2 Years In

Know When To Say No – internal external
It’s not always easy to say no, especially if someone is asking for help. I think it’s human nature to want to help, to feel needed, to provide assistance. It’s also a really good way to over extend and negatively impact the quality of your work if you aren’t able to balance it correctly. I’ll be the first to admit that this is something I am still mastering and still often times fail at. It is however something I am much more cognizant of now and have been working to improve.

Let’s also be clear in that I’m not talking about everything you are or will be asked to do at work. You have a job that you are responsible for doing in exchange for being employed and receiving a salary – duh. I’m talking about taking on the extra assignment that will put you behind your other projects or require you to spend so much extra time working on, you become burned out.

Your time is valuable and important – and not just to you. Being able to say no in the right way will also demonstrate the fact that you value your time, which will make it that much more meaningful when you give it out in the future.

Be humble
Not the easiest thing to do, whether you want to admit it or not. In order to get the job you have, you had to beat out hundreds if not thousands of other candidates. Some of those candidates, believe it or not, would probably have been better at your job, or at least aspects of it. We’re all great in our own ways, but we’re not as great as we think we are either. Lose sight of that, and it shines through pretty clearly in your personality, and no one wants to be around or work with someone that clearly thinks they’re better or smarter than everyone else – regardless of whether or not that is truth!

Two years down.

-Alex

Love to be Hated

We always vilify what we don't understand.
-Nenia Campbell

Sometimes it's fun to play the "villain." Being a fan of anything Duke, especially Duke basketball, thrusts you into this role whether you like it or not. People are programmed to dislike us, whether or not they've ever had a bad encounter. I read a great article yesterday that tried to explain this, which can be read here.

With that said, no matter who you are or where your allegiances lie, you have to have the right attitude and mindset. My father said it best when as a kid I asked him a question about Duke and being a fan (for those of you who don't know, he went to Duke and is the reason I've been a Blue Devil my entire life). Essentially I asked my Dad whether or not he hated UNC and their fans. Much to my surprise he said "Absolutely not. UNC is a great school and it's a beautiful rivalry because of the fans from both sides. Having a good attitude and giving each other a hard time is great, so long as it comes from a place of mutual respect." At least he said something very close to that. Not everyone may view it that way, but at the end of the day sports is a form of entertainment, and that should never be forgotten.

In any event, that was essentially the moment that I realized that you have to have the right mindset when it comes to rivalries and rooting against other teams. If people have the right mindset about it, then I love being able to play the villain. In fact, I embrace it. 

So tomorrow, Monday, April 6, when most of the United States is rooting against me and my Blue Devils, I'll be smiling. Hopefully the villain wins for the 5th time in the last 3 decades.

Go Duke!

-Alex

Update: April 7, 2015
National Title #5!

Seattle and the NHL

For the better part of the last decade I have said that Seattle would be a great location for an NHL franchise. Over the last couple of years, a number of articles have been written that more-or-less say the same. Let’s dive into the issue and explore what has been said and where the issue stands today.

First let’s start by simply examining how Seattle generally stacks up to other NHL franchised cities.

If we approach it from a metropolitan population size, Seattle would rank 13 out of 28 with a little over 3.6 million (the New York metro area supports three different teams and Los Angeles metro area supports two). From a population size perspective, Seattle comes in around the middle of the pack – not bad.

If we look at NHL cities around the United States and their respective hockey programs (both youth and adult leagues as one indication of interest in hockey), Seattle would also rank in the middle from a pure number standpoint. From a percentage of the designated metropolitan area, Seattle would again rank in the middle. Another part of this story is also the stark difference between the northern United States’ interest in hockey when compared to that of the southern United States. It comes as no secret that hockey in the United States has generally been focused in more northern states. That is not to say that the NHL and hockey haven’t found success in the south, but rather that northern territories and regions have generally found more success for a number of factors – Seattle checks this theoretical box as well.

Population size and hockey programs are only parts of the equation when it comes to finding and building a sustainable fan base to attend games. A recent 2014 study (which you can view here) on fan demographics for the NHL revealed a fan base that is the richest of all sports. Not only that but a demographic that is 63% between the ages of 18 and 54, 92% white, and 33% making over $100k.

Graph from an The Atlantic article which can be viewed here.

Would Seattle take kindly to another professional sports team? If so, where are the fans going to come from?

There are a few things to consider here. 1) Is Seattle considered to be a sports town, and 2) would the existing sports fans in Seattle adopt the sport of hockey?

I don’t see much debate over whether or not Seattle should be considered to be a sports town or not. The city is currently home to 3 of the major 5 sports leagues in the United States – the MLB’s Seattle Mariners, the MLS’s Seattle Sounders, and the most recent Super Bowl Champions, the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. In some respects, one could make the argument that interest in Seattle sports hasn’t been this high for the last 35 years since the former NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics brought home the NBA title back in 1979.

To some degree we’ve already touched on where the fans would potentially come from in first few paragraphs when talking about the general population of Seattle. Aside from the existence of hockey programs and a demographic profile that appears to fit-the-bill, there are still additional avenues to consider when assessing where a new franchise into the city is going to attract fans from.

In regards to current hockey fans already living in and around Seattle, the Vancouver Canucks are probably the most visible team from a live broadcast perspective although the San Jose Sharks are closest in proximity. Data over the last several years suggests that although many from Seattle would like to see a professional hockey team in their city, general interest in the NHL is somewhat low due to the proximity of Seattle to the closest NHL markets. To me this seems to present a great opportunity to grow a fan base from scratch. In the event the articles and data I’ve read through are incorrect and there is indeed a strong rooting interest in a current NHL franchise, I counter with more recent examples in which new professional sports franchises come to a market with an already heavy rooting interest elsewhere. In particular I think of the MLB’s Washington Nationals. Baseball in the Capital City had been all but extinct for 33 years since the Washington Senators left to go become the Texas Rangers. The majority of fans looking for a consistent rooting interest went 45 minutes north to the Baltimore Orioles up in Maryland. The Washington Nationals (midway through their 10th season back in Washington, DC) have been fairly successful in building their fan base from scratch and stealing back a considerable amount of “market share” from the Orioles. Yes, there is a rather complicated broadcasting rights issue that exists between Washington, DC and Baltimore, but is not something that need be covered here. In fact, some quick research into the broadcasting rights in and around Seattle doesn’t appear, at least on the surface, to present the challenges faced by the Nationals.

Although we just focused on NHL fandom in Seattle, believe it or not professional hockey already exists there in the form of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Although the team falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of attendance (4-5 thousand average a game), the team has found a home in Seattle since 1977 (first as the Seattle Breakers before being renamed the Thunderbirds in 1985).

Outside of current NHL and WHL fans latching on to a new team, there would still need to be significant amounts of fans coming from elsewhere. For this, you'd have to concentrate on non-hockey fans and split this segment into two additional groups. 
 

1. People that become sports fans when a new team moves into their city

2. People that are sports fans that get cannibalized from other teams or leagues in the area

I won't go into the analysis now (look for a post in the future), but studies that pertain to building a fan base for new teams that move into a new market and studies on what leagues have the most cross-over (MLS and NHL fans are eerily similar) suggest a NHL team in Seattle would do well. 

Expansion vs. Relocation of an NHL team

One question that is generally discussed is that if the NHL does come to Seattle, would it be through expansion or relocation? My gut tells me that Seattle is more likely to get a team through expansion than relocation of a current team, and let me tell you why. I’ll touch on this more in depth later on, but one reason is simply because the city of Seattle is strong leverage for the NHL right now in getting less financially stable teams throughout the league to make an effort in stabilizing their organizations. Long-story short “you still want to have a team in your city? Great, do what you need to do or we’re putting your team in Seattle.” The entire situation reminds me of the MLB putting the Washington Nationals in Washington DC, which went through a similar ordeal for a number of years before happening.

Expansion on the other hand seems to already have been hinted at in a number of instances both verbally and not. One non-verbal signal may be in how the current conferences are currently aligned. If you look at the NHL’s realignment of the league and its conferences starting in the 2013-14 season, you immediately notice that there are two less teams in the Western Conference (16 teams in the Eastern Conference, 14 in the Western). Both the Central and Pacific divisions in the Western Conference only have 7 teams whereas the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions of the Eastern Conference both have 8. It sure would seem to make a lot of sense to even out the conferences by adding two teams to the Western Conference, perhaps Seattle into the Pacific division slot.

