Age: Turning 26 makes me wonder why I didn’t prolong college and try to get 10 degrees!
Chicago background: Born and raised on the North side (Mayfair Park), I am one of maybe 10 people in the neighborhood who cheered for the White Sox. How I have survived is beyond me. I now reside in my first recently bought residence that requires a monthly mortgage–reminding me that anyday now the housing boom will be back (or else my 5-year ARM was a bad idea)!
Family background: Single (I know she’s out there)! One brother, one sister (both Cubs fans). My dad is a 30-year veteran of Chicago sports journalism–too long of a history to get into, but let’s just say him and Michael Jordan were on a first name basis in the 1990’s. My mother’s knowledge of sports can be wrapped into one short story: During the 1990’s Bulls seasons, she used to sit in the press box and knit!
College: Bradley University (Peoria, Illinois–for those of you outside of the Missouri Valley Conference). I played college baseball for two years for the Braves, but unfortunately I had to hang up the spikes because my ERA was almost as bad as today’s economy.
Professional Background: Following Bradley University, I wrote for the Chicago Tribune’s sports department and covered the Major League Baseball Draft, the 2005 White Sox World Series in Houston, hundreds of high school games, some college games, and I even scored a 10-minute interview on 101.9 FM the Mix when I attempted to chug a gallon of milk in an hour. Needless to say, I lost, but anyone who read the Chicago Tribune that day got to see me throw up!
In an attempt to diversify my writing (so I thought), I moved to Washington, D.C. and wrote for a national trade publication called USAE News. My main beat was to cover how cities marketed themselves to attract tourism and conventions. It was during this summer that I went to Fenway Park, Comiskey Park (Refuse to call it the Cell), Wrigley Field, RFK Stadium, PNC Park, Camden Yards, Dodger Stadium and Great American Ball Park. Needless to say I was in heaven. Not really sure if my bosses were paying me to go to baseball games, but what they didn’t know couldn’t have hurt them.
Hobbies: Ran two Chicago Marathons (wrote a first person account for the Tribune during one of them). Obviously love baseball, and love going to Wrigleyville bars to meet people who know very little about baseball (JUST JOKING)!!!!