Unfortunately, this isn’t the landmark moment that will shift the debate of sexuality in sports for good. Jason Collins simply isn’t a big enough personality on, or off the court to make that happen.

Those who had never heard of the Stanford graduate before Monday didn’t necessarily care that he played in just 38 games last season, averaging 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds-per-game. They didn’t know that he was traded from Boston to Washington in February for Jason Crawford, nor do they care that he was a member of Stanford’s 1998 NCAA Final Four team, and the Nets 2002 and 2003 NBA Finals teams.

They just care that he said the words.

Collins becomes the first male athlete actively engaged in a major professional U.S. league to officially come out of the closet. It doesn’t mean that he’s the first gay athlete on the planet (there are plenty) and given his current status as a part-time role player, he probably won’t face the same scrutiny that others have faced before him.

And you don’t need to utter the words ‘I’m gay’ to receive said scrutiny.

For instance, Collins isn’t walking into the same lion’s den that figure skater Johnny Weir had to endure during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. The three-time U.S. Figure Skating champion didn’t officially come out until 2011, but left little doubt to anyone who had met, watched, or even heard of him.

Weir was the first male athlete to show up at the Olympics and admit to the press that he wasn’t going to stop acting ‘princessy.’ He did an interview with ESPN’s Jim Caple, while getting a mani-pedi. He was one of the first in history to have his influence on a Will Ferrell movie toned down instead of toned up. They needed a straight romantic subplot for Jon Heder’s character in ‘Blades of Glory.’

And life was grand after Weir had the best short program of his life, finishing second and setting a personal best after the first night of competition at the Olympics. When the magic wore off 48 hours later and a disastrous free skate led to a fifth place finish, everything that could be associated with being a loud, proud, gender-bender reared its ugly head … including the death threats. All in front of a larger television audience than any NBA Finals game in recent memory.

Weir’s Olympic nightmare won’t happen to Collins, but it could happen to other, more notable athletes who decide to follow suit. Those who compete with the game on the line, are used as marketing fodder to sell tickets, individuals who are more than a chapter book of sports clichés when dealing with the press.

Ironically enough, the backlash Collins may eventually face won’t have anything to do with his sexuality. With the offseason looming, the seven-footer just became the NBA’s most intriguing free agent since LeBron James in 2010 … and for all the wrong reasons.

If others don’t follow in Collins’ groundbreaking footsteps, the story will no longer be about a man and his struggle with his personal identity. Much like James gave us ‘The Decision’ a few years back, Collins could prove to be the perfect sideshow during a midsummer TV dry spell. If you thought the coverage of Tim Tebow’s every move was insufferable, this could be worse. Much worse.

What if Collins were to sign with the Miami Heat, a 12th man on a team writing its script as an NBA dynasty? How many top stories centered around Instagram photos of Collins and the new ‘Big Three’ will appear? Where will reporters go to offer minute-by-minute updates? Will there be TV segments dedicated to discussing if those who cheer against the Heat are homophobic?

As wild as it seems, this is already happening, mere hours into what should have been a new era for tolerance in professional sports. If equality for everyone in a locker room regardless of race, gender or sexuality means creating a media circus that becomes bigger than the team, what’s the point and who does it help?

And if that happens, there isn’t enough in Jason Collins’ game to shift the conversation back to the hardwood, where it needs to be. We want to root for the guy, but if he ends up playing six minutes of garbage time and garners 60 minutes of postgame coverage, most of us will be rooting for him to get off the screen.

Just like Tim Tebow.

Comment below on how you see Collins’ decision impacting the NBA and other leagues. Join the conversation on Facebook and send us a tweet @SprortsNetworker

The post Jason Collins Breaks the Silence appeared first on Sports Networker.

Are you pursuing a career in sports media, broadcasting or journalism?

Do you dream of becoming the next on-air talent like Tracy Wolfson interviewing college football coaches on CBS? Or maybe you want to be Jim Nantz and Verne Lundquist calling NCAA Tournaments games? Or how about Craig Sager strolling NBA sidelines interviewing the likes of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Russell Westbrook (hopefully you’ll be sporting a better wardrobe than Craig)?

If this sounds like your DREAM JOB IN SPORTS, then let’s get your sports career kickstarted as the NEXT Sports Executives Association LIVE Q&A CO-HOST!

What Is The SEA And Who Will You Interview?

The Sports Executives Association is a new place to learn from industry pros, advance your sports career and build a more powerful network. Part of the value we provide our SEA members is in giving them access to top sports professionals every 2 weeks via a LIVE video streaming service called Spreecast.

Some of our past SEA LIVE Q&A guests include Tiki Barber (Founder of Thuzio.com), Darren Heitner (Founder of SportsAgentBlog.com and Forbes.com Contributing Author), Craig Pintens (Senior Associate Athletic Director of Marketing/PR at the University of Oregon). And, future guests include Kristi Dosh (Sports Business Reporter at ESPN), Justin Schulman (Sports Agent – Athletes First Sports Agency) and many more big names in sports business to be announced soon!

As our SEA LIVE Q&A Co-Host, you will be responsible for interviewing our guests via LIVE VIDEO, fielding audience questions and engaging with our LIVE audience via interactive chat.  You will work directly with our SEA Production Team to ensure that we deliver top quality content for our SEA Members.

How Can You Become Our Next Co-Host?

We are looking for an ambitious, outgoing personality that wants to fine tune their interviewing skills while expanding their network in the sports industry.

If you are looking for experience and exposure in your pursuit to become the next sideline reporter for the NFL or a sports news anchor with ESPN, then this opportunity is one that you don’t want to miss out on.

Video Application Rules

1. Record a 60-90 second video including the following:
   1. Tell us your name and educational background?
   2. Tell us why you are passionate about sports?
   3. Tell us what your dream job in sports would be?
   4. Tell us your favorite moment in sports history?
   5. Tell us why we should choose you as the NEXT SEA LIVE Q&A Co-Host?
2. Upload your video to Youtube with the following information included:
   1. Video Title: I Want To Be The NEXT Sports Executives Association Co-Host
   2. Video Description: Include this link at the start of your description (http://sportsexec.net/live), describe your video submission and be sure to include information on how people can connect with you (Website, Twitter, Linkedin, etc).
3. Submit your video application by posting it on our Sports Networker Facebook Fan Page and/or by sending us a tweet to @SportsNetworker
   1. Get your friends/family/classmates/colleagues to help promote your entry.  The more buzz you make online the better!

If you have any questions about how to enter, please email support@sportsexec.net

*Please note that this is an unpaid internship that requires a passion for the sports industry, tireless hustle, attention to details and the ability to meet all deadlines.. You will be provided with training that will help you excel in this position.  And, of course, you will gain the experience that you need to separate yourself from your competition in your pursuit of your dream job in sports!

The post Who Will Be The Next Sports Executives Association LIVE Q&A Co-Host? appeared first on Sports Networker.

He was then a key part of one of the most remarkable sporting comebacks in history, when Europe fought back from down 10-6 to defeat USA on American soil, on the final day of the 2012 Ryder Cup.

But since the start of this year, he has struggled to maintain the type of form that put him at the top of the rankings.

However, his recent performance at Doral, where he tied for eighth, although still not ideal, hinted at a return to form. And a return of form could not come soon enough, with the Masters just around the corner.

So what exactly would a victory at Augusta mean for Rory McIlroy?

A Return to Form

It may seem a little obvious, but there is no better way to cast aside your doubters than by winning a major tournament. The best athletes find their form when it matters most, and the Masters definitely falls into that category. A win at Augusta would also mean that McIlroy has finally adjusted to his new clubs. Much has been said about his recent switch in sponsorship to Nike, and many have pointed to that as a reason for his recent slump. Whether the problem is with his clubs or his swing, he will definitely put any of those doubts to bed with a win like this one.

History

A victory for Rory McIlroy would be the first time that the Masters has seen a British winner since almost two decades ago, when Nick Faldo won in 1996. The Masters is also an American-dominated tournament. Out of the 76 total tournaments, only 19 have been won by non-Americans. A win for McIlroy would allow him to make history in his own country, as well as stamp his name in the history of the tournament.