So why all of this hold-up on putting a team in Seattle?

In reality your guess is probably as good as mine since I’m not behind the closed doors of the NHL or part of any of the potential investor groups that are trying to put a team in Seattle. However, here are probably a few or the more likely causes:

1)      Need of an NHL and NBA packaged deal or assurances

Aside from a small handful of the US-based NHL teams, most venues can be described as multi-purpose venues in regards to their ability to host several different types of sports under the same roof – primarily this has been basketball. Generally the reason for this is because it’s a lot cheaper to run one venue for two teams than it is for two venues for two teams. During 2012 and early 2013 Seattle seemed all but primed for an NBA and SuperSonics return when the Sacramento Kings were up for sale. When a last minute negotiation was struck that ensured the Kings staying in Sacramento, it seemed that hope for an NHL team coming to Seattle was also delayed. So could one come to Seattle without the other? Sure, there are plenty of instances (especially in Canada) of venues hosting only a single professional NHL team. It does however become a bit more difficult from an investment perspective. Now I’m not privy to  what is being said behind closed doors at the NBA or NHL league offices, but I imagine any venue that would have to be constructed will 100% be designed to hold both an NBA and NHL team.

2)      Where are the players going to come from?

Great question and something I had to do a bit of research on since the rules of expansion have gone through several iterations and changes throughout the last few decades. To make a long story short, expansion franchises are more or less able to draft from current players and prospects around the NHL. Yes, you could see some of your favorite players from around the league more or less shipped off to Seattle if an expansion team comes to the city. But before you start panicking over some of your favorite stars being forced to relocate, consider the fact that current teams have the ability to put parts of their rosters on a "protected" list. Here's a quick breakdown on how it would probably play out:

Each team will more or less be allowed to protect one (1) goaltender, five (5) defensemen, and nine (9) forwards. There are also some other slight iterations such as two (2) goaltenders, three (3) defensemen, and seven (7) forwards. From here there are all sorts of other rules that come into play and if you're really interested in reading more then I suggest clicking here (an article that I feel explains it well).

3)      Seattle (unfortunately) is serving as great leverage for the NHL

I alluded to this earlier when talking about expansion vs. relocation. Over the last half a decade there have been several teams around the NHL that were on the brink of being moved - or so it seemed. Without going into a lengthy explanation and analysis, the threat of moving a team from a city that already has a team forces teams to restructure or find a new ownership group. Similar situations happen all of the time in other leagues. Everyone saw what happened a few years ago when there was talk about moving the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The thought was that they were going to be relocated (to Seattle actually), but a last minute deal was struck that kept the team in northern California. One has to look no further than Washington Nationals here in Washington DC. Although the team is here now, the MLB was infamous for using the threat of relocating a team as leverage for poor performing teams to get their acts together. Yes, a professional team did eventually make its way to Washington DC, but not after years and years of threatening to move one here.

4)      The NHL probably hasn’t been ready until recently. Think about it - with all the lockouts that have plagued the NHL over the last couple of decades, the league has struggled to regain relevance as a major sport in the United States, not to mention trust of it's fans. Don't get me wrong, I love hockey and I love the NHL, but lets call a spade a spade. Out of what I call "The Big 5", which are the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS, the NHL has had arguably the most to prove over the last few years. Now yes, over the last half-decade or so the NHL has made a pretty decent comeback if you look at fandom growth rates, ticket sales, television deals, and just general overall interest in the sport. My gut tells me that before expanding to a handful of new cities, they probably want to first make sure that the sport of hockey and the NHL at large is back and thriving. All of this combined with the NHL finally creating a fund for franchises to borrow from (the last of the major leagues to do this by the way), the NHL is only recently finally in a position to expand.

5)      Venue construction - If you build it, will they come?

Currently it's a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" sort of problem. Plans in Seattle to construct a stadium that would be capable of hosting both an NBA and NHL team have come, gone, and come to a hault over the last several years. Investors and the city have both expressed great interest in building a new venue - so long as an NBA or NHL franchise comes to the city, but it's difficult to invest that kind of money in a project (especially one requiring a lot of tax dollars) without some guarantee that professional franchises will come based on solely building a venue. On the flip side there's nowhere in Seattle that could currently house both an NBA and NHL team - at least no where suitable.

6)      Other viable cities outside of Seattle

Earlier I mentioned that the Western Conference currently has 2 less teams than the Eastern Conference that I imagine will eventually be filled to bring parity to the league and the number of teams that qualify for the playoffs each season. Just because I mentioned 2 open slots doesn’t mean that the NHL can’t add more to either of the conferences. In fact, multiple cities have been mentioned as potential locations for NHL teams over the last couple of years. The cities generally mentioned in addition to Seattle include Kansas City, Las Vegas, Quebec City, and even another team in Toronto! Although I believe Seattle is best suited to handle an NHL team, solid arguments can be made for each of these cities. I’m sure someone in the NHL has a pretty good idea of which cities they believe would be best to expand to, but I also imagine that there is still a fair amount of due diligence and market studies that are currently being conducted and not to mention investor groups being identified that make one city more viable than the other.

Other interesting facts

If an NHL team does eventually make its way to Seattle, Seattle hockey teams would rank tied for #13 out of the 30 current active teams in the NHL in Stanley Cup championship appearances. Yes, believe it or not the city of Seattle has made it to the Stanley Cup three times, winning one in 1917 as the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). The Seattle Metropolitans were the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup.
 

Other thoughts - an exciting opportunity

Whether you’re here because you like sports, business, or are currently or wanting to work in the sports industry, I have to imagine that inserting a new team into a market like Seattle would prove to be incredibly exciting. As a marketer I think an opportunity and challenge such as building a brand from scratch and having the opportunity to help define what you want your identity to be and how you interact with your city and fans would be pretty cool. So I’ll put out an APB that if you or your uncle end up being responsible for putting a team in Seattle and are looking for a marketer to get things off the ground and to the races, let me know.

Well great. After years of bottling my thoughts on the NHL and Seattle, they are finally out. By no means do I think I have either a full picture or everything right in my analysis. As such I would love to hear from you and what your thoughts are – leave a comment below or email me offline!

-Alex

Harvard, the Duke of the North?

First, realize that the graphic above is only to serve the purpose of illustrating the humor behind rankings - UNC now at #12 (from #17)... that's crazy, these rankings are out of control. I mean how could any school in the state of North Carolina jump 5 spots in the ranking? Jumping 5 spots in this sort of ranking is somewhat unheard of and quite frankly a little ridiculous for anyone...

In any event, I'm proud to report that Duke jumped from #6 to #1 in Bloomberg's business school rankings - up 5 spots! Go Fuqua!

-Alex

 

I've got a great skit idea... my struggle with sketch comedy addiction

There's an area on this website that refers to my love for sketch comedy. Although my love for sketch comedy and making people laugh has existed since I was a kid, it didn't hit its full stride until I was a President of a club called FuquaVision when I was in business school at Duke. We had an expression/inside joke of "I have a great skit idea" which arose from the dozens of people you would come across in the halls at school that would pitch their funny ideas to you. The joke was that many had incredible ideas for skits but weren't willing to spend the time putting them together themselves. I understand this since most people did the "smart" thing and spent most of their time recruiting for their jobs after school. That, or their time away from schoolwork was spent relaxing and concentrating on aspects of their lives that let them escape from everyday stresses. However, for people like myself, spending inordinate amounts of time running a club A-Z and writing scripts for funny ideas was my way of letting go of the stresses of business school and doing something that I genuinely loved - and still do for that matter.

