Lucas Soard- Assignment 5

It think like most kids, I was changing my mind daily about what I wanted to be when I grew up. A pilot, an “army-man”, a pro football player, or whatever I felt like on that particular day. But reality hits and we have to make decisions. I’ve tried assessing my strengths. I’m pretty good at everything, but great at nothing. Which is a fine balance to have in school, and I’ve never really struggled at any particular school subject. But when it comes to finding a career, I’ve found it’s hard to focus on one area. The only thing that can truly hold my interest is sports. I’ve given my best shot at the pro athlete gig, but it turns out that I run as if there’s a piano strapped to my back. Could athletic trainer be a possibility? Well, not one, but two of our school athletic trainers have told me not to follow in their footsteps. So what do I do?

                Writing currently holds my interest. The sports column is often described as the thing that “sells copies” of newspapers, but generally newspaper columns are overly structured and frankly, boring.  I’ve found the most interesting sports pieces, at least for me, are detailed, long form stories that approach sports from a more analytical and thoughtful approach. Fivethirtyeight.com is a wonderful example of this, taking predictive models, algorithms, and many other wonderful math creations usually restricted to the business world, and applying them to the world of sports. Wonderful writers at Grantland.com, such as Bill Barnwell and Robert Mays have been successful in this as well.

I’ve also met and become good friends with two men who deal in scouting high school players for college athletics. Scouts.com, rivals.com, and many other sites like those would allow me to not only analyze players, but write thoughtful and analytical judgements that can influence how schools and the general public view these athletes and their growing star.