About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
About Me:
Who says a theater girl can't love sports? I may be a Northwestern graduate, but I'm an Ohio State Buckeye at heart. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I relocated to New York City to find a life on the stage. After four years of trying, (and finding some
As some of you may (or may not) know...I love to moonlight as a sportswriter. I had loads of success with my blog at FoxSports.com, but I have moved on to a new position, writing for The Columbus Dispatch!!!
I was recently selected by the sports department at the Columbus Dispatch to blog about Ohio State Football. (Could there be a more appropriate job for me?) To read my winning entry, click here.
For the next year I'll be writing for The Dispatch Online at their BuckeyeXtra site, where I have my own blog called "Sports and the City." I posted my first article today and I'm pretty proud of where I have come since joining the blogging world several years ago. I'll be publishing about 2-3 times a week, and I promise it will be about sports and football, but I won't write exclusively on Ohio State. Please check it out, comment, and enjoy this new chapter of my sports writing career!
No one said getting drafted would be easy. I'm sure Brady Quinn never expected the hardest part of Saturday would be to "sit and look pretty."
Grace under pressure is easily harder than being tackled by a lineman. When the quarterback releases the ball and takes it to the gut with a crushing blow, any player would gladly take the physical hit versus the emotional smack of public embarrassment. While I've never been a Brady Quinn fan, I had to feel sorry for the poor kid as he sat there in uncomfortable silence as other names were called before his.
No one likes to be the last one picked in gym class when they were 10 and no one likes to feel overlooked when they are 20. Quinn's poise during Saturday's draft makes him a prime player for the NFL: one who is humble, well-composed, and a perfect role-model. (See Tiki Barber, for example.) Perhaps he's too clean for the NFL, someone who would make a better suit than a uniform. Regardless, he has enough fire in his spirit to start with the Browns and prove his standing. The Browns won a goldmine in their 22nd pick: they got the QB they wanted who is inspired to prove his critics wrong.
Even if Brady hadn't gotten picked until a later round, or not picked at all, the kid has more potential in his thumb to make something of himself than most college graduates have in their degrees. He'll succeed regardless of vocation...but will he be the next Tom Brady? Remember, Brady was No. 199 when he was drafted. The truth is in the rings, not in the numbers.
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In other news: I accepted my offer to attend Columbia University's School of Journalism as a New Media graduate student.
Thursday, April 12, 2007, 01:42 AM EST
[Pacman Jones]
To satiate any curious bloggers, life in Vegas is going a little too well. I'm not complaining, just terrified of when the other shoe might drop.
'Mamma Mia!' does have a closing date...for September 2008, so I still have a job for over a year, but I might be leaving early to attend graduate school. We are nearly sold out every night, so that's 1,750 butts in 1,750 seats, which is better than even the Broadway company! I'm not saving as much money as I'd like because I have learned to be a very savy Blackjack player...but so far I'm about even.
The coolest part about living in Vegas is reading the trashy magazines and realizing that the same night you visited the Playboy Club at the Palms, some B-list celebrity was also there causing trouble. I'm afraid that I did miss the Pacman Jones incident, but with all the ghetto action that frequented the NBA All-Star weekend and several of the boxing matches, a disgruntled NFL player hardly turns an eyebrow in this town.
Word to the wise: the Playboy Club is cool, but it will send you to the poor house. The Palms is okay, but the Hard Rock Casino is pretty great, especially if you want to hang out with people where the median age is roughly 28. Body English is a crazy club where you'll find a smorgasbord of drugs in the bathroom...not that I did any, but I saw numerous bouncers flushing them down the toilet after they confiscated them off patrons. My favorite place to play is the Red Rock Casino, a local joint that is near Red Rock National Park. They have great $10 blackjack tables and the smoking isn't as bad as it is on the strip. The scene is a little more casual and it's a 10 minute drive from my apartment
Not that I'm a local, but if you have 48 hours in the city of sin, you have to drive through Red Rock Canyon (it is okay to see the light of day in Vegas), watch the Bellagio water show at night, and have drinks at the Wynn at 'The Country Club Bar' (because I know the bartender and the view of the golf course is stunning!) I also recommend showing some self-restraint when you are gambling. Finally, from personal experience, the rooms at theHotel at Mandalay Bay are to die for!
