I have been publishing this blog for a little over a year now; I must admit I am surprised by the variety it contains. Each article addresses issues, people, events and information I consider pertinent to sport management professionals, business leaders, athletes, sport enthusiasts, high school/college students and their parents. Some are inspired by events in my personal life (especially my two daughters), by my interactions with students/alumni/colleagues (I am a sport management professor) and by the events and circumstances of everyday life. My goal is to provide content that helps readers look at things from a different perspective and enables individuals to learn while being entertained.

For this week’s blog I’d like to get your input.

• What types of topics do you enjoy the most?
• What issues would you like to see covered in upcoming posts?
• Do you have any questions about sport management at the college level or in the “real world” of business?
• Is there an area I have not yet covered that you feel should be examined and discussed?

This is your specific invitation to let me know what you want to see from me on this site. Please remember that I am always open to suggestions or comments—I am just taking this week to especially focus upon your thoughts and ideas. To make things easier and to serve as an overview (especially for those relatively new to the blog), I have organized past postings into categories. I am sure there is a better way to do this (feel free to share suggestions) but here goes anyway.

Listed below are the topics from the past year and the month in which you can find the original post within the archives. Please respond with your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for the future…I’m serious…let me know what you think and what you want in the future and I will do what I can to accommodate your wishes. In the meantime, thanks for reading and joining in on the conversation!

For All Readers
1st Time for Everything (March 2009)
A Different Perspective (April 2009)
I am _____? (January 2010)
Make a Positive Lasting Impression (October 2009)
Motivation (June 2009)
Peopling (September 2009)
Planning for Success (February 2009)
Preparation, Reaction, Change (March 2009)
Success (December 2009)
Taking Responsibility (July 2009)
Tips for Landing a Job (May 2009)
What do you read? (February 2010)

Networking and Social Media
10 Tips for Twitter Networking (August 2009)
Basic Networking Tips (January 2009)
How can Twitter help me? (April 2009)
Networking and Fantasy Football (September 2009)

Issues for College Students
Easing the Transition between High School and College (June 2009)
Get Involved (August 2009)
How do you study? (May 2009)
Student-Athletes (February 2009)

Sport Management Majors (Information and Conferences)
Advice for Sport Management Students (December 2009)
Choosing a Sport Management Program (July 2009)
CSRI Conference in Chapel Hill: Day One/Day Two (April 2009)
Health Care Reform and the Sport Industry (July 2009)
Make the Most of the New Year (January 2010)
Princeton Sports Symposium (December 2009)
Sport Management Faculty (February 2009)
Sport Management Projects (May 2009)
Students Host Professional Panel and Charity Event (October 2009)
YCP Alumni on the Web (May 2009)

Highlights of Sport Professionals
Bob Ancharski/Hershey Bears Hockey Club (April 2009)
Lewis Howes/Sports Networker (September 2009)
Steve Masterson/Game Face, Inc. (March 2009)
Packy Moran/University of Ohio (March 2009)
Becky Norris/Oklahoma City Thunder (March 2009)
Jeana Olchowy/National Pro Fastpitch (June 2009)
Dr. Ramlan/Director General of the National Sports Institute of Malaysia (November 2009)
Dave Salter/Author (October 2009)

Miscellaneous Topics
Brest Cancer Awareness Month (October 2009)
Fix It (February 2009)
Random Thoughts (November 2009)
Rush Limbaugh (October 2009)
Summer Job (June 2009)
Trip to Malaysia (November 2009)

After taking an extended and much needed break, I am back! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and your new year is off to a great start.  During my break I did a lot of work.  I know it is an oxymoron but I started working on a couple of projects that I have been putting off and I am really excited about them now that the ball is rolling.  I am working with some great people and I will fill everyone in regarding these projects another time. 

