My Expensive Hobby

By now, most people know I am a huge sports fan.  One of the things I love most is getting autographs of my favorite players, mainly Philadelphia Phillies players.  However, I don't discriminate.  If there's a baseball player doing a signing in the area, I do my best to buy a ticket and go.  The best ones though are the free ones.

Once at the signing, I usually have to wait a good while (a few hours or so since I get there early).  Most of the time though I strike up conversations with the people either in front of or behind me.  We talk Phillies, Eagles, upcoming signings, whatever.  The one thing that always creeps into conversations however is what you are going to say to the athlete and how we think the athlete will be.  Based on stories, we know certain athletes hate talking to the fans, while others are the complete opposite.  I've had my fair share of both.

Let's see...where do I start with whom I've met.  I guess I'll start with the first one. This one was special and what got me hooked.  I only regret is that I didn't have a camera that day.  I was at the mall with my mom (my mom is almost always with me on signings so she can get a picture for me...thanks Mom!) and I went into BC Collectibles (where I spend most of my money on these autographs).  I saw a sign that said Brooks Robinson was doing a signing that day.  Well, not know much about who Robinson was, just knowing he was a Hall of Famer, I convinced my mom to let me buy a baseball and wait in line.  After that, I was hooked.

Now the rest of the players I met I don't remember the order, just the stories and the memories.  I'll talk about Aaron Rowand next. He was grumpy the day of his signing but I can't fault the guy.  His signing took place two days after his famous face plant into the center field wall.  He did make small talk and seemed like given any other circumstance, he would have been a fun guy to talk to.  Maybe I can go to San Francisco and meet him now.

Ryan Howard was interesting because I was playing softball the day I met him. There I am standing in line, in a dirty uniform to meet one of my favorite players. He seemed like a pretty shy guy but was more than happy to sign and talk to the fans there to meet him.






                                                                            One of my favorites had to be meeting Chase Utley.  I went to the game earlier in the day and then made it back to Moorestown to meet him.  Even after playing 9 innings, Chase was happy to sign and take pictures.  The only thing I remember saying to him was that he looked graceful tripping over first base. His response was shhh...no one saw that and we both started laughing.

The worst athlete probably had to be Jayson Werth.  It's not surprising why he took the money and went to the Nationals.  This was probably the one I was most excited for up until that time.  I went with my mom and boyfriend to this one.  I was especially excited because it was my 22rd birthday.  I had the Phillies 2008 World Series logo ball and was ready to go.  Werth barely looked up while signing.  All he cared about was the money he was obviously getting paid.  So thanks for nothing Werth.  



One of the most unexpected meetings was with Greg Dobbs.  I was at the mall buying a baseball for the Shane Victorino signing my parents would be going to for me since I would be away at school.  I'm walking out of Modell's and I hear that Dobbs is signing in the center court.  Well of course I had to go.  My only problem...I didn't have a camera.  Luckily Target was next to the mall so I drove over there to buy a disposable one and made it back to the mall in time to meet Dobbs.  Even though he is a Marlin now, he is still one of my favorite players, and one of the nicest ones I've met.

Cole Hamels was another interesting one.  He showed up talking on his cell phone.  When I saw that I thought he's gonna be a complete jerk.  I was wrong.  He really didn't say much to me because he was still laughing at the girl in front of me.  It wasn't a bad laugh. It was one of those oh I feel bad for her.  She waited all that time to meet him and then froze when she met him. I felt bad for her.

For Christmas last year, I convinced my parents to buy me a ticket for the Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz signing.  Neither one really said much.  Since it was a morning signing and they had a game later that night I said good luck to each.  Hearing Chooch say thanks in English was probably the highlight of my year. 

I was also about to get a few autographs for free.  These were at store openings.  The first was Ryan Madson.  He was awesome.  The day before he was on Preston & Steve's radio show so I was talking to him about that.  He agrees with alot of us Philly people.  They're the best.  The second free autograph I got was Placido Polanco.  He was nice, but you could hardly hear anything because they had him under a tent right next to the speaker they had set up. 

I don't just go for Phillies autographs.  I have a few Eagles ones as well.  I was able to meet both A.J. Feely and Brent Celek.  Feely's was a lot better than Celek.  Celek's was a free one, and again, while he took the time to take a picture with everyone, I feel like he was just doing it for the money.  Feely on the other hand, was so nice.  He was one of my favorites. 