Okay, enough of my insiders guide...grad school has turned in to a hot race! I thought USC was my best bet, but Boston surprised me with a big scholarship and then came back and told me they are flying to Vegas to wine and dine me for a fellowship that would bring my total merit award to $26,000 a year to attend BU. That completely changed my opinion of Boston...until I got my acceptance to Columbia University. Um, HELLO!!! We're talking ivy league! How cool is that?! It would put me back in New York, back with my fianc
Why does it suck so much to be a Buckeye? I mean, come on. We made it to both the football and basketball national championship games this year. Granted, we choked in football, and we really didn't stand a chance in basketball, but why did we have to lose to Florida in both games? It's never fun being a punching bag. Gawd...I almost feel like the Cubs fans right now. Will the pain ever end?
Oh yea, I got in to USC and Boston for graduate school in journalism. I got wait-listed for NYU and I'm just waiting on Columbia. If I get in to Columbia, that's where I am going. My heart is pulling for USC but Boston offered me 10K to go to their school. What's a girl to do?
To be completely objective...was it really so surprising that Florida won? Not really. Did I want to see Noah beat his chest in joy? Definitely not!!! Man, I can't stand that kid. At least Greg Oden is the silent type. Of course, he'll be silent in the NBA by next season. I hate to see him go, but what's the point in sticking around? If I was 19 years old and people offered me millions of dollars to play basketball, I doubt I'd turn it down. Then again, I'm just stoked that some school wants to offer me 10K to pay for one semester of graduate school.
One month ago I was lamenting the end of the college football season. I was stressed out with graduate school admissions and worried I'd never find the perfect job that would let me live out all my aspirations as a professional actress or writer. I watched my Chicago Bears implode in the Super Bowl and have patiently watched the college basketball scene alter its shape every weekend.
Just when you least it expect it, life slaps you in the butt and shakes you silly. I had nailed my admissions tests, was trying to find money to pay for school, and accepted the fact that I was not going to see my dream of performing on a major stage. I was resolved that this was how it was going to be...that was until my phone rang on Tuesday morning at 11AM.
"Tracy, are you available to move to join the Las Vegas company of 'Mamma Mia?' This isn't an offer, just checking availability." I was stunned. I started to sweat and silently freak out. Las Vegas? Mamma Mia? Move? Now? When? How long? Holy sh*$! How was I supposed to go through my day, wondering if my life was about to change?
By 2:00PM I had my offer: a permanent replacement in the Las Vegas production of 'Mamma Mia' at Mandalay Bay, a fully-furnished corporate apartment for one year, a car, a killer salary, a 401K, full health insurance and the reality that my oldest dream was about to become a reality! To top it off, I was going to be in Vegas and starting rehearsals during All-Star week!!!
Of course the boyfriend was concerned. 'How can you leave me? What will I do? It's Vegas: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!' I couldn't blame him. If my boyfriend told me 'Hey, I have to move to Vegas for work,' I'd be skeptical too. After many long conversations, he came to see the positive side of this situation: he'll have to come to Vegas twice a month to visit his girlfriend! (That isn't so bad!)
Sure, it's a great job and the long distance thing will suck, but this is my one-in-a-lifetime chance to realize a dream that I've had since I was a little girl. The best part is, as I'll be working in Mandalay Bay this week in the theater, just a few steps away from the NBA All-Star Jam Session at Mandalay's Convention Center. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be wandering down that hall a few times a day, hoping to catch a glimpse of the All-Star line-up and plunder some swag.
My dream has come true, I'm moving to Vegas, and I also got engaged last night. Yea, it's been a big week. I'm nervous as hell, thrilled beyond belief, and scared to death. Who needs an NBA All-Star when I just became the luckiest Broadway Baby with a gorgeous diamond ring to flaunt around the strip? School is still in the cards, but I'll have to wait for those admissions letters before I can plan the next step. While the All-Star events will seem unbelievable, nothing compares to the week I've had or the year I am about to embark on. Life comes at you fast, but I don't need Nationwide to keep me safe: I've got my love, my dream, and my imagination to keep me afloat!
I'm back and will be posting the events from Mandalay all week. Cheers!
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