Introduction

My name is Andrew Karr and I am in my fourth year as a Sport Management major with a specialization in marketing. I am from Parma Heights, Ohio outside of Cleveland. I am taking this course as a requirement but also because I have had Dr. Spencer before and enjoy the debate in her classes. All my life I have been a fan of and participated in sports and still do both today. I am a huge Cleveland sports fan and Ohio State Buckeyes fan even though I go to BG. The subject of sport and ender is rather new to me. We talked about it a little bit in history and philosophy of sport but I am eager to dig a little deeper into the subject.

The male athletes I said I would like to see would be Shaq and Kelly Pavlik. Shaq is a player that has always intrigued me and I love his personality and that he just likes to have fun. Now that he is in Cleveland I think it may be an even bigger incentive to go see him and the rest of the 2010 NBA Champions (wishful thinking). As for Kelly Pavlik, I think boxing is a dying sport. It is pretty sad to see where boxing is compared to where is has been as one of the biggest sports in the country. Kelly is also from my home state of Ohio and has shared the success of other Youngstown raised boxers. I really want to see him fight one day and hope that he continues to dominate.

The female athlete I mentioned in class was Natalie Gulbis. I chose her for obvious reasons. She is very attractive and a very good golfer. To be quite honest there aren't many female athletes that I would be very intrigued to see. Hopefully this class will change my opinion.

As for my own history playing and watching sports I started when I was five with soccer. I never really got into soccer and stopped playing at age 8. At the age of six I got into tee-ball. I gradually moved my way up and kept with it. I played many years of travel baseball and started four years on my high school’s varsity baseball team where I hold two school records. To this day I still play in an adult wood bat league in the summer. I realized while growing up my passion was for football. I never played organized until I was in 7th grade but I started playing pick-up games around six years old. I went on to be very successful playing football in high school being named 1st team all conference and all district three times as well as honorable mention for the all-state team three times setting my schools’ rushing record. I decided to play football after high school but because of my small size was not given any scholarship offers. I played for a year at a small division III school called Baldwin-Wallace. After a year I realized college football wasn’t for me though I still had a lot of passion for the game. I still like to stay active and play other sports like basketball and golf, but nothing ever compared to playing football.

My expectations for this class and what I will learn are high. I am not very enlightened on this subject and hope to come away from this class as rather knowledgeable about the subject. I just hope the debate and conversation keeps up with the class. It makes class more enjoyable and I learn more from other students opinions.