Lerner,+Matthew


 * Winter/Spring 2011 Mr. Dunne **

** A Pre-Game Warm-up **

What do sports mean to you as an athlete and as a fan? For me, sports have played such a great role in my life not only as an athlete but as a fan. Sports have always been a way to express my emotions. On the playing field I feel like I'm a new man in a different world, a world where competitive excellence is a priority. As a fan, sports have been a religion to me. I follow the Boston sports everyday 365 days a year. Sports have been a great way to get close to my family and classmates.

What has been your with youth sports? Describe your best and worst experiences. I believe that my youth days of playing sports were my most enjoyable days. It was such a fun atmosphere every gameand practice, no matter what the sport was. My best experience was in little league I hit a walk off homerun in the all star game as an 11 year old. I was a little kid running around the bases jumping for joy, it is a memory that will last a lifetime. My worst experience was with hockey. I'm not sure exactly what the main reason was but I hated it. Maybe it was the cold rink or the the fact that I couldn't skate well. Whatever the reason may have been, I was not a fan. So one day I finally said enough is enough and skated off the ice and said I quit, I hate playing hockey. (Even though I love watching hockey and I am a huge Bruins fan)

Do athletes make good role models? Identify one or two professional athletes to make your case. Athletes can either be great or terrible role models, but for the most part I'd say that athletes are indeed good role models. The athlete that comes to mind is Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey played the game of baseball with reckless abandon and would do it with a giant smile on his face when he did it. Most importantly he did it the right way. Never once did he turn to drugs to enhance his performance. He was injured for some time but he worked hard to get back to full strength without performance enhancers.

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)? I'm a huge follower of all the Boston sport teams, but if I were to pick one team I'd have to go with the Red Sox. Sports occupy my life 24/7, whether I'm playing or watching. When I'm playing I put a lot of time and work into what I do on the playing field. Sports have become a daily routine for me, I can't live without sports.

What sports-related issues would you be disappointed //not// to cover in this class? Why? I would be very disappointed if we didn't discuss the steroid era of baseball and other sports. It's such a controversial subject and is a scary one. It's scary to see so many young athletes taking a vast amount of performance enhancing drugs.