A Third Major

A win at the Masters would also allow McIlroy to join a select group of golfers who have won three majors. It would surely raise his hopes of joining an even more exclusive group of career grand slam winners – a group that currently only includes five golfers in the Masters Era. The British Open would be the only remaining title required, and how sweet would it be for McIlroy to complete the grand slam just a stone’s throw away from his native Northern Ireland?

He Beat Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods seems to have returned to at exactly the right time, and has made himself the clear favorite to take home the Green Jacket this April. If anyone else hopes to even have a chance, the man to beat will be Tiger Woods. McIlroy has benefitted from Woods’ crisis perhaps more than anyone else, but a win for him at the Masters would prove that he is a golf legend in his own right, and he would finally be able to step out from Tiger’s shadow.

A Knighthood?

His name, officially, is Rory McIlroy, MBE. In the  2012 New Years’ Honours list, McIlroy was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) by the Queen. Would a win at the Masters see him win a Knighthood? Perhaps not, but he can expect an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) or CBE (Commander of the British Empire) at the very least. And we might yet see Sir Rory McIlroy in the future.

Phil Oscarson is an avid golfer/golf analyst. He loves talking about golf almost as much as he loves playing it. If you’re looking to improve your golf game wherever you are, you can always find discount golf tee times at a course near you. Keep up with Phil on his google plus page, and don’t hesitate to tell him when he’s wrong. Which is more often than he’d like!

Comment below and make sure to like our Facebook page and send us a tweet @SportsNetworker

The post What Will a Victory at the Masters Mean for Rory McIlroy? appeared first on Sports Networker.

Let’s take a look at the best colleges for serious sports fans.

All of the ten colleges highlighted will not only cater to the sports fan, but will also deliver a killer education – as according to their ranking on the Forbes list of the best 650 American Colleges.

Top Colleges for Serious Sports Fans

Stanford University (Stanford, CA) – Rank: 3

Not only is Stanford ranked in the top three American colleges, its 8,000 acre campus (fondly known as “The Farm”) is centrally located amid the three major metropolises of the Bay Area and their respective top-tier sports teams. Stanford boasts its own 50,000 capacity stadium, meaning that students won’t have to go far to catch some serious sporting action. Notable past events include the Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup events. Perhaps the only thing to be wary of is the quarter of a million dollars in tuition fees.

Duke University (Durham, NC) – Rank: 24

Occupying a spot in the top 25 American colleges is Duke University in North Carolina. Many of the more than 15,000 enrolled students are die-hard NCAA fans. The Duke Blue Devils (taking their name from WWI French aerial soldiers) comprises no less than 26 varsity sports teams including serious contenders in basketball, golf, and tennis.

Boston College (Chestnut Hill, MA) – Rank: 26

Nipping at the heels of Duke in terms of the Forbes rankings is Boston College in Massachusetts. Occupying a still very respectable ranking at number 26, this college, colloquially known as “The Heights” is the perfect choice for Red Sox fans. The college teams, the BC Eagles, compete in NCAA Division I-A athletics. Other residential colleges in the city provide a healthy dose of competition with equally strong athletic programs.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC) – Rank: 47

With a large student population of almost 30,000, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill caters well for sports fans. The college sports teams, affectionately known as “Tar Heels” compete in a range of sports including soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball. Successes include the 2011 College Cup for men’s soccer and five NCAA basketball champions trophies. Outside of the college leagues, North Carolina has played host to major sporting events including the Special Olympics World Games, the U.S. Open golf tournaments (both men’s and women’s), and the U.S. Olympic Festival.

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) – Rank 57

Ranked number 57 of the 650 best American colleges, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor fields several teams in the NCAA Division I-A and also in intramural sports. Sports fans wishing to pursue a career in the world of sports management may choose to study the sports management/business dual degree.

Villanova University (Villanova, PA) – Rank 83

Established in 1842, Villanova University has fielded athletes in every Summer Olympics Games since way back in 1948, producing more than 60 Olympians in total. University teams compete in the NCAA and the intramurals, allowing the almost 11,000 students to choose their preferred level of participation.

University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) – Rank 95

With a student population of almost 40,000, it’s hardly surprising that the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has fielded more students in the Olympic Games than any other educational institution in the world. College teams compete in NCAA Division I-A athletics. Its enviable location close to the beach and professional sports venues affords USC students with an array of opportunities to follow off-campus sports. A degree in sports Journalism is offered to those students wishing to turn their love of sports into a future career.

New York University (New York, NY) – Rank 97

Just making it into the top 100 best American colleges is New York University. School teams compete in NCAA Division III. Those who want to cheer on higher ranked sports will love the school’s close proximity to Madison Square Gardens. Follow the trials and tribulations of the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, Liberty Basketball, WWE, and of course the boxing.

University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX) – Rank 104

Narrowly missing out on a top 100 spot, the University of Texas at Austin fields sporting teams (known as Longhorns) in Division I-A athletics (and was once awarded the top spot in a ranking of Division I athletic programs by Sports Illustrated magazine). There’s a distinct sporting vibe among students, with a reported 90% participating in RecSports activities. UT has claimed more titles in Big 12 Conference sports than any other college. That’s a lot of titles to cheer home.

University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) – Rank 133

Ranked 133 out of 650 top American colleges, the University of Colorado in Boulder boasts close proximity to some of the nation’s best ski destinations, making it a serious contender for fans of winter sports. School teams compete in NCAA Division I-A athletics.

Students will spend four years of their lives attending college, so it makes sense for the sports fan to choose a college where they can not only gain their degree, but also be well placed to follow their favourite teams. With colleges of this calibre, there’s no need to sacrifice academic credentials in the pursuit of sport.

Comment below with schools you think would be great for sports fans. Send us a tweet and a follow @SportsNetworker

The post The Top Ten Colleges for Serious Sports Fans appeared first on Sports Networker.

It’s that time of year again.

Thanksgiving is a day away and Christmas is right around the corner.

But, in the meantime, the thing that should be on everyone’s mind is Black Friday — that special day where millions of Americans go bizerk trying to find the perfect gift for the whole family.

This year, how about getting that young sports business professional in your family something to read that will help take his or her career to the next level?

Don’t have any clue where to look? Not sure what books are worthwhile?

At Sports Networker, we’ve compiled a list of 30 books that will be sure to advance your loved one’s sports career.

Sports Business Books

Money Games: Profiting from the Convergence of Sports and Entertainment

• Author: David Carter
• Star Rating: 4.8
• Reviews: 4
• Price: $17.84

In recent years, the rapid convergence of sports and entertainment has been key to the sports business industry’s continued growth and financial success. Money Games not only analyzes how industry stakeholders have monetized this convergence, but also provides readers with answers to this core question: how can the sports business continue to profit from the blurring of sports and entertainment?

Author David M. Carter considers a wide array of implications for television content, video gaming, athlete branding, the Internet, mobile technology, gambling, sports-anchored real estate development, venue technology, and corporate marketing—in short, those areas where business opportunities exist now that sports and entertainment have become one.

How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It

• Author: Mark Cuban
• Star Rating: 4.5
• Reviews: 77
• Price: $4.74

Mark Cuban shares his wealth of experience and business savvy in his first published book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, available now only as an e-book. Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, he has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur.

Cuban tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends’ couches to owning his own company and becoming a multi-billion dollar success story. His unconventional yet highly effective ideas on how to build a successful business offer entrepreneurs at any stage of their careers a huge edge over their competitors.

The Business of Sports Agents, 2nd Edition

• Author: Kenneth L. Shropshire
• Star Rating: 4.5
• Reviews: 7
• Price: $28.46

The legendary Charles C. “Cash and Carry” Pyle, considered by most to be the first sports agent, negotiated a $3,000-per-game contract for Red Grange to play professional football for the Chicago Bears in 1933. Today, salaries in the tens of millions of dollars are commonplace, and instead of theatrical promoters and impresarios, professionally trained businessmen and lawyers dominate the business. But whereas rules and penalties govern the playing field, there are far fewer restrictions on agents. Incidents of agents’ manipulating athletes, ranging from investment scams to outright theft of a player’s money, are far too frequent, and there is growing consensus for reform

In The Business of Sports Agents, Kenneth L. Shropshire and Timothy Davis, experts in the fields of sports business and law, examine the history of the sports agent business and the rules and laws developed to regulate the profession. They also consider recommendations for reform, including uniform laws that would apply to all agents, redefining amateurism in college sports, and stiffening requirements for licensing agents.

