger school away from my hometown. I was bummed until I realized I did not have to hang up my cleats quite yet. My freshman year I started playing Club soccer here, I also participate on different summer league teams. Although it is not year around I still love it. Now to make up for not playing as much I officiate for high school teams in northwest Ohio. This has been a great chance to make a little extra cash, stay involved with soccer and also meet many different athletic directors and coaches. I have also started coaching with an area recreation team. Like I said I love the sport of soccer! It will always be part of my life. I also hope that I can start working for a soccer team. My true dream would to start over in England then come back here but who knows?
Besides soccer I enjoy watching every sport, some more than others. I have been raised in a household that loves sports. We always would watch many different sporting events together as a family. Sport often times would be what we based our family vacation around. Football, soccer, baseball and NASCAR…yes NASCAR, has always been our favorites in our household. Once the Columbus Blue Jackets came to town we started to watch more hockey games too. I am a Cincinnati Bengals fan and can only remember a couple winning seasons. One of the winning seasons I got to go to a game and watch the Bengals beat the Giants and Eli Manning. It was the day after Christmas and freezing but it was worth it. We stick with Cincinnati when it comes to baseball also. We go to many Reds games over their seasons because we live about an hour and 15 minutes away. This makes it easy to make it a day trip. I have always had the opportunity to go to Columbus Crew games since they were so close, I had many birthdays there.I loved going and watching Brian McBride but when he left we stopped going to as many games and I kind of regret not going. Once hockey came to town we now attend many of those games and they are a ton of fun. When hockey came it was one thing that inspired me to go into Sport Management. I want to work with a team to create that atmosphere that they do for their fans. I have gone to different games on all different levels of sport. I will always remember my favorite game. Even though the outcome was not that great I will never forget this experience. The game was the 2008 OSU vs. Penn State. This was a great experience with such a festive atmosphere. I believe that night we set the record attendance in the shoe. A chance to be in the same stadium as Joe Pa too is great because he is a great coach and motivator.
Lastly, I have gotten experience many things but one thing I really want to do is to go to an Ohio State/ Michigan game. I want to go to the game at The Shoe and the Big House. This has always been my goal and I will do everything to achieve it. These teams both bring lot of tradition to college football. I hope when I do go to the game it is back to being one of the most important games of the year.
Watching college football has always made me want to be involved with sport. I just had to decide where the best place for me would be. At first I wanted to be in sport journalism but because of my lack of desire to write all the time and not be an excellent writer I did not think that was were I belonged. I then found Bowling Green's program and over these past years I have learned there are assortment of opportunities for sport management majors. I have been doing many different things in sport to find out what I like to do most. I have volunteered with the ticket office. This summer I also have done some guest production work with Curves, a womens workout facility. I have decided that I really want to work with the community and bring them more into the game so anywhere with community relations or ticketing/promotions is my desired position.
I really feel like I have so much more to say...but told you so much. I look foward to learning more about sport as I hardly know any history.
¡Eso es todo tengo que decir!! ¡Adiós!
Megan Meade
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