Each semester I end my sports blog with some sort of goofy goodbye with a promise to come back next semester with bigger and better blogs. Over 150 blogs later, I have written around 5 or 6 goodbye blogs, which adds up to roughly 2 and a half years of blogging, which started when I was just 19-years-old. This semester's goodbye blog is different because I am not promising to come back next semester. I am not coming back next semester. This will be my last blog for "Covering All the Bases." 
Ah my blond years. Photo from facebook.com
I remember when I first started blogging for Experience. I had just entered my freshmen year at Emerson College. I was young, uninhibited, driven, and ready to dive head first into the world of sportscasting. I did everything and anything I could do that I thought would help me become a better sportscaster. This caught the eye of one of my professors, Rebecca Hansen, (probably because all I ever spoke about in class was sportscasting and the Red Sox), who just happened to know the then boss of Experience.com who just happened to be looking for someone to fill the spot of "Up and Coming Sportscaster" for Experience's "Rising Stars of 2007." And nothing strokes one's ego like an online award (with a picture), so naturally I responded enthusiastically with a yes I will except the award and I will give you a taste of my excellent prose in a handful of interview questions to complete the piece.
Oh the "Ladies Room". One of my first Emerson College TV Shows. Photo from facebook.com
Then the unexpected happened. Experience.com offered me a job as their sports blogger. I have to assume the job was offered because of my stellar ways with the English language, but god knows I have poor grammar and run on sentences so really, I have no clue why I got the job. What was even more surprising is that I accepted it. I never wanted to be a writer. I never thought I was a good writer. And, most importantly, what did I know about advising people about breaking into sportscasting? Why would people want to read my thoughts on what's going on in the world of sports? I rarely start tasks that I'm not sure if I can complete and sports blogging was one of them. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot.
And here I am at 21-years-old still blogging for Experience.com. I've survived 3 different interns, a change in management, blog cuts, job cuts (we all remember Joe the other sports blogger, even though I wish I could forget that brief moment in my blogging career where I was forced to share my beloved sports blog). I've also gone from writing blogs with no pictures, no video, and no labels (and I wondered why no one ever read my first 60 blogs nor commented) to blogs full of pictures, videos, and sometimes cohesive paragraphs with relevant points! I've written some dismal blogs (most of the top ten lists), some controversial blogs (Plexico and his gun mishap, don't mess with the NRA and their love of guns because they are apparently all avid bloggers as well), and my favorite blogs of all, the one's about my friends and family who were definitely the most fun to write about. And as it turns out, people actually read my blog! And although I joke about only my family reading my blog, I had comments that proved to me that people other than my immediate family read my blogs and that I actually made a difference in teaching people what the world of sports journalism is all about.
While I have enjoyed sports blogging, I cannot continue with my blog. The main reason being that I left Emerson College and sports journalism. When I first entered college, sports journalism was a glamorous world of perfect people, with perfect teeth, perfect makeup, handling perfect interviews with big time players in neat minute and a half packages. But, it wasn't until my junior year of college that I fully realized the blood, sweat and tears that goes into being a sportscaster.
For some this is an ideal lifestyle. Photo from Flickr.com
Broadcast Journalism is not a job, it's a lifestyle choice. Those neat little packages about athletes takes hours upon hours to complete. Those interviews you need to conduct sometimes require you to travel to another state or even another country at a drop of a hat. Sports Journalism isn't a 9-5 job, it is your life and everything else revolves around it. You have to live and breathe sports and grow a hard shell or you will not last in the business. There are far too many people clawing their way to the top that you can't afford to be anything but perfect. And it's hard being perfect and I'll be the first to admit that I'm not perfect. I want to enjoy my career, but I've learned that there's more to life than being on ESPN or interviewing the winning team in the World Series. Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that can bring you fulfillment that a job could never bring you.
I'll be honest, I'll still always love a TV control room. Photo from facebook.com
So, with that, I decided to leave Emerson. I moved back to New Jersey (greatest state in the Union) and am starting The College of St. Elizabeth in the summer as a double major in American Studies and Performance and Criticism (can't quite get away from a communications related major). I am returning to things that used to bring me joy; I am one of the coaches for a year round swim club, which I absolutely love and I recently tried out for my first musical in three years and got in. So, I plan to spend the next 8 weeks practicing endlessly for a community theatre production of "The Producers." It'll be tiring, but worth it.
My first real love was always theatre. Photo from facebook.com
Well, I think I've rambled on long enough, but before you run and grab your tissue box for the endless hours of crying I'm sure that you'll do as this is an end of an era, some thank yous are in store.
