Matt Bish and Wally Reed explain the importance of a positive outlook while selling tickets for the New Jersey Nets. The Nets are currently mired in one of the worst seasons in NBA history.

In the wake Tiger Woods’ press statement on Friday, one thing really stood out for me; the stance that the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA) took.  In preparation for the event, Tiger invited the GWAA to send three journalists to cover the statement which was by invitation only for the press.  The GWAA declined to attend for two reasons: the press conference was not open to all media and Tiger would not allow questions. According to the GWAA website, the “organization’s goal is to improve working conditions for the membership. We strive for constant improvement in press facilities at tournaments, hotel accommodations, local transportation, interviews with the players and work in concert with the Association of Golf Writers, our British counterparts.” Based upon this, the boycott makes sense. However, by boycotting the statement have they made themselves irrelevant in the golf writing journalist world?  By declining to take part in the most watched golf story in recent memory what does that say about their importance in the industry? Although the organization has a membership of 975 and stringent requirements to join, does anyone really care about what the GWAA says? Put another way, a Google search for “golf blog” yields in excess of seventy three million sites…isn’t traditional media really taking a backseat to the “new” media?   Maybe the GWAA should take a page out of St. John’s basketball book (see Peter Robert Casey) and start to credential bloggers. Is this just another example of the traditional “old school” media not getting/wanting to change and adapt o the “new” ways consumers get information?

This week’s post is written by guest blogger Beth Newman. Yes she is my daughter.  She is also a junior in high school and has done a very good job in her college search.  I asked her to write these tips for anyone going through this process.

For high school juniors and seniors, the college search process can be long, tedious, and stressful.  Luckily, there are many different websites that take some of the stress off you as the applicant.  One website that I have found extremely helpful is http://www.collegeboard.com.  This is the company that creates the SAT, so you will have to create an account anyway to register for the SAT.  Since you already have an account you might as well utilize all of the other features the College Board website has to offer.  One of the most helpful features on College Board was the college search questionnaire.  It may seem long and dull but it only takes about 10 minutes.  You also don’t have to answer all of the questions or you can save your search and come back to it later.  However, once you are done you will have a list of colleges that are specific to all of your preferences.  Also you can then look at all the colleges’ profiles which will give you all the important information (like cost, majors offered, and acceptance rate) in one spot.  Other features of College Board include articles with tips about visiting colleges and a scholarship search as well.

Another website that I have found extremely helpful in my college search is http://www.princetonreview.com.  The Princeton Review has a lot of the same features as College Board but it is not directly focused at high school students.  The Princeton Review is a great website to keep in mind when you are looking for a graduate school.  The website has tabs at the top so you can specify the type of school you are looking for.  It also has tutoring sessions when studying for the SATs, the PSATs, the MCATS, and the LSATs.  The Princeton Review also ranks colleges in different categories.  For example they have lists ranking colleges by the best academics, town life, quality of life on campus, and politics just to name a few.  Schools are sorted by attendance and major.  The Princeton Review also helps when trying to decide on a career.  No matter where you are in life, trying to find a college or a graduate school can be overwhelming.  These websites are free tools to help take some of the pressure off.

Things to remember during the college search process:

• Both College Board and The Princeton Review allow you to create profiles to keep your top choice colleges in order.  Keep your profiles up to date and check them often.
• Be aware of all deadlines.  That includes all admission deadlines and all financial aid deadlines.
• Go to open houses and visit all colleges that you are seriously considering.  You won’t know if you can see yourself going to that college until you experience the campus.
• Take the SATs and/or the ACTs multiple times.  A lot of colleges will take your best scores from each section.
• Don’t rule anything out.  You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
• Don’t overlook at a college because you think you may not get in—you never know until you try.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            Reading has been on my mind a lot lately.  I really started thinking about it in mid January just prior to the start of the semester. I had two alumni give me books and said I should read them. I thought that was great.  What better to pass on to someone than knowledge?  Then I thought to myself, “I wonder if they think I don’t do enough reading.”  Since that time, I have gotten more books that I had ordered late in December and early January.  This past week I read a post on sportsinfo101.com (which is in my blog roll and if are not reading it regularly you should) about his “addiction” to reading and it once again got me thinking. I think that we sometimes take reading for granted, for example trying to get students to read not just textbooks, but supplementary materials such as articles in journals or newspapers is worse than pulling teeth. One of my assignments to the students is a topic of the day.  The student who is charged with the topic of the day is responsible for finding something non-sport related, of interest that is going on in the world and generate a discussion regarding it in class.  Most students get the topic from the television news, not from the internet news sources.

            With technology making information more accessible than ever before, reading becomes more important as well. Since individuals don’t have to subscribe to newspapers or carry around books anymore in order to get information/read for pleasure, one would think that it would be more accepted and natural to spend more time reading. The most successful people do a whole lot of reading and they read about a variety of topics. Below are five reasons why reading is critical to one’s success in today’s society:

• With the globalization of the world it is imperative to know and understand events as they happen and to understand their impact on daily life.
• To be considered an expert or a respected information source you have to incorporate current examples regardless of subject manner to maintain credibility.
• You have to be read enough to be fluent and quickly comprehend anything a teacher/employer assigns you to read.
• With the myriad of ways we get information (text, e-mail, internet etc…) one must be able to quickly discern quality information from the many inaccurate items in circulation.
• If you don’t read you won’t pass class/graduate/get the job you want etc…!

            In case you were wondering, I do read a lot, but mostly out of necessity. In fact, one of my personal goals in the coming days, weeks, months is to read more of the things I want to read. For now I’m starting with the books given to me by former students since they are top my list to read for fun!