Alright, to the point of this post. I love my job and my life is going really well as far as I can tell. With that said, I still feel unfulfilled at times. The vacancy I feel is not having the time, money, or personnel to partake in one of the things I love most in the world - creating clever and funny (at least I think so) sketch comedy. I do find myself still writing a great deal in the scarce moment that I decide to stop working on work related things. Some ideas are ones that I've been kicking around for a number of years, while others serendipitous random thoughts or content that I see online that sparks an idea. For example, I am a huge fan of a few select sketch comedy groups that have a presence on youtube. In particular I have followed WKUK (Whitest Kids You Know), Key & Peele, and GoodNeighborStuff (Beck Bennet and Kyle Mooney are now on SNL) over the last several years. I love their brand of comedy and the scope in which they operate. It wasn't until the last year however that I found another group that has me wanting to scratch my sketch comedy itch more so recently than in the past. The group is a Norwegian comedy duo called Ylvis. For most of you, Ylvis probaly means nothing, but is the same group that created the global phenom "What Does the Fox Say?". Although I very much appreciate just about everything "What Does the Fox Say?" is, it is the other half-a-dozen videos Ylvis has (and that most have no idea exist) that I find to be incredibly fulfilling. Part of me wants to go through some of their other videos Pressure, Massachusettes, Stonehenge, and The Cabin to name a few, but instead I want to talk about one of their newer videos Trucker's Hitch and how it has me biting at the chomp to create sketch comedy again in my free-time. 

If you haven't seen it yet, check out Trucker's Hitch below:

What I love about this video is the simplicity and execution. The production quality is fantastic - as are all of their videos - but it's the simplicity and innocence of the subject matter that is fantastic. One of my biggest qualms with SNL (Saturday Night Live) over the last two decades is that so much of their comedy is reliant on what I either find grotesque or simply not funny subject matter. I can't count how many of SNL's sketches have related to some sort of sex, drug or incest related matter. Personally I find this to be overplayed or just straight up dumb. There's hardly ever any substance or true comedy behind the sketch. There's no juxtaposition or meta layers of humor. Its either a family that french kisses each other for three and a half minutes or a sketch about how you can hide drugs in any vessel laying around. It's playing to the lowest common denominator at times and frankly I don't find that to be either very clever or funny.

So what do I do? I have this passion/hobby that I haven't truly participated in for a couple of years now that I desperately want to continue but no real way in which I can really execute. Do I start small and do something totally solo? Do I try and recruit new faces and people around the city I live in? Do I try to get the gang back together for a weekend and film something? Or do I do something else? I have more than enough ideas but don't know how to scratch this itch.

In an odd way I have become the inside joke and am calling to myself from the past and whispering, "I have a great skit idea...."

-Alex

Social media: The Good, The Bad, The Accountable?

I originally started writing a post on how individuals (more specifically, athletes) interact with social media. I wanted to illustrate examples of how social media can help build an athlete’s image in a positive way, as well as affect it in a negative one. The post was going to be entitled "Social Media: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly". However, in light of everything that the NFL and NCAA are going through in regards to bad press, I thought we could briefly focus on something a little different -- how social media and the PR that it produces have recently, more-or-less, forced teams to become more accountable for their players' actions.

In the last few weeks and months we've seen the NFL, and football in general, develop a black eye in regards to both how some players conduct themselves and how they have dealt with off-field issues relating to domestic violence and abuse. Recently we've all heard about the exploits of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and to a lesser degree, Jonathan Dwyer, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, and Quincy Enunwa. We've also recently seen similar issues present themselves throughout the NCAA. For example, FSU quarterback Jameis Winston has experienced a laundry list of issues stretching from allegations of sexual assault to theft to yelling obscene things to women on FSU's campus.

What sparked my interest in several of these cases, most notably with Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Jameis Winston, is the role that social media had in influencing their respective organizations and universities to be more accountable. And by accountable I mean how social media has seemingly had a direct effect on the suspensions and punishments doled out. What is important to note is how these suspensions and punishments changed to become stricter and harsher after public outrage at the seemingly small consequences that had been handed out -- most often social media being the channel in which this outrage was and is being spread.

We saw the Baltimore Ravens decide to suspend Ray Rice indefinitely, the Minnesota Vikings suspend Adrian Peterson, and the Flordia State Seminoles increase a half-game suspension of quarterback Jameis Winston to a full game for remarks he made to a woman on FSU's campus. Yes, there is a possibility that these decisions would have occurred regardless of the pressure that came out of social .media. However, I have the inkling that many of these teams’ positions were forced either as a result of the negative reactions to the minimal punishments or were the result of preemptiveaction tken to avoid the PR firestorm that they anticipated would have occurred had little to nothing have been done in response to these allegations. The Ray Rice suspension appeared to be reactionary, the Adrian Peterson back-and-forth suspension seemed reactionary, as did the Jameis Winston single-game suspension.

At the end of the day it's difficult to make decisions on matters concerning players, especially marquee ones due to the revenue they generate. Regardless, it's interesting to be living in a period where you can see the world around you evolving and noticeably changing every few weeks. It seems like there's a new channel or new feature to engage with every few weeks. This post was supposed to be how it surprised me to see individuals negatively affecting their personal brands -- now it's the realization that social media has the power to affect the decisions major organizations and institutions make in order to protect their brands.

In retrospect, retaining the title for this post of "The Good, The Bad, and Ugly" probably applies nearly as well. Despite the flak that social media takes in popular culture at times, and despite whether or not people or teams would still be held to the same accountability without it, how interesting it is to see the power of crowds affecting significant change. 

Next time you post something to social media, "you've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" 

-Alex

Defenses Don't Win Championships, Kickers Do

I like to think that I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. With that said, I have to admit that I had it totally wrong when I wrote the post Defense Wins Championships: My Dive into Fantasy Football. That's because I have discovered over the last few weeks that it is, in fact, kickers that win championships. As a former high-school football place-kicker standout (career field goal percentage of 19%) , I can't say that I'm all that surprised.

Over the last two weeks, my kicker, Stephen Gostkowski has netted me 38 points. These 38 points are more than the amount of points that any of my quarterbacks, running backs or wide receivers have netted me over this same time period. Not only that, but this stretch of two weeks also got me my first two wins of the season.

"You're kind of the hero or the goat, and rightfully so... or not." - David Akers

-Alex

Fantasy Football: We Won, but I Lost

Every reason I never wanted to play fantasy football came to fruition this Monday night. Let's give a little context to start. I have been a Chicago Bears fan for my entire life and I don't see much changing that. One of the greatest memories I have is going to the Bears vs. Colts Super Bowl with my father. Yes, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts ended up probably winning that game, but it was one of the best sports memories I have. I was with my father, we had VIP access the entire night, I got to witness Devin Hester take the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, and I was at the flippin Super Bowl! Monday was the first night in my life where I actively rooted against the Bears... at least for a moment. Why do you ask? The evil that is Fantasy Football.

I wrote a post before the regular season that joked around about finally participating in fantasy football for the first time. What I did not disclose was my trepidation for the situation that I encountered Monday night. I was rooting for overtime in a game that the Bears were winning for Christ sake - at least for half of the right reasons. Half of my fantasy offense are the Chicago Bears. I have Cutler at QB, Forte at RB, and both Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery as my starting wide receivers. Blah, blah, blah I'm an idiot for being Bear heavy on my fantasy team - whatever. But as the fourth quarter started to wind down, the Bears were ahead a touchdown, the New York Jets had the ball and were driving down field with ease, and I found my fantasy roster down 4 points. With less than a minute left, there was no chance Chicago was getting the ball back... unless the game went to overtime. 

With the Jets in the red zone, a depleted Bears defense stopped them on fourth down. The Bears won the game but I had a hollow feeling in my stomach. A hollow feeling! After a Bears win! Oh fantasy football, how I hate you.

-Alex

 

Defense Wins Championships: My Dive into Fantasy Football

I don’t know what the kids are being told today, but when I was younger it was that defense wins championships. So you can imagine my thrill when I was able to pick up Seattle’s defense with the number 3 overall pick in my fantasy draft this week. No one else apparently was aware of this old adage as they continued picking running backs and wide receivers through the first few rounds - all the while I continued to stockpile defenses.

Alright I admit I’m exaggerating, but I did just go through my first fantasy football draft. In fact this was my first anything fantasy sports related that I have participated in. The many years of holding out finally came to an end by some good old fashioned peer pressure at work. Allow me to share some initial impressions.