First there is Jenna the Intern, my first intern boss at Experience.com. If it wasn't for her positive weekly emails and her overall cheeriness, I don't think my first year with Experience would have been nearly as fun. I still miss her weekly memos. Then there is Ken, an editor at Experience.com. Somehow he has managed to keep me in line over the past however many months, and I thank him for putting up with me. Experience.com in general has to be thanked, thanked for taking a chance on me, for hiring a college student to do their sports blogging, for paying me to write, for giving me an outlet to express myself and grow as a stronger writer. They've let me get away with a lot, and for never holding me back, I thank them. Finally, my friends and family. I need to thank Alison and Jess, my two buds from high school for reading my blogs whenever I begged them to and for commenting on my blogs when I went into freak out mode, convinced I was about to get sacked. Then there are my grandparents, Mom, Dad, Tom, and especially Uncle Rip, for providing plenty of traffic and comments on my blog. Their support means everything. Finally, thank you to everyone out there that read my blog. You don't know how much it means to me that you took the time to read what I had to say.
Many thanks and happy blogging!
So Long, Fair Well (for real this time)
Experience, Experience.com!
The spring semester is coming to a close (unless you go to a college that is on the quarter system, or the 3-1-3, yeah I'm talking to you University of Delaware, thanks a lot for holding my best friend hostage till JUNE you meanie). And if you are not in school and living in the real world of bills, early mornings, and a full time job, than this time of year isn't significant to you at all, my apologies. As for me, the end of the semester means I am a handful of blogs away from wrapping up my spring semester of blogging. And in all honesty, it has been rough coming up with blog topics as of late. The well has almost dried up and my thoughts have shifted from the sports world to how will I fit into that bikini by summertime and is it too soon to wear white shorts? Clearly these would not be acceptable blog topics for my editor, Ken (told you, you would get a shout out Ken). Although, fitting into that perfect summer suit would probably be on Ken's Blogging Wall of Fame, right next to my blog about sports related dating.
Sort of felt like that guy trying to come up with blog topics. Photo from Flickr.com
Sorry, got off on a tangent, back to the blog! After mulling around I decided to do something totally CRAZY and putter around on Experience.com, the website that is host to my infamous blog. Then a light bulb went off in my head. How could I be this daft? In two years (yes it's really been two years) of blogging for Experience, I have never once plugged Experience. And this is especially shocking to myself since 1. They sneakily hint any chance they get to give props to the site and 2. One has to imagine that I get an extra $100 added to my paycheck at every mention of their company. (Experience.com, Experience.com, Experience.com, Experience.com, that's at least $400 extra on my check, payroll dude at Experience.com-opps there's number 5!). 
On your mark, get set....find a job on Experience.com!). Photo from Experience.com
So, just for the company that took a chance on me and not only pays me, but allows me to write in run on sentences and rant about anything I want (sports related that is), here are "The Reasons You Should Check Out Experience.Com (and Love it)."
* Experience.com is like a college job fair except online and with way better graphics and you don't even have to dress up (or leave your house) to use it.
*Experience.com has a Twitter account (aren't they current and hip!)
*On Experience.com you can set up a portfolio, search for job listings in your area of expertise, and reach out to potential employers through their networking site. And the separate pages help to make it more effective and less confusing for its users (aka even tomorrow morning, the day after Cinco de Mayo, when you are recovering from too many....chips and dip, you can still manage to work the website).
*Unlike other job related websites, Experience.com is geared toward college aged youngsters like yourself and is more personalized to your needs. 
They have jobs, so could you! Photo from Experience.com
*Experience has different pages that focus on specific job areas such as: accounting, sports, entertainment, education, energy and so forth. And almost every page has its own blogger! Even accounting! I'm not sure what he writes about, but anyone that can write about accounting on a weekly basis is pretty impressive to me (and apparently the guy who blogs is a pretty big deal from his description. Note to self: do something more important with life to make blurb on Experience more exciting).
*Experience has an excellent list of job postings and even has links to sites such as this one for even more job searches: http://www.teamworkonline.com/?userhnd=0. Seriously, I didn't even know there were that many sports leagues out there, this site is an up and coming sportcasters dream.
All joking aside. Experience.com truly is a wonderful company to work for (and I would know) and they have a phenomenal product for anyone who is starting to look for potential jobs who does not want to be overwhelmed in the process.
Oh, and in case you missed the memo, to learn more, go to www.experience.com