Sports Marketing Books

Sports Marketing, 3rd Edition

• Author: Bernard Mullin
• Star Rating: 4
• Reviews: 6
• Price: $51.99

Sport Marketing, Third Edition, the latest version of the leading sport marketing text, directs students to a better understanding of the theoretical backbone that makes sport marketing such a unique and vibrant subject to study. The text has been thoroughly updated with a comprehensive ancillary package, new examples and perspectives from the field, and the latest information about marketing in the burgeoning sport industry.

Using real-world examples and an engaging writing style, the distinguished authors provide valuable new material about key areas in sport marketing that prepares students for careers in the industry.

The Ultimate Guide to Sports Marketing

• Author: Stedman Graham
• Star Rating: 4
• Reviews: 3
• Price: $24.73

Sports marketing is heralded as one of the most prestigious, exciting, and popular fields in contemporary marketing. The number of related programs in colleges and universities has exploded, and companies tied with sports marketing handle thousands of avid career hopefuls each year.

The Ultimate Guide to Sports Marketing is the first book to go behind the scenes and outline a strategic, integrated approach to effective and innovative sports marketing. Completely revised and repackaged to provide detailed strategies on entering the sports marketing field, acquiring funding, managing event logistics and more, this comprehensive guide covers a wide range of topics including: – Use of the Internet as a sports marketing tool – Negotiations and contracts with sponsors and suppliers – Specifics of licensing deals.

Sports Finance Books

Financial Management in the Sport Industry

• Author: Matthew T. Brown
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 2
• Price: $53.62

This book provides readers with an understanding of sport finance and the importance of sound financial management in the sport industry. It begins by covering finance basics and the tools and techniques of financial quantification, using relevant sport examples. It then goes beyond the basics to show how financial management works in the industry–how decisions are made to ensure wealth maximization. Discussions include time value of money, capital budgeting, facility financing, economic impact, and risk and return. The final part of the book focuses on three sport industry sectors–parks and recreation, collegiate athletics, and professional sport–providing in-depth analysis of financial management within each sector.

Throughout, sidebars, case studies, concept checks, and financial problems enable thorough study and practice. Readers learn to apply, and see how sport managers apply, sport financial management principles in real-life situations. Altogether, it offers a good balance of first presenting background information on financial management and then spending the majority of its pages focusing on these concepts in a sport-specific context.

Sports Sponsorship Books

The Sponsorship Handbook: Essential Tools, Tips and Techniques for Sponsors and Sponsorship Seekers

• Author: Pippa Collett
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $36.85

The Sponsorship Handbook is a practical guide to sponsorship aimed at practitioners both working for sponsoring companies and those searching for sponsorship.Using the tools, techniques, advice and best practice advocated in this book both sponsors and sponsor seekers will benefit from better servicing and activation once a sponsorship is implemented, with metrics that enable data-based accountability rather than hearsay.

Sports Media Books

The Best American Sports Writing 2012

• Author: Glenn Stout
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $10.17

The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites.

A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected — and most popular — of its kind.

Sports Broadcasting Books

Starting Your Career in Broadcasting: Working On and Off the Air in Radio and Television

• Author: Chris Schneider
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $15.17

Starting Your Career in Broadcasting is the complete guide to breaking into this competitive field–and staying there. It’s packed with advice from top personalities including Bob Costas, Chris Berman, Larry King, Jim Lampley, Bob Kingsley, Rene Syler, Troy Aikman, plus station managers and other broadcasting pros, all sharing stories of how they got their start in broadcasting. Often hilarious, sometimes moving, always insightful, these anecdotes offer first-hand guidance on making the right career choices.

Chapters explore specific on-air and behind-the-scenes jobs; broadcasting schools and what they teach; what news and program directors seek in job applicants; tips for being effective on the air; how an aspiring broadcaster can buy airtime; weathering the ups and downs of a competitive industry; and much more.

No Pants Required: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Television Sports Broadcasting

• Author: Mark Meisenheimer
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $14.00

“You get paid to watch games, and you’re on television? What a life you must have!”

Yes, on the surface television sportscasting seems like a dream job. You’re rubbing elbows with well-known athletes and even enjoying a certain celebrity status of your own. But it also involves a great deal of sacrifice. Would you move to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, or the Quad Cities in Iowa to cover high school sports and junior college athletics? Mark Meisenheimer takes you to the small markets, introducing you to the men and women who have worked their way up the broadcast ladder.

Truth is stranger (and often more entertaining) than fiction, and No Pants Required proves it. Whether you have sportscasting aspirations of your own or you’re simply a fan, you’ll love this insider’s look at the industry.

Sports Networker Author Books

Ultimate Webinar Marketing Guide

• Author: Lewis Howes
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 47
• Price: $9.00

In four years, Lewis Howes went from sleeping on his sister’s couch to earning 7 figures because one webinar showed him a new way to market his business. One webinar. Wow! Lewis is an excellent example of the inspiration and innovation we strive to support at Citrix. Our goal is to provide powerful, simple-to-use solutions that enable people to share their ideas with anyone, from anywhere.

So when Lewis came to us with the idea to write a book on webinars, we were thrilled. Who better to show the value of “anyone, anywhere” connections than the guy who started hosting webinars with a buddy in a basement and within a few years had built a million-dollar business? Lewis did it by using the convenient format of webinars to connect with his customers wherever they are, to have conversations about what matters to them most and to provide actionable information they can immediately put to use.

LinkedWorking: Generating Success on LinkedIn

• Author: Lewis Howes/Frank Agin
• Star Rating: 4.5
• Reviews: 19
• Price: $13.41

Are you looking to parlay the whole online social networking thing into greater success? LinkedIn Works … It actually works incredibly well. For those who know how to harness the power of this Internet phenomenon, it opens the door to amazing opportunities, a world of new contacts and a plethora of potential success.

If you want to take advantage of LinkedIn there are no secrets … no tricks … no magic. The key is to simply approach this online experience in the same manner as you network in the real world. In LinkedWorking, a networking expert and a LinkedIn guru join forces to show you how you can … Position yourself on LinkedIn to capitalize on extraordinary opportunities … Identify connections in LinkedIn that will generate remarkable additional contacts for you. LinkedWorking … it will revolutionize how you network online.

Get in the Game: The Ultimate Game Plan for Transition to College to Career

• Author: Matt Crevin
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 3
• Price: $9.99

ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT PURSUING A CAREER IN SPORTS BUT NOT A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE? There is more than one way to have a fulfilling career in sports. Career search coach and Public Relations veteran, Matt Crevin merged his love of sports and his business acumen and made it a career that began with his “rookie” public relations internship for the San Francisco 49ers in 1991. With wisdom, humor and insight, through Matt’s personal stories and industry insider interviews Get in the Game offers a wake-up call for sports industry hopefuls and reminds us there are job in sports beyond being an athlete and job search strategies that work best.

Whether you’re a young professional just starting your career, or planning a transition from another field into a role in sports and media, Get in the Game provides the opportunity to learn from the insiders and develop a game plan for launching your career in the sports industry.

Hot Dogs, A Little Marketing, and A Lot of Fun

• Author: Mike Rudd
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 11
• Price: $9.99

Hot Dogs, A Little Marketing, and A Lot of Fun is Mike Rudd’s debut book and is about how every job you have gives you the ability to learn what you truly want to do with the rest of your life and have a career, business, or job that you love every day! Hot Dogs were Mike’s gateway to discover what he really wanted in this world. Hot dogs taught Mike to never work a job that he didn’t love and to passionately believe in what he represents and to never settle for anything else.