First, it can be really stressful! I suppose my initial hesitation to playing fantasy was the fact that I didn’t know much about the nitty gritty details. I understood the basic concept but that was about it. I didn’t want to be judged for making bad picks, having a bad drafting strategy, or God forbid, drafting someone who I didn’t realize was retired or injured.

Second, where do you start with the analytics and who do you listen to? For that matter, where do you stop? There's a wealth of data out there from a number of different sources. What stats should I pay attention to? After I started pouring through projection data I started to develop my own metrics but I had a TE in the top 5 and a kicker in the top 15 based on added point value - I'm assuming something went wrong. Regardless, I love data and analytics so it became rather addicting coming up with models.

Finally, everything else. Some people check the trade wire everyday... how am I going to do if I'm only checking once a week? I consider myself to be a pretty competitive guy so I'm curious as to whether or not that'll also apply to my fantasy team. So many questions that will have to be answered through my first plunge into the world of fantasy sports.

I figure some real NFL teams end up winning only a few games during the regular season, so as long as I can win at least a few, I shouldn't feel too terrible. It will however be interesting to start rooting for teams I normally couldn't care less about. So here's to trying something new that will most likely crash and burn - I'll check back in later in the season.

And since I started this post off with an old adage, I'll also end with one - let's just go out there and have some fun... or does this no longer apply either?

-Alex

My crazy obsession with Duke Football

Why this post? Quite honestly I just want to get my emotions out about my favorite team in the entire world - Duke Football.

Believe it or not, I have been a Duke football fan for nearly my entire life - well at least from the first game I went to when I was about 6 years old. I had been being raised to be a Northwestern Wildcat fan since those were the season tickets my dad had gotten for us in order to have something fun and different to do every other weekend. I vividly remember there being one occasion in which we got to the game and I was decked out in my purple and white colors for Northwestern. I looked over at my father and saw he was wearing a blue sweatshirt, the same color as the other team. When I asked him why this was, he explained to me that Northwestern was playing Duke that day, and that when he was younger he had gone to Duke (he also told me not to worry since Duke was probably going to get their butts kicked - and they did). In any event, that was the first day I decided to start rooting for Duke football.

Allow me to also point out that without any exaggeration, Duke football has historically been known to have one of the worst football programs in the United States. Except for a rare bright spot here or there, Duke almost always ends up at the bottom of their division and has been consistently ranked as one of the 10 worst Division I programs. Long story short, Duke football has been a very, very, very difficult team to follow. 

A number of years ago, even before going to Duke to get my MBA was on my radar, I started to tell people that there would come a day that Duke football was good again (think Duke in 1938 good), and that I would be one of probably only a few people in the world that could claim to have been a die-hard fan. I was proud to route for the underdog, for a team that no one paid any attention to, for a program that I hoped more than anything would eventually win a championship - I mean seriously, it couldn't be any worse of a drought than what the Cubs have been going through... right?

As fate would have it, I ended up going to graduate school at Duke. I missed only one Duke home football game in my two years at the program, and that was only because I decided to return home to Chicago for Thanksgiving one of the two years. You honestly would not believe how empty Wallace Wade stadium was during the games that were played. Thousands of students would pre-game in the parking lots before the game, and an honest to God 99% of them would simply stay in the lots or go home after the game started. But then a beautiful thing started to happen during my first year. The team started.... sorta winning? I say sorta because they looked awful even in the games they did win. For example, they'd be up by 21 with about 6 minutes left and would end up having to kick a field goal with :17 seconds left that would inevitably hit a post and somehow rickshe in for the win. Don't get me wrong, I was screaming my head off and going nuts during these games, even if I was one of about 100 people in the student section doing so.

With the exception of the Duke vs. UNC game in which Duke won and clinched bowl eligibility, most would leave a little after half-time, and the stadium was never more than half-full, but there were more people there. Duke would go on to lose their final 4 games, but finished at 6-6, bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. The Blue Devils were finally going bowling, and I felt on top of the world. A funny thing started to happen towards the last half of that season, people started showing up to the games. Duke would eventually go on to play Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl and lose a heartbreaking game in the last :44 seconds 34-48. The silver lining is that the game was somewhat back-and-forth and exciting until literally the last minute. I didn't think I could be more heartbroken... that is until the following season.

The next year (2013-14 season) proved to be one of the best seasons in Duke football history. Notable wins included beating #16 Virginia Tech and #24 Miami. Duke went on to have its first 10 win season after going 10-2 and breaking into both the AP and Coaches pole for the first time since 1994. Duke would go on to get hammered in the ACC Championship against #1 FSU - this came as no real surprise as it was incredibly exciting just to have made it there. Despite the loss, Duke would still go on to play Johnny Manziel and his #20 Texas A&M Aggies in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. To make a long story short, Duke took a 21 point lead into the half. The second half can only be described as death by a thousand cuts. I watched as the Aggies cut down the lead and eventually took the lead with 3:33 remaining - Duke was unable to regain the lead. To date, this was the most heart-breaking sports experience I have every witnessed, second to none.

So here I am, brusied and bloodied as a fan that has spent the majority of their lives rooting for a team that historically hasn't been very good. Even now with the team showing some promise for the first time in a long time it still feels hollow as a result of dropping a pair of bowl games that arguably should have been won by my Blue Devils. In reality, that's a glass half-empty way to look at it. The team has undergone a renaissance under Coach Cutcliffe, and if the last two seasons are any indication, they're only going to get better going forward. So as every summer/fall starts for me, Let's Go Duke!

-Alex

On and Off the Wagon: Bandwagon Fans

Bandwagon fans are always an interesting bunch. Many self-proclaimed die-hard fans seem besides themselves when mentioning the term. Personally I have been on multiple sides of the argument. I've been a die-hard fan in favor of bandwagon fans, a die-hard fan against bandwagon fans, and as far as I can tell, have also been a bandwagon fan a time or two.

In this post I hope to be able to talk about being in all of these situations and examine why it was I felt the way I did at the time. Let's look at a few personal examples.

Chicago White-Sox - in favor of bandwagon fans
My father grew-up a Chicago Cubs fan and my mother a Chicago White-Sox fan. There was never any turmoil in the house as I was raised to be a fan of both (I would like to take a second to point out that this is not the same as a fair-weather fan). Regardless of the rivalry, there came a point in the mid 2000's that I grew very unhappy with some of the Cubs roster decisions and decided to turn my full focus to the Chicago White-Sox. Now is also a good moment to provide you with some history about Chicago and how the Cubs and White-Sox fandom is generally distributed in and around the city. First, Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs) is located due north of the city in the safe North Side of Chicago. The Cubs generally attract those that live north, west and in the city of Chicago. Cellular One Field (home of the White-Sox) is located due south of the city on the dangerous South Side of Chicago. The White-Sox generally attract those that live on the south and in the city of Chicago. Second, Chicago fandom has historically heavily favored the Cubs for a number of reasons, with the White-Sox generally being referred to as the Second City's, Second Team. 

If you follow baseball and remember the 2005 season, then you already know that the White-Sox would end up winning the World Series that year. I remember what was always a near empty stadium suddenly being sold-out. Sure there were the old die-hard fans in the stands, but there was also a large group of younger fans that looked as though they had bought their first White-Sox apparel on the way into the stadium. 

Duke Football - against bandwagon fans
Believe it or not, I have been a Duke football fan for nearly my entire life. Duke football has historically been known to have one of the worst football programs in the United States. Except for a rare bright spot here or there, Duke almost always ends up at the bottom of their division and has been consistently ranked as one of the worst 10 Division I programs. 

The 2012-13 season was not only during my second year at graduate school at Duke, but was also the first season in nearly two decades (1994) that Duke had a good enough season to be bowl eligible (I'd like to say winning season, but in reality they finished 6-6). I only missed a single home game that season when I returned home for Thanksgiving, and with the exception of the Duke vs. UNC game, the stadium was nearly empty the entire season.