My favorite autograph signing however, wasn't even a Philadephia athlete. It was Cal Ripken Jr.  I begged my parents to buy me this ticket for my 23rd birthday.  As usual, they came through again for me.  I met fun people in line who I talked to while we waited.  Once the time came to meet Ripken Jr, he was awesome. That's the best way to describe it. He made jokes, happily signed, and made small talk.  And after each person in the small group received their autograph, he stood up and we went back through so we were able to get a picture with him.  He definitely made my 24rd birthday alot better than Werth made my 22nd. 

I also have autographs from Milt Thompson and Greg Luzinski (sp?).  While I would love to add the remaining three autographs to have a complete "Four Horsemen" set, I am happy with the autographs I do have and the memories I made while getting them.

That's what I'm afraid of. "Not being enough. Not good enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough."

This quote was said by Sophia Bush's character Brooke Davis on One Tree Hill.  I must admit, that is one of my favorite shows, along with NCIS.  I found this quote on twitter and it made me start thinking.   This is how I feel about my own life, maybe just not the latter part.

I worry all the time that my boyfriend will leave me.  I am always wondering why he's with me when there are so many other girls he could be with.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough for him.  And then I start thinking am I a good daughter?  What if I'm not a good enough friend?

With school I wonder if I'm good enough to graduate in a few weeks with my masters.  Am I good enough to get a job? What if I am good enough to get a job, but not smart enough to actually handle the job?

I feel like this quote just opens up a whole lot of what if questions. And to be honest, I'm not sure if I'm ready to answer those questions or not.

As for the last part, I'm a tomboy.  I've never felt pretty.  I'm more comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt than I am in a skirt and high heels.  I will dress up when I need to, but only for the amount of time I need to wear it.  My boyfriend all the time tells me to be more girly, and I try, for him.  But I'm not comfortable with that because that's not who I am.  And while he always tells me how pretty and beautiful I am, there's always a part of me that doesn't believe him.  I guess that's because I was always made fun of growing up. I've had to wear glasses since I was in second grade, braces in eighth grade didn't help either.  I never really had a boyfriend until now either.  Somehow my boyfriend fell in love with me. For that I am lucky.

While I sit here and question whether I am good enough for anything, I know in the back of my mind I am.  People took a chance with me, offering me a job, accepting me into grad school, going out with me, being my friend for all these years, etc.  It is with the help of all these people who make me believe I am good enough.  Instead of sitting here writing and thinking about how I am not good enough, I need to get out there and show people I am good enough.  I also need to prove to myself I am pretty enough.  As long as my boyfriend believes I am, I guess that's all I need.  It doesn't matter what other people think.  Heck, it only matters what I think.

I know I am good enough and smart enough. I'm working on being pretty enough.

Trying to Relive the Undergrad Experience

I bought my cap and gown today.  In a little over a month it will be goodbye life I know (you know, the one where I'm always in school) and hello life that I'm scared of.  Well, I don't want to start stressing over the future, so in this post, I want to talk about my experience as an undergrad.

When I started looking at colleges the summer between my junior and senior years in high school (to those that don't know, I went to Gloucester Catholic), the first campus I looked at was York College of PA.  Everyone talks about how you don't find love at first sight, we'll they're wrong.  This was love at first sight.  Even though campus was closed due to the Fourth of July holiday, I knew that was where I belonged.  It didn't matter what other campuses I looked at.  No offense to the other campuses I looked at (including Lynchburg, Catawba, Pheiffer, Gardner-Webb, and High Point), made me feel like I was at home.  It didn't matter that no one was there.  The only thing I could do was picture my official visit to campus and what it would be like with people there.

Well, September rolls around and I go for my official visit.  The admissions officer gave my parents and I a tour and asked what my major would be when standing behind the MACC building (or as it's known today Wolff Hall).  I responded with Sports Management.  He replied with well, all your classes will be on West Campus which is down this road.  I never even saw what West Campus looked like.  All I knew was that would be where most of my classes would be and YCP was building a new gym.