Mike believes every single one of us has a hot dog stand inside of them. Somewhere passion and motivation are yearning to come out of all of us, and once you find it there is no telling everything you are going to be able to accomplish and feel satisfaction from in life. And that is what Hot Dogs, A Little Marketing, and A Lot of Fun will show you how to do!

I Got My Dream Job and So Can You: 7 Steps to Creating Your Ideal Career After College

• Author: Pete Leibman
• Star Rating: 4.5
• Reviews: 8
• Price: $11.47

Recent graduates looking to enter the workforce face a discouraging job market and stiff competition for even the most entry-level positions. Yet with the right attitude and strategies, they can break into any organization in any industry and start climbing the ladder to success. When he was only 21 years old, Pete Leibman landed his “dream job,” working in the front office of the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He went on to be their #1 salesperson for three straight seasons and was promoted to management in under two years. In “I Got My Dream Job and So Can You”, Leibman shares his proven and simple system for career success.

Career hopefuls will also find inspiring stories of other young professionals, creative strategies for leveraging social media in the job-search process, and the 5 secrets that will skyrocket their earning potential once they are hired. In short, all the information they need to land the job of their dreams-in any economy.

Sports Management Books

Foundations of Sports Management

• Author: Andy Gillentine
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 1
• Price: $51.83

The exciting and dynamic nature of today’s sport industry has sparked career interest from an ever-growing number of students. To meet the demand for quality sport management education, “Foundations of Sport Management” is designed to offer undergraduate students a stimulating introductory view of the skills and information necessary for a career in the sport industry. Topics covered are designed to reflect the core competencies recommended by the Sport Management Program Review Council and to equip students with the skills needed for a career in the sport industry.

Each chapter introduces the theoretical foundations and practical applications for critical elements of sport management. Educators will appreciate the text’s format, which is designed to allow for a smooth week-to-week transition of classroom instruction. The authors, who have all been identified as the current leaders in their disciplines, have provided case studies, chapter summaries, questions, and industry examples to supplement each chapter and to assist the student in gaining a comprehensive picture of the sport industry.

Internships in Sports Management

• Author: Matthew Walker
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $29.95

Today’s sport industry is an extremely competitive environment. Potential employees must have an edge in order to become as marketable as possible. That edge is gained through hands-on experiences. For most sport management students, their most significant experience will be accomplished by way of a quality internship.

This textbook is the ultimate tool to prepare a sport management student for that crucial internship in sport event management, intercollegiate athletics, minor league sport, sport facility management, sport marketing, sport/business and sport/entertainment industries.

Sports Medicine Books

Dream Jobs in Spors Fitness and Medicine

• Author: Laura La Bella
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $39.95

Dream Jobs in Sports and Medicine discusses the various types of jobs individuals can hold in the sports industry. Whether it’s working as a certified athletic trainer or helping athletes recover from injuries as a physical therapist, this book outlines how to navigate your way to your desired job in sports medicine.

Sports Fitness Books

Careers in Sports, Fitness, and Exercise

• Author: American Kinesiology Association
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 1
• Price: $16.63

Careers in Sport, Fitness, and Exercise is your guide to landing your dream job in one of today’s most exciting, popular, and fastest-growing industries!

Produced by the American Kinesiology Association, this hands-on guide includes detailed job descriptions, information on working conditions, salary ranges, responsibilities, key skills, and required certifications for 36 careers in sport and fitness.

Sports Law Books

Sport Law: A Managerial Approach, 2nd Edition

• Author: Linda Sharp
• Star Rating: 4.5
• Reviews: 2
• Price: $64.91

Like its predecessor, the updated second edition of Sport Law: A Managerial Approach is organized around management functions rather than legal theory. Its clear and informative style will help readers understand how legal concepts relate to specific managerial functions and will help prepare them to assume a broad range of responsibilities in sport, education, or recreation.

Whether readers work or assume roles as coaches or teachers; are program administrators in a professional program; manage fitness/health clubs; or work in a high school, college, Olympic, or professional sport organization, legal concerns will inevitably be woven into their managerial concerns. This book shows how knowledge of the law creates a competitive advantage and helps build a more efficient and successful operation that better serves the needs of its constituents. Finally, the book covers the legal areas suggested in the COSMA accreditation program approval guidelines and includes such topics as governance in professional and Olympic sport, employment discrimination, sporting facility and event management, participant violence, and intellectual property rights.

Sports Psychology Books

Fundamentals of Sport and Exercise Psychology

• Author: Alan Kornspan
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $51.83

Fundamentals of Sport and Exercise Psychology provides a preparatory look at the opportunities and goals in the field of sport and exercise psychology. Rather than focus on theory and concepts, this text answers basic questions for newcomers to the field by providing information on what sport and exercise psychology is and what it has to offer. It integrates applied and career information to show the basic principles of the field, contains information on where sport and exercise psychology professionals work, the types of jobs they hold, the services they provide, and the opportunities available to those thinking of entering the field.

Engaging for readers of all levels, this book provides a clear and motivating vision of the future of the field and an update of the various career opportunities available. Throughout the resource, many features bring the practical aspects of sport and exercise psychology to life for those wondering what sport and exercise psychology is all about.

Sports Administration Books

Principles and Practice of Sports Management, 4th Edition

• Author: Lisa P. Masteralexis
• Star Rating: 2.5
• Reviews: 2
• Price: $58.02

Teaching sport management has never been more exciting and challenging. Principles and Practice of Sport Management, Fourth Edition provides a comprehensive, current overview of the sport industry and the sport management field. Students are introduced to various segments of the industry providing them with a foundation of knowledge and understanding important for anyone interested in pursuing a career in sports.

The Fourth Edition continues to offer historical perspectives as well as thoughts about current and future industry issues and trends. It has, however, undergone substantial content updates in every chapter, including the inclusion of new developments or managerial approaches happening in the sport world, as well as the addition of new chapters on new media in sport and club management.

Sports Public Relations Books

Sport Public Relations and Communications

• Author: Maria Hopwood
• Star Rating: n/a
• Reviews: n/a
• Price: $48.71

Contemporary sport is a huge global enterprise which necessitates that sports organisations operate as businesses. An increasingly important element of sport business is the management of the myriad of relationships in which sport entities are involved. It is the relationship management aspect of sport which is the unique focus of this book.

Sport Public Relations and Communication is the first book to explore public relations and communications in the sports industry in a global context. It brings together applicable strategies for the sport management or marketing student, and provides a concise guide to how public relations and communications strategies and principles can be applied to sport management and marketing issues.

Sports Event Management Books

Sport Facility Management: Organizing Events and Mitigating Risks

• Author: Robin Ammon
• Star Rating: 2.5
• Reviews: 2
• Price: $71.32

This fully revised and expanded second edition is an ideal text for students in sport facility and event management courses as well as an invaluable reference for managers and industry professionals. Written by a team of recognised scholars in the sport management field, the new edition provides readers with both the theoretical foundations and practical applications for understanding the sporting event industry.

The authors have organised and presented a wealth of information surrounding sport and entertainment events, their risks, and the facilities in which events take place. The clear and concise style of writing is further supplemented with photographs, industry examples, chapter summaries, and study questions to assist students in gaining an overall understanding of the sporting event industry.

Resume Writing Books

Unbeatable Resumes: America’s Top Recruiter Reveals What REALLY Gets You Hired

• Author: Tony Beshara
• Star Rating: 4
• Reviews: 12
• Price: $10.46

What does Tony Beshara do that most resume ‘experts’ don’t? While the experts write resumes all day, Tony the veteran placement specialist featured regularly on the Dr. Phil show actually uses them to get people jobs. With “Unbeatable Resumes”, Tony dissects and discusses real-life resumes for jobs in a wide range of industries from healthcare to banking, construction to technology, administration to sales and marketing, and more.

The book shows readers how to build a powerful resume, utilize keywords effectively, use gaps and job changes to their advantage, and pair their resumes with concise, dynamic cover letters. He complements his expertise (he has personally placed more than 8,500 professionals) with the results of a survey of more than 3,000 managers, executives, HR specialists, and other hiring authorities about what gets resumes read, interviews granted, and jobs offered. Readers will learn: the critical components of well-written resume; how to ensure their resume actually gets read…by the right people; what employers look for, and what turns them off; how to customize a resume for a particular job; and, the truth about video resumes and job-search websites.

