June 15, 2011

Plug!

When I entered college in the fall of 2000, I wanted to be either a high school history teacher or a computer programmer.1 The only writing I did was for class or self-amusement. I spent most of my extracurricular time in high school running cross country and going to movies with girls.2

Desperate for something to do in college, I ended up going to a meeting for the school paper. I went to the sports department because I am incredibly shy — even moreso then — and the guy who was senior sports editor also ran track at my high school, so I kinda knew him.

A year and a half later, I’m a sports editor and I managed to land an internship at Comcast SportsNet’s website.3 Problem was, I had to get credit for it per SportsNet’s policy. They never actually checked this, so I could have just lied, but I didn’t know this at the time. My school didn’t offer credit for internships, so I reached out to a guy who didn’t even know me, Robert Strauss, and asked if he’d do an independent study about sportswriting in association with my internship. He almost immediately said yes.

Seriously, that’s what I remember. It was as simple as coming up with a plan, emailing him and eventually I was writing school papers in addition to my internship work. This was an incredibly nice thing for someone to do. It was an enjoyable class, my transcript says “ComcastSportsNet.com” on it and Strauss has been a friend and mentor to this day, even if I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people.

During my time in college, I had the pleasure of taking classes from people who wrote some incredible books.4 And now Strauss has written a one, Daddy’s Little Goalie: A Father, His Daughters, and Sports, which will be my Father’s Day gift to my dad this year.5 (Plug!) If you’re looking for a Father’s Day gift for your sports-loving dad, it’s worth considering.

As it so happens, Strauss wrote a story in the Inquirer today about authors plugging their own books; the lede features Jen Miller, whose Jersey Shore guidebook I should also have mentioned a while ago. (Plug!) I owe Jen her own post, but for now here’s a short mention in the end of this essay, which, true to form, was mostly about me.

1 This was before I realized I could get a job being a professional jackass, which is pretty much my career so far. Thank you, ARPA!

2 As such, I have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of movies released from, roughly, 1997 to 2000. If you’re a Dan McQuade completist, you should also know I was vice president of Community Service Corps and a member of both NHS and the Astronomy Club. My freshman year, I was a member of National Horror Society, the horror-movie club that had one or two viewings.

3 To give you an idea of how long ago this was: The website was, at the time, run by just two people, and we had to update the HTML by hand. Also, it was part of the marketing department.

4 My autographed copy of Anthony DeCurtis’ In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work is a treasured possession, and the time I did a reading with him at Kelly Writers House is a life highlight.

5 I’m an only child, but the book ought to be applicable enough, plus my father’s been coaching youth sports since I was in second grade. Sorry for spoiling your Father’s Day gift in a blog post, dad.