I finally made it through my Senior year and the summer of parties and saying goodbyes to my friends, who really became like sisters and brothers to me (and yes, I still feel the same way about you guys!).  I moved out to York to live on campus and instantly became close friends with my roommate.  While I can't say how others fared with their roommates, I missed mine when she decided to transfer after the first semester. I then moved in with other friends I had made throughout my first year and lived with them for the next two and a half years until I moved home my last semester to do an internship.  The main thing I learned living with people was if you have issues with someone, talk to them and don't blame others.  Also, living with five other females is a hard thing to do.  I probably would never live with more than two females ever again in my life.

While I want to relive my undergrad days, its not the living and the friendships and all that fun stuff I want to reflect on.  No, it's the classes and the professors I had who challenged me.  Without them, I never would have made it to where I am today (although I am currently unemployed, without the work ethic that was instilled in me, I never would have been able to survive these last two years of grad school).

One thing students entering the sport management program at York is that they will be required to do practicum.  There was four total, one each semester of your first two years.  This is where I got the hands on experience. My first semester I was working in the old Wolff Gymnasium's fitness center.  Unlike today, we just sat there and made sure students showed their IDs to get in.  The cardio room was down the hall and no one was really there to make sure anyone was okay.  Second semester, I got to work with different sports teams.  Lax still played on the old soccer field near the Manors and the creek, so I got to chase balls and retrieve them from the water. Luckily, I only had to work one lax game.  The rest of the time I was at swim meets making sure times were recorded, or working softball events. These were my favorite since I grew up playing softball and new the team since I tried out and didn't make it.

My last two practicums were in the Grumbacher Sport and Fitness Center, YCP's new gym.  What a difference two...new state of the art pool, rock wall, basketball courts, field house, you name it, the new gym had it.  Here I was able to work the different desks (main desk watching people swipe their IDs to get in, west desk greeting people as they came in for sporting events, and the equipment desk handing out equipment to be used and washing sports teams laundry).  At the end of my practicum experience, I was hired to work their full time.  My last practicum I was still able to work at the Grum and shadowed the building supervisors to see how the facility operated.

Let's start with first semester freshman year.  This is when I took the basic core classes all freshman are required to take, along with the introductory sport management class.  This is also where I first started hearing the stories from upper classmen about Dr. Newman.  The one thing I thought was don't take a class with him unless you absolutely have too, and even then, wait until the last possible minute. The class I had was with Dr. Cindy Lee, who is now teaching at West Virginia University I believe.  She made the class challenging, but what I learned was that in a class full of men (I was the only female) I had to hold my own ground and believe in myself.  That class was where I gained most of my self confidence.  Without Dr. Lee's class, I never would have been able to understand what I was getting myself into. 

Second semester, I had History and Philosophy of Sport with Prof. Achtzehn.  This wasn't the most exciting class I had at YCP, but it was one of the most fun.  It gave me an insight of where sports came from.  The one project I remember doing was a paper on an athlete.  I remember Prof. Achtzehn gave us the topic and mine was Billie Jean King.  I can't tell you what I got on the paper, but I know it helped me learned how she influenced not only tennis, but women's sports.
 
Sophomore year came around and I was stilling living on main campus, quite a walk from West Campus where I was spending all of my time now thanks in part to classes and practicum.  This semester I took Sport in Society with Prof. Klinedinst (Dr. Klinedinst now as she received her doctorate in Spring 2008) and Sport Behavior with Dr. Grove.  Sport in Society is pretty self explanatory but it was fun.  There's pretty much one thing about every class that I remember.  For this class, it was a presentation I did about sports in the media.  My presentation included youtube videos of Terrell Owens.  This was around the time his problems with the Philadelphia Eagles started and the local media interviewed him while he was doing situps in his driveway.  Thank you T.O. for being a perfect example for me.  Sport Behavior was interesting because it gave us the psychological view of how athletes operate so to say.  While I loved Dr. Grove (especially her country line dancing class) this was probably my least favorite class because psychology wasn't a favorite topic of mine.

My fourth semester Sport Admin with Dr. Lee.  I really don't remember much about this class, just that we had a group project and I found the class really frustrating. 