The 2013-14 season was one for the record books. Duke completed its first ever double digit win season (10), played in the ACC Championship, and went to a relatively well respected bowl game (Chick-fil-A Bowl). Granted, I wasn't able to make every home game since I was now working full-time in DC, but I still made it down to about half of the home games. Attendance throughout the beginning of the season was still pretty typical, you could here an echo if you were seated in the right part of the stadium. When the Blue Devils were closing in on 10 wins for the first time in history however, something incredible happened - the stadium started to fill up to nearly 75% of capacity! The sea of brand new blue Duke football jerseys was quite a sight. 

USA Soccer - being a bandwagon fan
I have always liked soccer. I played growing up and during high-school. But as a major league or national sport, I never paid much attention to it. That is, until the 2014 Brazil World Cup in which the United States somehow made it out of the "death division." 

I found myself talking about soccer at work, with friends, and with complete strangers on the metro and at the local pub. I was glued to the screen during not only the USA matchups but during any matchup that might have a direct effect on whether the USA moved on to the next round. I even stayed up until 4 a.m. while on vacation in Prague in order to watch the exhilarating win over Portugal - that was a lot of fun.

Closing
So what is the difference between all of these situations? I was very excited and very passionate for each of these teams to win. I was surrounded by countless others who were also very passionate about obtaining a winning outcome. So why is it that these three examples all fall into different categories, all with a different spectrum of emotions attached to them? Honestly, I'm not exactly sure, which is what makes me think that there's absolutely nothing wrong with feeling one way or the other. However, it does make me think that fans generally take the wrong point of view when trying to segment these types of categories.

In reality, there are a lot of appealing things about getting excited about a sports team. The sense of comradery, sense of belonging, sense of being the best, or rising against the odds are all fulfilling emotions that are fun and exciting to feel and be a part of. So instead, maybe the thing to recognize is that everyone has a different relationship to sports and various teams. Some people live and breath their favorite teams, while others may be too busy during the year to expend the time and deal with emotional roller-coaster of every teams ups and downs.

And come on, is it really that big of a deal if you are a die-hard fan sitting next to a bandwagoner? All it means is that there is someone sitting next to you that is also excited about seeing your favorite team succeed - even if it is only temporary. At the end of the day you know you're the real die-hard ;)

-Alex

1 Year In

It’s been a year – crazy how quickly it went! I figure that 1 year in, I should share 1 lesson learned.

No Task Is Too Small
Cliché, I know. However, cliché’s exist for a reason. No task is too small, especially when you’re starting out. Carrying out tasks to the best of your ability, no matter the task, will make you stand out to those around you. It might not pay off immediately, but if you do it enough times, someone with real influence will notice. That’s not to say your career will be fast tracked or anything, but building a reputation of excellence will carry you far.

For example, I was not expecting to be in a position of having to hire someone a year into work, but after some unforeseen changes above me, I was promoted and am now the hiring manager to backfill my position. I had an intern who I think would have been great for the role, but one of the organizations higher ups had a bad experience in which the intern thought they were above the task being assigned. Needless to say, they were cut out of the hiring process prior to first round interviews.

I’ve always try and look at tasks that I ordinarily might find somewhat remedial or monotonous as a way to understand the building blocks of the organization, and try to discover efficiencies in the executions of these tasks, Approaching this with the mindset of knowing you won’t be doing it forever and this is potentially the one opportunity in this stage of your career to really understand the work at hand. It is much easier to create efficiencies, develop strategy, and create effective change if you fully understand a process, not just from an observer’s perspective.

Next year we’ll shoot for 2 lessons learned.

-Alex

Do or Die: The 30 Minute Job Application

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post entitled, "Do or Die: The 1 Hour Conference Preparation". The reason I wrote that piece was because I wanted job applicants to be better prepared at conferences. The reason for today's post is to help job applicants through the application process by revealing some of the things I look for when hiring.

I think my biggest pet peeve with sifting through job applications is how quickly I get a sense for how little time people put into their job applications. And those that appeared to put in some effort often times come off as either disorganized or simply going through the motions. I realize that everyone comes from a different background and have varying degrees of experience, but no matter where you are in your life, there are some things that you can take advantage of that will make you look all that much better in front of hiring managers. I'll admit, there was a time in my life that I was filling out as many applications as I possibly could. But if I told you that spending an extra 10-20 minutes on each application could improve your chances of getting hired dramatically, would you do it? Here are a few things that even the most novice of job applicants can do in less than a half-hour:

Cover Letter

1) Mention the organization you're applying to
So many of the cover letters I receive don't use the name of the organization they're applying to and instead say something along the lines of "I'd be a great fit for your organization" - this is not to say you have to use the name of the organization that you're applying to, but try to at least use it once or twice to illustrate the fact that you know where you're applying.

2) Mention the position you're applying to
Similar to the point above, show the perspective employer that you understand you know what position you are applying to rather than refer to it as "the position".

3) Use relative keywords that are mentioned in the job description
If you're applying to a position that has an emphasis on social media, it may behoove you to make sure you mention social media somewhere in the cover letter. Often times I'm able to eliminate applications based solely on the fact that the cover letter doesn't mention any one of numerous keywords that I'm looking for.

4) Relevant experience and attributes
After establishing that you have read through the job description by following the above points, it's time for you to talk about your qualifications. Before listing everything you've ever done, consider the job description and what relevant experience you have and illustrate each of those in an organized and concise manner.

5) Keep the cover letter to less than a page in length
I know that it sometimes feels as though you need to explain your entire life story between your cover letter and resume, but let me assure you this is not the case. Instead view the cover letter as a sniff test for employers to know that you understand the position you are applying for and that you are qualified to do it. Cover letters that are too long are much less likely to be reviewed than a concise cover letter that establishes you've done some research on the position and list a couple of reasons as to why you're a good fit.

Resume

1) Edit, edit, edit
Simple but important - make sure that your resume (and everything else for that matter) is well edited. I have received many resumes and cover letters that still have edits included in them. Edits literally such as "add a bullet point here about relevant experience". If I really stop to think about it, I know that most resumes and cover letters have gone through multiple rounds of edits by other people, but please go out of your way to not make that obvious.

2) Keep the resume to less than a page in length and well organized
In the theme of being concise, your resume should be no more than a page. Similar to the cover letter, your resume should be concise and well organized. Keep it less than a page.

3) Use relative keywords that are mentioned in the job description
Again, similar to the cover letter, make sure your resume includes the keywords that are called upon in the job description. There is no faster way to eliminate a job application than by searching for keywords that are not included somewhere within a resume.

4) Be Honest
Please don't lie on your resume - it's the worst mistake you can make for everyone involved, especially yourself. I know it may be tempting to say that you know Microsoft Excel, but I find it really annoying when an applicant says that they know Excel and it turns out that in reality the applicant only used excel in the most basic of capacities. The same goes for listing Microsoft Office as a skill. If you list Microsoft Office as a skill, then I'm assuming you know the ins and outs of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and Access. The very last thing you want to do is claim that you know something when you don't.

Reaching Out and Additional Pieces of Advice

1) Informational interviews
Please refer to my blog that touches on the idea of building relationships. In all honesty I believe that informational interviews are the key to everything. I believe they are a key to everything because they involve something incredibly important - building relationships. Please read my post about developing meaningful relationships Standing on the other side...

2) LinkedIn
I know it seems obvious, but keep your LinkedIn up-to-date. In a day and age in which social media is king, LinkedIn is a great way to showcase who you are to potential employers.

3) Build your brand
Building your brand probably deserves it's own blog post, but just remember this. Everything you do, whether it be your day-to-day interactions or anything that you put online is representative of who you are and what your brand is. It seems as though that anything you ever put online is more or less there forever, even if you "deleted" it. I'm not saying you should pretend to be someone you aren't, but give the content you put online a second thought before posting it. Let's hope that all of my facebook posts of sad music I was listening to after breakups never see the light of day...

4) Other Touch-Points
In-person meetings, informational phone calls, etc, etc. The more touch-points you can acquire with people the better. Each touch-point is an opportunity for you, and no matter how small it may seem, approach each with your best foot forward, yadayadayada.

Good-luck!

-Alex

Riding an Iron Horse

"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul."
-Unknown

I wish it were simple explaining what it's like to ride a motorcycle to someone who has never been on one. The quote at the top of the page comes pretty close in my opinion. I do however want to share something with you that I share with just about everyone I talk to about motorcycles - especially those who want to start riding.

