Monday, September 21, 2009

It's More Than a Ritual

My name is RJ Thebo and I am a marketing and finance major at Grand Valley State University. I have enjoyed (and suffered) from sports my entire life. Moments like Michigan great Mario Manningham's 2005 last second TD against Penn State have had me jumping around in joy. Or perhaps the Detroit Piston's 2004 heroic upset of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. I have also found myself on the other end of things, such as when the Detroit Tigers had their 2006 World Series meltdown and the NFL found its first ever 0-16 team, my beloved Detroit Lions.

Aside from the personal love and hate I experience with sports, I also believe in the power of sports. I believe in the power of athletes and sports teams to affect communities and cities through outreach. Furthermore, athletes and teams play a profound role in the economy and business world through ticket sales, merchandise sales, and other streams.

Whether you are referring to jersey sales, sports cards, betting lines, or ticket sales is not important. The important factor is that different aspects of sports turn a game, I said a game, into one of the most profitable and analyzed industries in the world. Aside from the influence sports have on personal emotions, they play a pivital role in the jobs and finances of literally millions of people.

While you may want me to keep going, I will save more for a later time. I have chosen ESPN Sports and YAHOO! Sports as my sports news feeds because of their reliability and range of stories covered. I chose DeadSpin as my sports blog because it covers more hype-related stories surrounding athletes and teams . BallHype and Work In Sports are my social media connections. BallHype focuses on interesting off-the-field implications sports play on the industry. Work In Sports is a site dedicated to the outlook of having a career in sports, which is something that interests me. On that note, I am retiring for the day. However, just like Brett Favre and Michael Jordan, it won't be for good...

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