I took Sport Marketing with Dr. Newman in the Fall of 2007.  Here's where I thought all those previous stories I heard came true.  Well, they did.  But I don't regret it one bit.  Dr. Newman is the toughest professor I ever had (including grad school).  He demands the best efforts of his students and won't accept anything less.  He prepares you for the real world, which at the time I could have cared less, but now I am forever grateful.  In this class, we were put into groups and given mini assignments, such as increasing attendance at sporting events on campus, and a major project, coming up with a marketing plan for a real organization.  And in each case, he gives only one A.  The main lesson I learned here was from our first mini project. Even though my group had the best ideas, we weren't on the same page when checking over our work.  We completely forgot to put one group member's name on it and decided to tape his name on.  You better believe Dr. Newman called us out on it.  This is where the start of real world experience came in. We had to sell tickets to a Hershey Bears game and work on putting together a golf tournament for the following semester. 

Christmas break allowed me to recover from my first run with Dr. Newman and mentally prepare myself for Sport PR. This time around we were finishing up with last minute details for the golf tournament and working on our semester long project, putting on a press conference.  While I am still morning the loss of my team, which Dr. Newman killed off during our crisis situations, we were able to learn with more real world experience. I think everyone's favorite part of the press conferences though is the food we get to eat afterward.  The only down side is PR classes are in the morning.

I was also taking Facility and Event Management this semester with Massa.  This was a fun class because we got to go to different facilities for a tour and write about what they were doing, both good and bad, and take pictures of unsafe areas. (Note to future students: everyone takes a picture of the sidewalks between Main and West campuses, after about the first 2 presenters, it gets old).  Another real world experience we got to do was in procuring equipment.  While we didn't actually have to buy it, we were able to go through and research, make suggestions, and pick out what we thought was best.


In the summer I took the 3 week mini-mester finance class with Dr. Newman.  If you want to pass, this is probably your best bet.  It won't be easy though.  You're cramming an entire semester into three weeks.  Expect to work your butt off and not be satisified with the results of the daily quiz.  No matter how much you study, it won't help.  I don't want to discourage you, but it's reality.

I'm now entering my last semester on campus.  At this point I was finally able to take another class with Prof. Massa, this time was Sport Law.  If you ever want to just sit down and talk to someone in the sport industry, Massa is the guy to go to.  Every class he started with a different story.  This was class was fun because we got to see the legal side of it.  Without this class, I probably wouldn't understand what is going on with the NFL labor agreement.  This class wasn't always the most enjoyable, but Massa did his best.

My very last semester was my internship and ethics class.  Internships you can have any of the professors as your advisor.  Just because you sign up for one, doesn't mean you'll get that one though.  I think they base it off who's in certain regions.  But ethics, you get to have Dr. Newman.  Just because this class is only, doesn't mean you can take it lightly.  I thought Dr. Newman was tougher in this class than the previous classes I had with him.

While I haven't been backt been back to campus since I graduated in 2009, I hear YCP is expanding.  I know the Sport Management department has lost some faculty and gained new members.  While I can't talk about the new faculty, I will bet my life that they are the best at what they are doing.  I will never regret the hard work demanded of me from my professors.  They want you to succeed, not only in the classroom but in the real world as well.

While I don't want to ruin Dr. Newman's reputation, get to know him outside of the classroom and start talking to him as a freshman.  And make sure to participate as much as you can in his classes. I actually regret not taking one of his classes sooner (at the time he was also teaching Sport Admin). I loved the professors I had at YCP, not just the ones I mentioned for SPM, but all the ones I had.  They are all available for you whenever you need to talk to someone.  My advisor was Dr. Grove, but I knew that if I needed something I could go to any of the professors in the department.

I didn't know what to expect going into this as a freshman, but two years after leaving, I wish I could go back.  The sports industry is always on the move.  I only wish I could be in McKay Hall Second Floor now with the faculty and students discussing what is going on with the NFL.  I also want to thank all the professors for the sincere efforts in pushing me to the limits, not only educationally, but mentally as well (and by this I mean crisis situations at 3 am, marketing plans, press conferences, EPAs, and everything else I wish I could forget but can't!).  Without you, I never would be where I am today, both professionally (and by that I mean I know I'm prepared once I graduated next month) and personally (knowing that I have the confidence to do what I can do).  Also, thank you for being a friend when I needed one.