If you ever decide to start riding a motorcycle, the best money you will ever spend is on taking a safety course before you even sit on a bike (they usually provide you a helmet during any riding tutorials). Some courses are free while others can run a few hundred dollars for multiple day safety riding sessions. Either way, I cannot stress enough how important it is to understand how to fully operate a motorcycle in order to ride safely in any situation that presents itself. Also, I always try to be safe when on my bike by always gearing up before going on a ride (helmet, jacket, boots, gloves, and long-pants) and you should too.

After the safety course, a full-faced helmet is your next purchase.

The summer of 2007 was a summer to remember. I found myself back in Chicago between my junior and senior year in college working for my mother's company. It was also the summer I accidentally discovered my father had owned a motorcycle in his younger years.

My mind was set and I saved every penny I could between working at my mothers company and busing tables at a local restaurant. At the end of summer I spent everything I had earned to the last penny on my first motorcycle - a used 1997 600cc Honda Shadow. 

After several years on the back of my Honda, I decided that I needed what every young motorcycle rider has wanted at some point - more power.

My reasons for a larger engine revolved mostly around the fact that I wanted to be able to get on the highway and not have my motorcycle violently shaking at anything over 65mph. I also wanted something classic but with a modern twist that looked like nothing else on the road.

Enter the Harley Davidson 1250cc Night Rod Special, or as I call her, "Rogue". She is the love of my life on wheels.

Although taking a motorcycle out on a beautiful fall day through a winding valley is nothing short of breathtaking, you have to be aware that the vast majority of accidents happen to riders who weren't at fault - it's all the vehicles and hazards around you. Gear up and set yourself up for the safest ride possible.

-Alex

Standing on the other side...

It has been a while since my last post - a byproduct of working around the clock I'm sure. But I'm back now and hopefully more often going forward. The inspiration of this post comes from my attending the SINC conference in Washington DC this past weekend. Instead of being an attendee looking for a job, I found myself on the other end of the table - someone with a job speaking with the new up and coming sports industry leaders. While at the conference, I engaged with attendees in several different capacities. One was a lunch round-table in which I spoke about my experience in breaking into the industry and working at Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Another was during informational interviews I had scheduled before the conference with a handful of individuals that expressed interest in future potential internships. And finally, informal chats with other attendees in the halls outside of the panel sessions throughout the day. A recurring question across these interactions kept coming up and got me thinking a little more deeply about ways in which one breaks into the industry.

The question: "What is the best way to break into the sports industry?"

The answer: "Relationships."

My interactions at the Conference got me thinking about the quality of relationships we form both before and after breaking into the industry. Moreover, the conversations I had kept being steered by attendees towards "at what point do I ask about internships or full-time openings?" Although understandable, I found this a bit frustrating. Frustrating because to me it feels like so many people are missing the value of networking and relationship building.

In terms of building relationships, you can't start trying to make them at the last minute - i.e. when open positions are being posted. Building quality relationships (in any industry) occurs when you're not looking for something immediately in return - like an internship or job. Building real quality relationships almost always happens when you aren’t asking for anything in return other than knowledge. That is not to say you can't rely on your network of relationships to ask for help or recommendations for helping you obtain an internship or job, it's just to say that the atmosphere in which the relationship is created needs to be for something other than just getting a job. The relationship needs to be authentic.

For me, I was always of the mindset that all of my encounters with industry professionals were strictly to learn more about them and their work. My intentions were never to get a job but rather to learn more about the industry. As it turned out, by reaching out to others in the industry for more information, I built a number of quality relationships. Many of my connections in the industry were just a single touch point, but I like to think I left an impression as someone who was knowledgeable and looking to grow as a professional instead of someone looking for a job. In fact, many of the conversations I had were with individuals at organizations I didn't believe I had an interest in working for - but I did want to learn as much about the different parts of the sports industry and what people thought about their positions and about popular industry topics.

I recommend making as many quality relationships as you can. Many will never end up being the direct reason you get a job later on, but they will add to your knowledge about the industry and how everything connects. And that knowledge will help take you where you want to go.

-Alex

So you want to go to business school?

So you want to go to business school? That's great, I highly recommend it. Although I'm obviously biased on this subject, let me throw out a few things to consider when trying to pick the school for you. 

Again, I am highly biased in much of what I'm about to write, but I hope my opinions prove to be helpful in that they force you to consider what matters to you when looking at various programs. Let me also point out that my thoughts pertain to daytime business school programs as I do not have experience with any executive or remote programs.

I'll walk through various criteria you might want to consider when looking. If you haven't guessed by now, let me go ahead and spoil the ending - there is no right or wrong answer, just variables to consider when deciding which program is best for you. I say this because potentially going to a less well known program may do more for you than going to Harvard or Stanford (yes seriously).

Ranking
Although I refer to this section as "ranking", I think a better way to talk about this is to actually talk about "tiers". In my eyes, there are 3 tiers to most type of schools, including business schools. You may be familiar with the term of "top 10". In reality the programs that are consistently ranked in the actual top 15 should all be considered to be a "top 10" program due to the fact that most of these schools are ranked in the top 10 in one ranking report or another. I consider these 15 schools to be in the "Tier 1" category. After Tier 1 comes Tier 2 - these are the schools whose names might not consistently be Tier 1, but whose names and brands are nationally recognized. After Tier 2 of course is Tier 3 - schools that may have great programs but are only more locally recognized as being so. 

Many people may be drawn to only considering going after Tier 1 programs, but in my opinion this is not the most important factor to consider when conducting your search. People automatically associate Tier 1 being better than Tier 3, but this is not necessarily the case.

Location
I think location is a huge factor when considering what program you want to go to, and this ties in well with the tier of school you are also looking at. Of course the type of industry that you want to eventually end up in may dictate this to some degree, but allow me to discuss the relationship between attending a school in a big city like New York City vs. attending a school in a smaller place like Durham, NC - and like most things in life, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

I found that attending school in a smaller city ended up being very beneficial for my growth as an individual as well as beneficial to the network (more thoughts on this in a moment) I created while at school. After speaking with friends who attended NYU Stern in New York City, it became apparent to me that although they spent time making connections in their program, that at the end of the day they returned to their apartment in the city and generally ended up continuing to spend a lot of time with the friends they had before entering into school. One of the many things I loved about my time at Duke was the fact that I, like more or less everyone else in my class, relocated to Durham knowing virtually no one in the surrounding area. This situation forced us to spend time with our classmates not only in the classroom and library, but back in Durham after the day was over and every weekend. We spent nearly every minute of every day within close proximity with one another and this gave us the opportunity to forge incredibly tight-bond with one another as a result. In a matter of months I had spent more one-on-one time getting to know those around me than I had with most of the people I considered to be close friends in 4 years of college. I feel like the difference in experiencing a larger city is that you are much more likely to already know someone around you which eventually eats time in your schedule that you would otherwise be spending with your fellow classmates. And yes, even if you're going to be heading to a large city that you may not know anyone in, you can probably count on classmates of yours knowing people there and otherwise somewhat unavailable in time spent getting to know one another.

A very real advantage of picking a program in a large city is literally the amount of opportunities in the form of jobs and networking in your backyard. This however has a lot to do with the industry in which you want to work and how difficult it may be to break into. Again, trade offs always exist, but my gut is that the school in which you attend, ergo the location in which the program you choose is located, will help you get your first job after graduating. Your second, third and fourth jobs are going to be because of the people you forged bonds with while at school. So with that...

Network
I alluded to this in the prior point - your program is most likely designed to help you leverage the brand that they provide to get you your first job after school. Yes, this may be all you need, but I believe in a lot of cases it ends up being the network you develop with those around you at school that will help you get that second, third, or fourth job - and I think a lot of people miss this point since it's easy to get caught up in the short-term.

The network that you choose to become a part of also expands past the individuals that you'll meet while at school. I refer to the fact that the your network may help you down the road, but this includes the alums of your program as well. A quick example. I went to an extremely small school for college. My graduating class was only about 400 people. However, whenever I run into someone that went to my school, there is almost always a sense of pride, comradery and allegiance to help one another. Although I've never had to leverage any of these connections for a job, I've always felt that they would (as would I) go an extra mile to set me up for success. I've been incredibly fortunate in my life to meet some great people and acquire some amazing mentors along the way, a few of which were because of the network created through the program I was in.