This week’s post is centered on the theme of conferences and opportunities—both enable individuals to network and gain valuable insight on what it takes to get a job in the sports industry from those currently working in the field.  Although I am constantly telling students what they need to do or what they should be doing, it is sometimes more effective when they hear it from someone else.  As a result, I have compiled the following list of some upcoming conferences which I recommend attending if you are a student, young professional or someone trying to get into the sport industry: 

• 2/1-2/3 National Sports Forum – Baltimore, Maryland http://sports-forum.com/
• 2/19-2/20 18th Annual Georgia Southern Sport Management Conference – Savannah, Georgia http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/sportconference.html
• 3/5-3/6 Sports Industry Networking and Career Conference Washington, D.C. http://www.sinc-conference.com/
• 3/26-3/27 Sports Events Marketing Experience Washington, D.C. http://www.seme-now.com/
• 4/14-4/16 6th Annual Southern Sport Management Conference Troy University Troy, Alabama http://troy.troy.edu/healthandhumanservices/khp/ssm2009.html
• 4/21-4/23 2010 Scholarly Conference on College Sport Chapel Hill, NC http://www.csriconference.org/

In addition, the two sites listed below are not actually conferences but both put on amazing networking events. I recommend you make them part of your regular reading and attend as many of their events as possible:

• The Business of Sports – http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/
• The Sports Networker (has a great weekly newsletter as well) – http://www.sportsnetworker.com/

Please let me know, if I have missed any conferences or good networking opportunities…I’d be happy to post them as well!

Clay Fitch (’03)
My original plan for this post was going to be a wrap up of the CSRI Scholarly Conference on College Sport but I received the e-mail below from Clay Fitch (‘03).  I thought this was a more important topic to share.
Dr. Newman:

I wanted to share a couple of things with you that might spark some discussion in your classes.  As I am sure you are aware Harry Kalas died on Monday.  Obviously this was more than a crisis for the organization, as he died hours before the game on Monday.  Since the beginning of the game on Monday through Saturday afternoon the Phillies (along with the support of the Kalas family) did everything a first class organization could hope to do and should be a lesson for other organizations put in a similar position in the future.  They did the obvious, some would say easy steps i.e.: HK patch, having his sons throwing out the first pitch when they returned to Philly on Friday, having his son sing the anthem, and dedicating the broadcast booth to him.  They also took other nuanced steps such as changing the 7th inning song from God Bless America to Kalas singing High Hopes (kind of his trademark) and using his legendary home run call for all home runs at home.  They finally made extraordinary gestures such as working with their broadcast partner for the top half of the first inning on Friday to be silent (no play by play or color) and doing a memorial at the stadium on Saturday.  The memorial was done in a manner that will be remembered by everyone in attendance for years to come.  One of the things that my friends and I said throughout the week is that of any team in Philadelphia the Phillies by far do the best at doing ceremonies and tributes.  This is certainly a tribute to the PR, marketing and event staffs of the organization.  In no way did they plan the tributes to Kalas to build esteem for the organization but just because they knew they were the right steps to take for someone who has been with the organization for nearly 40 years. 

In looking back over the last week I had a couple of thoughts about the whole situation.  To be honest Monday and Tuesday I said that things like Harry Kalas’ passing and the passing of the pitcher in Anaheim is why it stinks to work in sport sometimes.  For all of the great things that can happen in working in sport (experiencing the highs of a team you care about, meeting your heroes (even if it is a let down), getting to work in the world’s greatest arenas, etc.) there are days where working in sport can stink.  When you work in sport the players, broadcasters, and front office go from being people that you admire or people there for your entertainment to your friends and co-workers.  I know as one of the people at the memorial for Kalas it was tough to say goodbye to a man who was the only voice I’ve known for the Phillies.  But I then thought of the staff who was responsible for all of the planning all of the activities for Friday and Saturday and for contacting the White House to reschedule the team visit.  One of the people I made of point of watching was the woman in charge of coordinating all of the activities during the memorial, making sure everyone was in the proper place, making sure that people hit their cues, etc.  These people, particularly the person coordinating the activities, probably have had little chance to mourn their friend they had to solider on so that we as fans could mourn for them.  I thought about his fellow broadcasters who had to somehow make it through a ballgame hours after learning about the loss of a friend.  For most “normal” people, when an employee who has been with the company for 38 years dies, they shut the company down for the rest of the day.  Normal people get to mourn their friends in their own way, without having to plan events for 50,000 people (Fridays game and Saturday’s memorial). 

