Giarrusso

** A Pre-Game Warm-up **
 * Winter/Spring 2012 Mr. Dunne **

What do sports mean to you as an athlete and as a fan? Sports have changed over time. What once was a place to gather and have fun watching or joining in, in various competitions has now become a way of life for most people, especially in America. To me, sports consume much of my time. It is a way to push and express myself differently. Sports are a large part of who I am and tend to define me as a person.

What has been your experience with youth sports? Describe your best and worst experiences. My whole life has been lacrosse. Ever since my dad put his old Middlebury helmet on me in second grade my time and effort was devoted to playing this sport. Eventually to the point where I too will have the chance to attend Middlebury and play lacrosse. Without the sport who knows if I would have been able to be a part of such a great high school and what will be such a great college. It is rewarding to know that all the time and effort (and there was __ALOT__ of both) finally payed off.

Do athletes make good role models? Identify one or two professional athletes to make your case. Athletes should make good role models. An athlete is someone who has natural ability mixed with determination. And in any area of life this is something to strive for. Lately, both talent and how hard one works has been skewed through media, money, and illegal performance enhancing drugs. But those he stay away from those and have still reached greatness are the athletes who are role models. I think of someone like Barry Sanders or lax player Dave Evans who are naturally skilled at the sport they play but use determination and effort to get that much better. Doing this while also staying somewhat out of the spotlight.

What sports/teams do you pay attention to the most? How much time do sports occupy in your life? How do you spend that time (attending, watching, reading, talking, participating)? Being a kid raised in the greater Boston area in this time period it is hard not to be a sports fan. Arguably the greatest sports city ever, Boston has brought home more championships then ever before in this past decade. What kid can say he say all four major sports teams; The Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics, win more a championship or more in less then a decade? Most of my life is about sports whether I know it or not. Its safe to say that every day something sports related shows up in my life one way or another.

What sports-related issues would you be disappointed //not// to cover in this class? Why? I think it would be cool to go through the money factor of sports. You here of athletes making millions of dollars of year for doing what they love and I think its hard to grasp. And the fact that arguably the greatest athletes, the olympians, are allowed to be paid which makes the olympics that much greater of an event.