Brand
So lets be honest, part of going to business school is that you're essentially buying a brand. The brand is made up of all the elements that are outlined above and below and then some. The then some are all of the intangibles that are nearly impossible to explain about a brand. It's the community, the personalities, the faculty and everything else in-between.

Specialty
A sort of "trump card" when also considering the factor of location. Is it better to go to a better ranked program or to a better ranked program in regards to what you want to do after school? Honestly I don't want to touch this debate with a 10 ft pole, but I'll offer this up:

When I decided to go back to school to get my MBA it was because I wanted to gain a better understanding of sound business practices. A problem that I struggled with before the program started and during the first few months after getting started was determining what is it I wanted to do when I grew up. So for me, my decision was more heavily influenced by some of the other stated factors.

Cost
An important factor for anyone considering going back to business school. Graduate school, business school especially is a huge investment. I can't really comment much on this since everyone comes from a different background with different financial means. Whether you have a full scholarship, partial scholarship, or are paying for the entire thing on your own, it's a decision you have to make for yourself in regards to what you intend to get out of business school. A $100k investment may be the right choice for you (whether that's out of pocket or in the form of loans or something in-between), but it also may not - I can't really say much more since you know your situation better than anyone else.

I already spoiled the ending but to recap, there is no right or wrong answer. What ended up being right for me isn't going to necessarily be right for you as there are dozens of factors even beyond what I have talked about here - if you have a family, if you're an exchange student, etc, etc. 

-Alex

When fans attack - Chicago Cubs edition

This new segment is called "when fans attack". No, not the physical altercations you see on television and read about, but instead when fans and their beloved organizations are in disagreement about something. I'll do my best to sort through the mess and provide you both sides of the argument and what you should be thinking about from a business perspective - both for your organizations sake, and for your fans sake.

Disclaimer: there are a handful of subtleties and small details that I haven't included in this piece. I'm trying to leave you instead with a relatively broad overview of the situation.

Where better to start than my old hometowns' Chicago Cubs?

The issue:

Wrigley Field is a historical site that has served as a right-of-passage for Chicagoans and as a pilgrimage for baseball fans around the world. In the first quarter of 2013, talks started to heat up about renovations and "improvements" that the Cubs wanted to make to their park. The problem is that when something like Wrigley Field is viewed as more than just a normal building or stadium, making any changes to it is met with stark opposition. In the case of the Cubs, the changes they proposed had both immediate neighbors living around the stadium and the city as a whole up in arms.

What the Cubs want:

A restoration of the nearly 100 year old stadium that would improve the amenities for both players and fans. The restorations would include improved facilities for players and larger clubhouses (Wrigley currently has the smallest in Major League Baseball), new concession stands, wider concourses, more restaurants, and an overall upgraded entertainment experience. In addition to these significant upgrades, the Cubs also want a 6,000 square foot video board in left-center field, increased sponsorship signage, and a party deck in the left field corner.

In short, the Cubs want to give their digs a face-lift that would provide fans with nicer amenities and give the Cubs an opportunity to increase sponsorship revenue through increased signage.

How the fans feel about it:

There are several different types of "fans" that have qualms. You first complaint comes from your typical die-hard Cubs fan that doesn't want to see a single thing changed about Wrigley Field due to its history. In their eyes, to change anything about Wrigley Field is like taking a blow torch to the Mona Lisa or flooding the Sistine Chapel.

The second (and more loudly heard) complaint comes from the rooftop owners. If you don't know this about Wrigley Field, there is a series of apartment buildings outside but around the outfield that sell seats on their roofs since they offer great sight-lines of the games. Their complaint is that a new video board and additional signage would hurt the sight-lines of their rooftop seats.

Other things going on behind the scenes:

As you can imagine, the community and city of Chicago was up in arms about the proposed changes for one reason or another. Then came the open-ended proposal by the City of Rosemont. For those of you unfamiliar with Chicagoland, Rosemont is a growing city that sits northwest of Chicago with a population of approximately 4,000 people and is made up mostly of O'Hare airport, office buildings, parking garages, a convention center, a casino and dozens of restaurants. Not only that, but to get from downtown Chicago to Rosemont (without a major professional team located there) takes about an hour because of traffic.

The proposal? Come bring the Cubs to Rosemont! We'll give you land for the stadium for FREE and help assist in building a new stadium with public funding. BOOM! That's about as sexy an offer as getting Albert Pujols, and Mariano Rivera from 10 years ago in exchange for Carlos Marmol... kidding, relax Cubs fans.

My take:

There was a time in my life that I would have been one of the people screaming in opposition of touching a single brick on Wrigley Field or on any real historic ballpark or stadium for that matter. After-all, these old parks and stadiums is all a die-hard fan like myself has to feel connected to the past before everything became so seemingly commercial. However, now that I'm a bit older and realize that most if not all teams exist at the end of the day to make money, I have a bit of a different view. Until the day comes that fans are willing to pay straight out of their own pockets to offset the relative gains in sponsorship dollars, then fans don't have much of a leg to stand on in the complaint department. There may be a balance between generating revenue and making the experience at games miserable with too many ads, but for the most part, fans get over change.

My other thought pertains to the proposal by the city of Rosemont for the Cubs to relocate to their city with all sorts of financial help as incentive. I had the unique opportunity to sit-down with a high-up executive at the Cubs while all of this was unfolding, and they asked me this question:

If none of the professional sports teams in Chicago existed and you were looking to put a baseball team in the Chicagoland area, where would you put it?

At first I sort of smiled since I thought the question was going to allow me to show off some of my awesome MBA skills and market analysis techniques, yadayadayada - barf. But after a few moments I realized a few things.

1) You wouldn't put a stadium in the middle of downtown Chicago since the sheer cost of land, construction and parking issues to name a few would make it a pure nightmare.

2) You wouldn't put a stadium to the south, or more notably to the north of Chicago (where the Cubs are located currently) due to the urban surroundings. Zoning would be a disaster, you're always going to have someone in the neighborhood that's upset about something, and it would be nearly impossible to make any changes as a result of the whole thing....

3) Um... you'd actually end-up putting a team somewhere west of the city... somewhere like a Rosemont... As the late Harry Caray would say, "Holy Cow".

So now you have an issue in which you have a team in a location that isn't really all that ideal for them because of all the red tape they have to cut through to make any changes. The city is complaining, the neighborhood is complaining and the fans are complaining about all the potential changes that Wrigley wants to make. And what do you think happened when the offer from Rosemont came along giving the Cubs the option to relocate? The neighborhood went nuts, the city went nuts, the fans went nuts - "the Cubs can't move, what about the neighborhood, what about the revenue the Cubs bring to the area, what about all the small businesses that would suffer?" Seems like a catch-22 for the neighborhood and the city in a lot of ways.

All one has to do is look at the 10 year plan in Boston with the Fenway renovation which added 3,500 seats, larger concourses and more convenient concessions locations for fans to understand the potential value renovations could have. Fenway had a date with a demolition team until these changes were made and saved the ballpark. The project, which was at first met with opposition similar to that of Cubs, is today considered to have been an incredible success for both the fans and the organization. Now are the Cubs ever really going to relocate? No, it would be a traumatic experience for the entire city and I don't think the Cubs for a second seriously considered moving to Rosemont. But when you really think about it, the Cubs organization seems to be the one stuck between a rock and a hard place, and frankly I feel bad for them.

Where the issue stands today:

As you can imagine, it was a huge dogfight back and forth about what the community and city was going to allow, and what they weren't. To date, it seems as though more and more people are coming around on the idea - especially if it means not having to move the team and "saving Wrigley" - although the field itself is not in any danger of actually being torn down. Currently, plans for the renovation are under review by Lakeview residents and City Hall.

Final Remarks:

Change can be a scary thing that brings with it a lot of unknowns. Sometimes people and fans however need to better understand and consider the full picture around them... and by the way, the Cubs making more money means a better team... for whatever that's worth.