Sometimes it is easier for athletes and broadcasters to remain people on TV and on the radio.  While obviously it is bad to get to know athletes and broadcasters because they might not live up to your idealized view of them.  But sometimes it stinks even more when you breakdown that fourth wall and they truly are good people who make it harder when they leave (another job, retirement or God forbid death).

There are great things about working in sport.  The fact that you can do something, and do something particularly well enough; that 10,000 people will come to mourn you is a testament to the power of sport.  But there are also downsides that no one thinks about when they become Sport Management majors at YCP.  As part of your Intro to Sports Management class I know you talk about the not so glamorous side of sport, and I know that through the internships they experience the both the upside and downside of sport.  But I definitely think that students need to consider the whole picture. 

I am not sure if there is a lesson in it aside from my own self reflection.  If there is anything you can get out of this rambling email than please feel free. 

Clay

You can follow Clay on Twitter (claythera)

Day two of the CSRI Scholarly Conference on College Sport has come and gone.  Today’s sessions were mostly academic research presentations, and I will get to them.  There were two keynote speakers, though.  The first was Dr. John Gerdy (Ohio University), and the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics Luncheon speaker was Dr. Bernie Mullin (The Aspire Group).  Both were informative and took two different approaches.
Dr. Gerdy started the day off talking about how the intercollegiate model of sport has taken on the professional sport model with regards to football and men’s basketball.  He stated the reform in intercollegiate athletics should remain at the Division I level with football and basketball.  Dr. Gerdy also gave some alarming statistics regarding retired NFL players.  He said that two years after retiring from the NFL, 78% of the retirees file for bankruptcy or are under financial stress due to joblessness or divorce.  He went on to say that five years after retirement, 60% of the retirees are broke.  He attributes this to the lack of direction, planning and purpose while the players are in college.  Dr. Gerdy suggests the only way to reform the professional model is to eliminate the scholarship in exchange for a need-based financial aid agreement that is administered outside of the athletic department.
Dr. Mullin compared and contrasted the NBA and college basketball.  He said that that reform is needed in intercollegiate athletics and from the basketball side, a lot could be fixed if the students were forced to stay in college longer, giving them a longer period to grow as basketball players and as adults.  He noted that the players that only stay one year are neither physically or emotionally ready for the NBA.  Dr. Gerdy asked Bernie if it was the NBA’s fault that 60% of NBA retirees are bankrupt after two years.  Dr. Mullin not only said no, but he outlined what the NBA does to prevent it, and went on to say that if they stayed in college longer they would be more mature and learn the skills needed to prepare them for life after college.
I also saw two other interesting presentations. The first was Intercollegiate Athletic Participation and Undergraduate Student Engagement by Dr. Tammy Crawford (Washington State University).   It was an interesting study in terms of not only the types and levels of engagement student athletes had, but some of the statistics were alarming and need more investigation.  The statistic that was most eye-opening to me was this one:

The amount of effort put into the following activity:

Practice

95%

Attending class

73%

Spectator for another sport

47%

Preparing for class

41%

 
It is alarming to see that the student-athletes surveyed put more effort into being a spectator at a sport than preparing for class, but on the other hand they are putting forth a fair amount of effort to attend class.
Dr. Steve Dittmore (University of Arkansas) and Mr. Craig Crow (East Stroudsburg University) did a wonderful job presenting the topic Competitive Balance in the Founding BCS Conferences: Regular and Post Season Implications.  The premise behind the study was to see how competitive balance has changed since the BCS was founded in 1998.  There were two results that stood out to me.  The first was that all six original BCS conferences had an increase in competitive balance since the inception of the BCS in terms of the within-season results.  The second was that the recent conference alignment has positively affected competitive balance in the two most impacted original BCS conferences which are the ACC and the Big East.
The poster session with the YCP students went well as did their case study.  I will find out later if they will advance to the finals later this evening.  Overall, it was a good day.  I will update you tomorrow on the final day of the conference.