Networking Books

Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections

• Author: Ivan Misner
• Star Rating: 4
• Reviews: 32
• Price: $71.32

Networking expert and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Ivan Misner along with David Alexander, and Brian Hilliard reveal key networking techniques to help you grow your business. Learn how to reach quality prospects, leverage your contacts, motivate ongoing referrals, track your success, and so much more!

“Networking Like A Pro is the most comprehensive book I’ve seen on networking—bar none. From beginning to end, Misner and his co-authors divulge networking concepts and strategies which will catapult you from an average networker to a master networker and empower you to achieve greatness in business and life.” — Jack Canfield, co-author of The Success Principles

Click to purchase Networking Like a Pro: Turning Contacts into Connections

Interview Books

How to Interview Like a Pro: 43 Rules for Getting Your Next Job

• Author: JD Mary Greenwood
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 17
• Price: $11.16

Getting a job is like parking. You have to be in the right place at the right time. In How to Interview Like a Pro, author Mary Greenwood provides strategies and practical tips about how to prepare for job hunting, how to interview, and how to seal the deal.

Greenwood provides insight into how to get ready for an interview, how to answer those difficult questions, and how to negotiate salary as well.

Click to purchase How To Interview Like A Pro: Forty-Three Rules For Getting Your Next Job

Interview Skills: How to Get Hired NOW!: Quick Job Interview Success Tips

• Author: Dr. Angela D. Massey
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 9
• Price: $9.99

Congratulations! You passed the test. Your resume and cover letter were written well enough to secure an interview. Successful interview skills, when properly applied, greatly increase your chances of getting the job you want. As you prepare for your big day, it is critical that you understand the ins and outs of giving an outstanding interview. What should you wear? How should you account for gaps in your employment? How do you answer those “Tell me about…” questions? This clear and concise guide gives you all the information you need to interview with confidence.

Additionally, there is an extensive list of employment related information in the Appendix. The list—the best of the best—is categorized in the typical sequential steps job-seekers should take: Resumes, Cover Letters, Interviewing, and Thank-You Letters/Notes, and it is complete with up-to-date links to help you maximize your time.

Click to purchase Interview Skills: How to Get Hired NOW!: Quick Job Interview Success Tips

LinkedIn Books

The Power Formula for Linkedin Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search

• Author: Wayne Breitbarth
• Star Rating: 5
• Reviews: 102
• Price: $11.36

This simple, user-friendly guide explains how you can access the full power of LinkedIn–including advice on making lasting business connections, building a unique personal brand, and generating significant business opportunities.

Are you at a social-media disadvantage if you entered the business world before the rise of Facebook? Wayne Breitbarth argues that the opposite is true when it comes to LinkedIn: your experience and connections as a seasoned professional give you a leg up in harnessing the benefits of LinkedIn. You have already done a lot of the networking groundwork, and LinkedIn can extend your reach even further with minimal time each week. Using actual screenshots of the LinkedIn website, Breitbarth demonstrates how you can take advantage of all the features of this professional networking platform. He shows you how to create a compelling profile, use keywords to improve your ability to find and be found by others, build a solid base of connections, solicit valuable recommendations, and much more.

Click to purchase The Power Formula for Linkedin Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search

Sports Industry Books

The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports

• Author: Glenn M. Wong
• Star Rating: 4
• Reviews: 1
• Price: $11.36

The Comprehensive Guide To Careers In Sports, Second Edition, provides an overview of what students should consider and expect from the varied career options available to them in sports.

This book answers the questions students are most likely to have, including what courses they should take, what are available to them, what salary they can expect to earn after graduation, and how they can get the job of their dreams.

Click to purchase The Comprehensive Guide to Careers in Sports

 

The post 30 Books On Amazon During Black Friday Week To Advance Your Sports Career appeared first on Sports Networker.

Given that enterprising reputation, it’s little wonder that the UO’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center was the country’s first sports business program housed at a college of business (the Lundquist College of Business to be precise). Today, the center is recognized by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sports Business Journal, and others as the leading think tank and training ground for the sports business industry.

During this interview, Paul provides insight on:

• Overview of the Warsaw Sports MBA program
• Their unique “Experiential Learning” approach
• Success stories of past Sports MBA students
• The story behind their great, late founder – Jim Warsaw.

Warsaw Sports MBA Interview

What is your opinion on the value of getting a Sports MBA?  Do you think it’s worth the cost? If you like this article, please consider sharing it with your friends on Facebook & Twitter!

Warsaw Sports MBA Students

It’s one thing to hear from the Managing Director, but you really get a sense of the value in obtaining a Sports MBA from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center by hearing from the students.  In this video, three current Sports MBA students (Carolyne Wood, Steve Acampa, Katrina Galas) talk about why they chose Warsaw.

Warsaw Sports MBA Interview (Transcribed)

Trevor

Hey everyone it’s Trevor here from Sports Networker and I’m joined by Paul Swangard. How’s it going Paul?

Paul

I’m good, thanks.

Trevor

Good, good. So were at the Warsaw MBA program here in Eugene, Oregon. Paul had me come in and speak to the students about social networking and LinkedIn and how they can leverage all these tools from a networking standpoint. And, in getting to speak to these students I’ve really gotten an insight into where they’ve found value in the MBA program because really I’m just learning about these MBA programs myself. So I wanted to talk to the guy who’s really running the show here and get an insight into what the MBA program is all about. So what is the MBA program really all about?

Paul

I think people who are looking and getting themselves in to sport are often finding themselves in sports management programs and that really is the starting point for our education system. Programs in sports management have been around for decades. Typically they’re housed in the school of kinesiology, school of physical education. You found almost a plethora of different career paths that were related to sports from coaching to parks and recreation to tourism.

Our founder, Jim Warsaw, who was a graduate of the University of Oregon and grew up in the sports industry, noted in the early 90′s that there was actually no business school anywhere that was housing a program that was built around the world of sports. So in ’93 we founded the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center and we like to think we created a new way to study sports where students are coming here first and foremost to study business and get all those tools underneath them so they can understand finance and accounting and management and marketing and then mold on top of that study things that are specific to the world of sports. Then what the center does is envelops that whole academic experience with a rich array of out of classroom things. Everything from speakers like yourself to study tours to mentorship programs to events where they can get their own experience. We hope that whole elistic approach is something today that students are looking for which is more than just sitting in a classroom and listening to folks like you and I tell them how it’s supposed to be.

Trevor

So the experiential learning is the key  word in that and what you guys are pushing towards right? It’s less about the book skills and all that kind of stuff and more about what’s going on in the real world out here and how they can connect with other people that are doing sports as a business.

Paul

Yeah and graduate schools have always been built around that whether you’re looking to go to a school like Harvard or you’re looking to go to a school like ours which focuses more on kind of a niche area. It’s a “who you know” business so building your network and leveraging some of the great suggestions you made today I think is helping students understand the power of not only building a network the traditional way but in the new ways that can be given to you through technologies and other ways to link yourself with other people.

The line that Jim Warsaw always used was “This program is to be the aligning of where book smarts meets street smart” and there is only so much you can learn about this industry in the classroom. You sat in one of our seminar sessions today where we worked with one of our industry professors Declan Bolger who works with Major League Soccer. Bringing in real world what’s going on with Major League Soccer today and then some of the other construct events that are going on with our industry. When students can take what they’ve learned out of the book and connect with certain experiences that they’ve had where we’ve taken them to New York or taken them to China or taken them to other markets, when they can take the discussions they’ve had with senior industry people and tied all them all together I think they walk out of here with the network they potentially need and a few doors that have been open for them. And above all the confidence that they are immediately able to go into this industry and feel like they can contribute something.