And if there is any fan base in organized sports around the world that could use some change and a break from history more than the Cubs, good luck finding it.

-Alex

You finally got an offer in sports... but should you take it?

You did it! Congratulations! You literally beat out the tens of thousands of people applying for jobs in the sports industry. Most people would jump at the opportunity and sign-on immediately. But not you. You're smarter than that. Let me tell you why...

Not all jobs in sports are created equal. For that matter, not all jobs with the same exact title and responsibilities are created equal either - and it is this concept that I want to focus on in this entry.

During the early stages of my full-time career search after college, I received a job offer to join a company. At first I was ecstatic. Then I became cautious. Then I second guessed the whole thing, which caused me to reach out to friends throughout the industry who helped me with some key pieces of advice that I'm going to pass your way and how it relates to looking for a job in the sports industry.

1) Consider the area around you.

Lets be honest, a Billings, Montana is not a New York City. And although there really is only one New York City, there are a lot of cities in the United States that offer similar types of opportunities. The very real truth is that 36 of our 50 states have at least two professional sports teams from either the MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, or NHL. Since networking in the sports world never ends, a city with multiple sports teams, agencies, networks, etc will make life easier for you when it comes to expanding your network.

2) Consider your upward mobility.

Are you going to be in a position to eventually earn a promotion? There are a lot of seemingly dead end jobs in the sports industry. Think about the type of role you're going to have, who you're going to have exposure to, and whether or not there is going to be a need for you in 6 months, a year, etc. I'm just saying, I've seen a lot of job postings that have either no upward mobility or are temporary positions that assist an already full department.

3) Consider who you're reporting to.

Now this can be pretty difficult to figure out, but is important that you do your best to determine. Are you going to be reporting to someone that is going to be your advocate and help you get promoted or bring you with them on their promotions? Just be sure to have your manager or boss be someone working with you and not against you.

4) Consider who you'll have access to.

Beyond your manager, what other parts of the business are you going to be able to learn about? Learning your particular job is important, but understanding how all of the moving parts of an organization work together in unison could be equally important for your development and advancement. If you're working in finance but will also have the opportunity to talk to people and learn about the marketing department or ticket sales and how each of those departments function, you'll be in a great spot. Try to understand the big picture.

5) Consider the brand you'll be working for.

Brand isn't everything, but it is something. I hate to say it because it's them, but working for the New York Yankees is going to open more doors than having worked for the Baby Blue Rams of Sanctuary Hill - see what I did there ;) . In all seriousness, consider the power of the brand you'll be working for, whether it's a team, agency, network, etc. Although probably not a deal breaker either way, have an understanding of how it could work in your favor.

6) Consider the length of the commitment.

Apparently I'm super old fashioned when it comes to job commitment. My father and mother (and probably yours for that matter) are from a generation in which it was not uncommon to work for only one, maybe two companies for their entire career. I am of the generation in which it probably won't be uncommon to work for six or seven different organizations by retirement. However, although I may be of this six or seven different organizations generation, I am attracted to the idea of working for one organization for a long period of time so long as it is the right fit and challenges me. Different folks, different strokes no doubt, but also consider how long you want to be somewhere and whether or not you'd be burning a bridge if you leave too quickly.

7) Consider the opportunity for personal growth.

Without going into my own personal philosophy on life and what it's all about and what we should all try to take away from it, take a minute to consider the personal growth opportunity that a position offers you. Are you going to be able to learn and grow as a person and employee? Are you going to be more valuable coming out of a position as you were going into it? If you're going to be running around as a glorified coffee boy, what value are you really obtaining? There is something to be said about "earning your stripes", but just be certain that you are going to grow and learn in the position you are in, or else it's just a flat waste of your time.

All I have to go on are my observations and the encounters that I have had. I would be interested to hear from other people about what they think and what else they would include that I may have missed.

Oh and if you actually did get an offer, congrats!

-Alex

Embracing the Great Unknown...

I looked for a dramatic picture... this is from a hike outside of Santa Fe, NM

With graduation now behind me I am left facing the great unknown (see awesome photo above for dramatic symbolism) - the real world without a job. It would be misleading for me to say that my current state of unemployment is due to a lack of options. A more accurate explanation would be to say that my circumstance is a result of my being picky.

Have I been to multiple interviews over the last several months? Yes. Have I gotten offers? Yes. Have I taken any to date? No. Why? Because they weren't the right fit for me. Some people ask why I applied at all in the first place. To that I respond:

"…before a first date you can do as much research as you want, but at the end of the day you're still left with a bunch of speculation as to what that person is really like. They might seem sexy, smart, well put together, and seemingly a perfect match for you. But it's not really until you get through that first, second, third date that you can start to form a more accurate picture of what that person is actually like. Why should a job search be any different?"

What I think a lot of job candidates miss in an interview, is an understanding that they should be interviewing the prospective company just as much as that prospective company is interviewing them. Most of the time it seems as though candidates forget the fact that getting the interview in the first place is an indication by the company that they already feel as though you're qualified for the job. What they want to determine is who you are as a person, what you're about, how you are going to fit within the system they have in place, and whether you have what it is going to take to succeed in their environment. As a candidate, why not take the opportunity to find out the same things about the company? At the end of the day, everyone will end up being happier - no matter what the outcome is.

With that said however, being picky is also a very real and potentially dangerous gamble. It seems like everyone I talk to in the sports industry tells me to just get my foot in the door. Once I do that, I can then figure out what it is I really want to do and where I want to go. I get that, I really really get that. I have seen up-close how difficult it is to break into the industry full-time. I also understand that working in the sports industry is about "earning your stripes" and working your way up the ranks. But I can't help but feel utterly under-appreciated and under-utilized by being told I'm going to be making minimum wage while carrying out a monotonous task. I'm not necessarily looking to get rich, but I at the very least want to be challenged, I want to use my skills and knowledge, I want to be valued, and I genuinely just want to grow as a person. So then comes the response "Alex, if you want all of these things in your first job after business school, the sports industry is not the place to get them. You knew all of this when you went down the path of pursuing a job in the sports industry."

I disagree. I think it simply takes a fine balance between being picky and being realistic about what exists. So it's May 17, 2013 and I don't have the slightest clue as to where I am going to end up. I have some hopes as to job opportunities I want to come through, but at the end of the day that's all I have right now - hope that this "gamble" pays off.

I have no idea what tomorrow is going to bring, but for now I embrace it with open arms (how poetic of me).

-Alex

Graduation Thoughts: Stay as long as you can...

Immediately after crossing the stage, I thought to myself "now what?"

5/11/13 - The day I graduated with my MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business - aka the day another chapter in my life closed, aka the day the fun stopped and the real stress of life started, aka the day I officially became unemployed.

Obviously I'm only being half serious about the fun stopping, but I am definitely left wondering what the next chapter of my life is going to bring (and for those of you new to my blog, I am pursuing a job in the sports industry). In a lot of ways, my continued job search is an effort to start writing what the next chapter is going to be about. I'm also left to wonder whether or not this whole thing is all going to work out. I certainly have the talent and the confidence to succeed, but there are definitely days in which I wonder whether luck is going to be on my side.

I use the word "luck" above because that's what the majority of the people I talk to in the industry refer to - that it took a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time. I'm a firm believer that you create your own luck in life, and that hasn't changed. But it's hard not to notice having to work infinitely harder to secure the type of full-time job I want. This statement is not intended to say I want to give up, quite the contrary, actually; I like a challenge and believe the payoff will be worth the wait - however, recruiting for sports is definitely a different animal than trying to get into banking, consulting, general management, etc. The primary difference is that there is no one "proven" track that will get you from A to B.

Look for a post later in the week that'll have a deeper dive on what is going through my head at this point. My advice at this point to anyone who is or will be in a similar position: "Don't Panic". It's okay to graduate and not have something completely secured yet. Keep working hard and continue to become an expert in what it is you want to do - use this downtime to become even more knowledgeable. I'm sure I'll be writing about my first dive into the industry in the next couple of weeks or months.

-Alex

PS - I think the timing is right to quote the film Billy Madison, "Stay here. Stay here as long as you can. For the love of God, cherish it. You have to cherish it."