We have a mixture of “career switchers”; you met some today, I was an accountant, and they’re trying to evolve their careers in a new direction around that passion for sport. We have others who have that industry experience and all of them are looking for the same thing; A little more training and a few more people in their network. We’ve fortunately been pretty successful at doing that in a very boutique way; we’re very proud of the fact that we only take 20 students per year in our graduate program. It means something to have been a Warsaw Center student and that’s what we’re very proud of and hope to continue moving forward.

Trevor

You actually answered a question that I was going to ask which is how many people do you typically have in the class on a yearly basis. So it’s around 20?

Paul

Yeah. The Oregon MBA program is small by design and what Oregon decided a long time ago is we’re not going to be able to compete for the general MBA audience when we’re looking at trying to attract students who are looking at the top 25 schools. But if we took areas that Oregon would be known for that are natural to what you would think the Oregon brand would stand for and specialize in those areas, that’s what would be our success moving forward.

So we’ve picked four areas. Entrepreneurship and innovation, Oregon is known as it’s pioneering sprit; sustainable business because our team colors are green and yellow and sometimes all sorts of different colors these days, but the greenness of Oregon; financial and securities analysis, there’s a lot of money management going on and we have a strong focus in the Asian pacific; and then sports business.

I think, for a lot of people, their first introduction to the Oregon brand comes through our sport brand whether it’s our ever-changing football uniforms or the heritage of track and field and the Olympic success our former student-athletes have had. So each of our modules, those four areas, are only trying to attract about 20 students per year and 40 across the two-year program and they become a unified group of MBA students and yet they all have their individual passions that are interconnected with the center that they’re affiliated with.

Trevor

Are there any specific success stories that you can point to with past graduates who went on to work with different companies, leagues teams, whatever it might be.

Paul

Yeah, I’ll give you a few, dating back to our first graduating class in 1998. Lee Chung, he’s actually a Chinese national, rose through the ranks at Visa and was asked then to move back to China to lead their sponsorship program for the Beijing Olympic Games. Then he rose to general manager of the company and has recently moved on and started his own sports and entertainment company, which is a fascinating story. He’s started with a focus on music and figure skating. He’s basically using figure skating to grow the sports market in China. That’s a theme you’ll see with a lot of our students; kind of an international flavor.

Trevor

Seems like a very niche type of a sport and you just never know if the people in China are going to have a mass of following.

Paul

For those who followed the success of the Vancouver games the Chinese did very well. He had a filter where he wanted to have a sport where the athletes in the country were good, and that was the case with that sport, where he can make stars out of them and these particular skaters at that moment had some great stories that he could tell. It was television friendly and event-attendance friendly and he found ice-skating was where he wanted to start.

Acoste Jane another one of our MBAs who is now leading the NBA’s India initiative. So he’s moved to India after working in the league offices in New York and is in charge of grass-roots development of a sport where more people like cricket more than they like a basketball game.

We had Ty Stewart who is the executive director of The World Series of Poker.

Trevor 

So a real wide range then of talent.

Paul

Yeah, a wide range. I think our buckets are pretty clear and the three legs to our stool are teams, leagues, events and activities but we found at the MBA probably more leagues than the actual teams. Sponsorship and agencies, the intersection between non-sports brands and their alignment with sports as a marketing vehicle [are some other examples]. And then as you drove down here from north of the boarder and drove through Portland which is the epicenter, at least in our mind, of the sports apparel business. Not just for the brands you associate with Oregon like our friends in Beaverton but North American headquarters of Adidas, Li Ning’s first North American presence and store front is in Portland. Keane, Yakima, Ice Breakers from New Zealand; there’s an amazing array of companies there and obviously you attract a lot of students who have interest in that apparel sector. And that works it’s way all the way up into the northwest, which is great because we’ve got not only great companies in Seattle but in Vancouver as well with LuluLemon and others so lots of great opportunities.

And I think, as you have gone through your career too, it’s important for people to understand that the way you can work in sports is a much broader definition than often times where even our students come in the door and say “I want to be the manager of my favorite team” and that is often the starting point for a lot of people. The truth is if you can define your ultimate job description first rather than focus on a specific brand or a specific team, it’s really amazing to see how many different ways you can do what you love with an intersection in the world of sport. I think that’s been the culture we’ve tried to create here where so many kids will come in and say “I have this passion for wanting to be around sports and I think I know what I want to do,” but the serendipity of having all of these experiences that they get exposed to there is great satisfaction in my 10 years here of seeing the moment where a light turned on and a kid didn’t even know that light was available. If we can give them that runway to go off and give them something to do then we’ve done our job.

Trevor

There are a lot of people that want to work in sports and everyone has a favorite team and they say, “I want to be the General Manager of that team.” But the students that you have in this MBA program, I can tell, are very proactive right? So a lot of them have work experience already whether it be internships or actual paid jobs within sports teams and stuff. And of course you get experience along the way in a number of different roles as an intern but sometimes it’s pouring coffee other times it’s filling out spreadsheets and other times it is real world experience.

I think the one thing that I started to get from talking to your students today was that with the MBA program here they kind of get a feel of everything right? They can hear from people like Declan, who is in club services, who has been involved in a number of different roles in sports. And he can give his feedback and insight of his own experience. Anytime you learn from a mentor of sorts it helps you define or at least understand what’s out there right?

Paul

Anybody that comes into this business should not wear blinders when it comes to their professional career. I did not grow up dreaming to be a college administrator. I wanted to work in sports and had a background in sports media but I found my way here for the reasons that I spoke to before. There are things about this job that I absolutely love coming everyday to do.

I think so often students get fixated on what that summer experience is going to be as if that’s their only step into the real world while they’re here as a student and what we’ve tried to do, and what I would encourage any other program like ours to do, is to create an environment where you’re stepping out of that door of academia everyday. You’re writing about it – we’ve created a platform and a blog for our students to write about the industry as the issues come up. We provide them opportunities to work on signature events where they get the opportunity to go out and sell a sponsorship or design an event that will be better than the events we have seen in the quote-unquote real world. And afford them the opportunities with their industry partners to get a “snacking” size experience with brands.

So we’ve had this fall students working with Adidas on product focus groups. We’ve got some students working with the MLS on some online initiatives. We’re working with the Olympic trials here in the US that will be here in Eugene next summer on their social media strategy. All of those, if designed, could have been a summer internship for one person but now we’ve created a structure where a number of students can all come together and have the opportunity to get a little taste of that and then walk away and reflect on that experience which I think a lot of students don’t often do. “What did I learn? What do I not like about it? What would I never want to do again?” To do that multiple times and on an ongoing basis in this program I think sets them to be much more keenly aware of where they’re going to go with their career once they get out the door after graduation.

Trevor

Cool. I wanted to bring up one more point. The University of Oregon is obviously done an amazing job of the last number of years with their own brand. The colors themselves really stand out. The one thing I’ve noticed in your own branding for the Warsaw MBA program.

Paul

We have a two-foot tall bobble head here off camera but maybe we can pop it in.

Trevor

Yeah, we’ll pop it in. I’ll maybe try and find a photo of it or something. But it’s a bobble head of the founder right? Jim Warsaw correct?

Paul

Yeah

Trevor

I’ve noticed from a social strategy that you guys have taken photos of it at different events and stuff kind of as a branding thing to show here’s Jim coming along with all the students. What’s your thoughts in regards to the brand of Warsaw overall as it relates to The University of Oregon.

Paul

And here comes big Jim. We’ll actually put him right here and I’m honored to have him in the broadcast. He’s very agreeable every time I talk to him about subjects.

Quick background, Jim Warsaw’s family, his father David Warsaw is believed by many to be the father of sports licensing. They did a deal with the Wrigley family in the 1920′s to get the rights to do an ashtray that looked like Wrigley Field and sold it out in front of the stadium and it was kind of the first example of licensed merchandise. In the 1940′s the family came up with the bobble head doll.

Jim unfortunately is no longer with us, he was diagnosed and fell ill due to complications from Parkinson’s disease and one of the last things we did before he died was commissioned a bobble head to celebrate our 15th anniversary. In the tragedy of losing him we wanted to instill in our students that it was really his core ethos that really made this program important and the sense of family that we wanted to carry forward. We knew that, with only 20 students coming out of the door every year, if we didn’t have a strong inner-connection between those 20 the scalability of this brand and the strength of this thing would be very hard. We could do it over maybe a 50-year planning horizon but over the first 20 years of this place every student mattered. So out of the tragedy of that we created a micro site jimwarsaw.com that tells his story. And then we actually got the bobble heads built, smaller ones obviously for most people.

Trevor

Seems a little tough to throw in the carry-on at the airport right.

Paul

Yeah TSA would probably have an issue with it.

And we asked every student, every alumni, when they are at a place where they feel the Warsaw Center, and more in particular Jim, had enabled them to get to a place where they were saying “this is what I really wanted when I went to Oregon” we asked them to take a picture. It’s kind of our Travelocity gnome, this idea of getting him into places. Jim was always so very proud of what students were able to accomplish once they left here and in a small way, it’s not only for his memory but for his family.

Now it’s just become who can get the next great picture. So last year it was Marcus, one of our alums who works for the Miami Heat, got Jim into the Miami Heat Dancers tryouts. Jim would’ve loved that. We were in Luzon, Switzerland when they awarded the Olympic bid to Brazil; we’ve taken him to the Great Wall of China.

I think that’s important for companies. In the wake of the untimely loss of Steve Jobs at Apple and we use the example of when Bill Bowerman the legendary shoe designer and co-founder of Nike passed away. If you cannot instill in the future generations of your employees, or in our case our employees are really our students, if you cant make them understand what it meant and why we started this place in the first place it becomes really hard to keep the core essence of your brand strength alive. It’s been a fun activity, Jim has been an indomitable spirit and somebody we’re very proud of promoting any way we can.

Trevor

Well in the research that I’ve done and just feedback from other people he sounded like an amazing man. Obviously I never got the opportunity to meet him but he is an extension of what everyone in this program represents so that’s awesome. I just wanted to make sure we got this guy on camera because I didn’t even realize that this one actually was a bobble head but that’s brilliant.

Paul

Well his idea was, and we talked about it earlier, it’s where book smarts meet street smarts and he’s actually standing on a road. Passion, integrity and leadership were his three brand pillars for this place and while we miss him everyday we believe that everyday we’re living up to and maybe even exceeding some of his expectations. And it’s what we do and there’s great programs around the globe now entering this space and if anyone watching is interested in learning about an educational opportunity I think just look for places that really deliver on the ultimate promise. Are they getting people in the industry? Do they create an environment where you’re getting a good blend of both training from really smart people and experiences where you can build your resume? I like to think, and I don’t know if you disagree or not, five percent of your resume is where you went to school.

Trevor

We actually had that conversation earlier right before we started this interview and without a doubt I agree with that yeah.

Paul 

So what we can do for you to build up that other 95 percent. And there are great schools that focus on wanting to work in the Olympic movement versus wanting to work in team sports. So just do your do diligence and make sure you’re investing what is an expensive dollar these days for education and getting what you’re coming for which is a return on that investment.

Trevor

Well I love what you guys are doing here and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. How can people find out more information? Where do they go? They can just come into your office sit down and fire questions at you right?

Paul

Operators are standing by. WarsawCenter.com is our landing page. You can also follow us on Twitter and I tweet a lot. I do a lot of stuff, like you do, related to issues in the industry and providing some perspective. Or just reach out to us by phone or by email. We’re really excited when we can share what we’re doing but also just offer advice to people. There’s a lot of challenge these days trying to maneuver through what this world is going to look like once we figure out what the economy is going to look like and we’d be more than happy to help. It’s all about just creating an environment where we feel like people we can be a resource to them. So whether you’re a student or a prospective student or just someone in the industry that’s looking for more information we encourage people to reach out

Trevor

Great stuff. Thanks again.

Paul

No problem. Go Ducks as we say.

Trevor

Go Ducks.

The post Warsaw Sports Marketing Center – Sports MBA – Paul Swangard Interview appeared first on Sports Networker.

Sports Jobs – Peter Stringer – Boston Celtics – Director, Interactive Media

Peter Stringer is the Director, Interactive Media for the Boston Celtics (NBA).  Peter wears many hats in his role and has plenty of great advice for sports business students aspiring to work in the sports industry!  Check out the interview below and if you have any questions for Peter, please leave a comment below.

And, we’d greatly appreciate it if you’d share this interview with your friends on Facebook & Twitter!

To connect with Peter online visit:

http://peterstringer.com
http://linkedin.com/in/peterstringer
http://twitter.com/peterstringer

Sports Jobs Interview Series – Transcription

Trevor

I’m honored to be joined on the phone today by Peter Stringer who is the Director of Interactive Media for the Boston Celtics. How are you doin Peter?

Peter

I’m good. How are you?

Trevor

I’m great. So Peter I wanted to ask you a few questions about the job you’re currently in, how you got there and some advice you would give to other people. So maybe start it off with how you got into this role. What was your path? Maybe go back into your education, your background and where you’re from and all that kind of stuff. Let us know who you are.

Peter

Sure yeah. I went to Boston University to pursue a journalism degree and that education led me to an internship with New England Sports Network. Kind of one of those things where I was in the right place at the right time. When I was in school in the late 90′s the Internet was really taking hold and becoming something where people were actually publishing and news outlets and media outlets were kind of setting up shop and becoming publishers in that platform as well. So when the local sports tv station NESN, or New England Sports Network, was looking to set up their site they were looking to take in interns who knew html and I had learned that from a previous internship at a PR firm and have, of course, been a passionate Celtics fan and Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots having grown up in New England.

So it was kind of a right place at the right time. Got the internship and then really kind of sunk my teeth into learning Web development and content writing. So I was coming to the games at the Garden, covering the Celtics and the Bruins mostly, during the Winter and then the Red Sox in the Summer time and little of the Patriots here and there because NESN at the time was owned by the Red Sox and the Bruins. So I spent a lot of time coming to the Garden and covering the events alongside professional journalists as an intern and really there were only a few sites at that point doing that.

So it really gave me a leg up into the sports industry and continued even after I left that job and took a full-time job with NESN after I graduated in ’98. I stayed there for a couple years. Then when I left the full-time job I took a job at Fidelity doing corporate work. I was still freelancing for [NESN] covering some Celtics games and some Bruins games as well. Just using that journalism background in writing and reporting for their site.

Fast forward to 2005, I had been out of sports for a little bit and had been strictly doing professional Web consulting when the opportunity with the Celtics came up. I had gotten to know our PR guy Jeff Twist, who has been with the Celtics for 30 years; a guy that was hired by Red Auerbach, a legend in his own right. He helped me get my resume in front of the people that needed to see it. The job was open and I came on with the Celtics in November of 2005 as their Internet Operations Manager, chiefly responsible for the Web site. That has since changed into being Director of Interactive Media and controlling all of our social media platforms as well as the Web site and all of our digital marketing and social media efforts.

Trevor

So you touched on people that may have influenced you along the way but is there anyone in particular from a mentorship standpoint that helped guide you to the path that you’re on right now in getting your foot in the door?

Peter

Yeah, absolutely. The guy I would point to is the guy that many people in the sports business would point to; you’ll hear this name a lot but a guy named Jack Falla who was a Sports Illustrated hockey writer for a long time. Jack was a professor at BU for sports journalism and I had him for a couple of classes at BU. He was a no-nonsense guy where he’d go to bat for you and try to get you a job in a bunch of different places. We actually were co-workers at NESN, when I was an intern, he was doing freelance hockey work for their broadcast of college hockey and in a bunch of different capacities wrote a column for our site.

So he was a professor, a mentor and co-worker and he spent plenty of time with me trying to hone my craft both in the classroom and out of the classroom as a friend and a mentor. He was somebody I went to for advice if I need advice about a certain job. Then as I established my own foot hole with the Celtics he was the guy that always emailed me about interns and said “Hey I’ve got this kid that would be a great intern for you, can you take him on?” And knowing what I knew about Jack, anyone that came with a recommendation from him I knew was going to be solid. So I did have a couple of kids who were recommendations from Jack as interns and they have gone onto other jobs as well.

There’s countless people across the sports industry; PR, sports PR; that all were disciples, if you will, of Jack Falla and really one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He passed away a couple years ago and it was really tough for myself and a lot of us who were students of his. As a friend and a mentor, he was really just one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and I feel fortunate to have crossed paths with him. He really was instrumental in helping me become a professional in the sports industry.

Trevor

Yeah it definitely sounds like he was a great man. So Peter let me ask you; you obviously wear many hats within the Boston Celtics organization with the Web site and social media and everything else. Give us a glimpse into what a typical day looks like for you when you get to the office in the morning?

Peter

I mean it depends whether it’s a game day, an off day or a practice day. It really depends if the team is home or on the road. So everyday kind of has it’s own little wrinkles to it. For us, really the way we’re communicating with the fan base is through social media. In the past, just a couple years ago, we would be relying on people coming to our Web site, maybe through an email blast to get them to our site. Well now we don’t even have to do that. We can reach them whenever we want by shooting out a blast to Facebook or Twitter. Rather than relying on them to come to us we go to them.

Thats really been a paradigm shift for everyone in sports and brand marketers across any industry or any vertical. Typically we’ll shoot a couple different updates out throughout the day on a game day; it’s a little slower when were not playing. But certainly for us it’s constantly about putting out information, news and in some cases ticket offers. It depends on what’s going on at that specific time. But there’s no shortage of things going on with regards to digital operations for us. I mean it’s really how we connect and communicate with our fan base these days.

Trevor

And you manage the Boston Celtics fan pages; is that the largest one in the NBA?

Peter

The Celtics Facebook fan page is the second largest in sports in North America. There’s only one bigger than that; I won’t tell you who it is but they are our rivals on the West Coast. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.

Trevor

Possibly, yes. But we won’t mention their name.

Peter

Exactly.

Trevor

So looking back on your transition into this role you’re in right now, is there anything along the way that you possibly would have done differently with regards to internships, education or networking?

Peter

I would say that I would have started networking a heck of a lot earlier in my career. It’s really only something I’ve been doing actively the last couple years. The age of LinkedIn and Twitter has changed the game completely and opened a lot of doors for me in terms of having my own Twitter presence, my own blog and my own brand out there. For someone coming out of school in this day and age in 2011, it’s very different than it was when I came out of school in 1998.

I spent a lot of time going to technology based networking events in Boston because I’m one of the few people at the Celtics who is immersed in technology, specifically on the social media side of things. So, I spend a lot of time getting to know the players in the marketplace and city. Because you never know who you may need from a vendor standpoint or a collaboration standpoint, but it also shows you’re enthusiastic about the business.

What are the trends? I think that’s important, especially if you’re going to work on the technology side of any business, you need to be up on what’s going on. That’s a full-time commitment and requires a lot of reading and research and keeping up with trends. I think it’s very helpful to do that through Twitter and through the Internet but also just by talking to people and finding out what they’re working on and what types of things they’re seeing. It helps validate a lot of the things you’ll read online and you’ll find out “Are people really working on these kinds of things?” And generally, the answer is yes. But you’ll see people are taking many different approaches to it and I think that’s helpful for us because we’re not a technology company at heart.

As one of the few people here who really spends their day thinking, living and breathing technology, I think it’s important for me to be ahead of everything and up to date on what’s going on out there. And so, I think that from a networking standpoint, that’s really important. And also I think it’s a different world now, like I said before, networking allows me to keep in touch with my peers, different teams, different leagues and different brands to see what they’re doing. I want to know what people are doing, not only in the NBA, but across the 4 major sports, UFC and WWE. All these big brands that have massive followings and digital fan bases. I want to see what they’re doing and how they’re approaching their fans and they possibly want to know what we’re doing as well.

So I think the networking side of it is something that I wish I had gotten involved with much earlier in my career. Of course, in-person networking, but certainly with technology and social media, now there’s no excuse. It’s just a lot easier than it ever has been at this point.

Trevor

Is there any advice that you would give to sports business students looking to land that dream job in the sports industry? I know we have a lot of readers on Sports Networker that are students that are essentially trying to break into the industry and they’re just starting to learn how to use these tools from a networking standpoint. Are there any tips for somebody just starting out? So they don’t have a Twitter account yet, they’re not on LinkedIn, what would you suggest?

Peter

Well first of all they should be on Twitter and Linkedin.They should also secure their name as a domain name. I have peterstringer.com where I blog about what’s going on in digital marketing and sports marketing and industry. With setting up a blog, it doesn’t matter if you get huge traffic numbers. You need to look at it as an extension of your resume, it is your online resume to build your brand. If you want to get into sports marketing, you want to be thinking living and breathing sports marketing constantly. You want to demonstrate that you have opinions, you’ve written about different things and you’re following the trends. Just by virtue of reading about it, Tweeting about it, blogging about it, you have an inherent advantage because you’ll know the stuff inside out. You’ll start turning up in search results based on what people are looking for.

I didn’t have this coming out of school when I was looking for a job and again, I was kind of in the right place at the right time with the whole NESN gig. But now, I think the students that are going to separate themselves and become contenders versus pretenders are the ones who are really going to put the effort in, learn the craft and understand the business they’re trying to get into. I mean, I think people forget that sports is a business like anything else and openings do not happen often in sports business because everyone wants to work there.

The day I leave this job they’ll have hundreds of resumes for my position. Anytime someone leaves the Celtics, we get a ton of resumes and how do you get to the top of that pile? Well obviously, it helps to know someone at the organization. But, more than that you really have to demonstrate that you’re going to bring something to the table. Being a fan isn’t good enough to get you anywhere. Everyone is a fan. That’s easy to do and that’s easy to claim. But what you have to demonstrate is what you’re gonna bring to the table.

I know when I interviewed here at the time it was really just about managing the Web site and I came in with a plan of how I would revamp their Web site. That’s the type of stuff you have to be able to do to separate yourself and make that distinction. Because, again, you’re going to be up against hundreds of candidates to begin with and if you’re lucky enough to get the interview you might be up against 10 or 15 interviews. So it’s super competitive, everyone wants to work in sports. But, at the end of the day there’s usually only a few that will stand out in interviews and those are the people that organizations are going to gravitate towards and those are the ones we’re going to want to end up hiring.

Really I think the onus is upon students especially because they dont have any professional background. They need to demonstrate what they bring to the table, build their brand, start thinking about these challenges and demonstrate that they understand these challenges that are facing teams today in 2011.

The other side of it, I would say, is to not just focus your search on a specific team or industry. There are plenty of companies that surround the sports industry. Very few kids are going to get into the sports business right out of school. It’s just unlikely, again, based on the competition. If it’s between a student who has no experience and a professional who has worked somewhere else, the professional is probably going to get the nod. I can’t speak specifically on our hiring practices necessarily, but I would say in general terms, you are up against experienced candidates. There are plenty of other businesses that surround the pro and college teams. If you look at a team’s corporate partners, those are great places to start because these are industries that have connections within the sports business. I would always tell people not to be too narrow in their search in terms of getting into the sports business.

It may not be point A to point B, you may have to take a job that maybe isn’t ideally what you want right away, but will help you get to where you’re trying to go to.  And, I think that’s something that shouldn’t be lost on kids as they’re trying to break into the sports business.You’re not necessarily going to graduate in May and be working for a sports team in June. It just doesn’t work that way.

Trevor

Right, right. Great advice Peter thanks very much for that. Now you’re obviously a very social guy yourself and you already mentioned you have a blog so how can people connect with you online?

Peter

Sure. On Twitter it’s just @PeterStringer, the blog is peterstringer.com and the LinkedIn is obviously there. Facebook I don’t typically use beyond my small circle of friends, I’m not really a big Facebook guy in terms of public brand. I think those are the places that everyone should be and again if you wanna be a professional in the sports business, especially if you’re trying to break in, those are really important places to be.

Trevor

Great stuff. Thanks very much for doing this Peter

Peter

I appreciate it. Thanks for the time today.

The post Sports Jobs Interview Series – Peter Stringer – Boston Celtics – Director, Interactive Media appeared first on Sports Networker.