The nation isn’t in the best place. However, there are continued signs of improvement here and there. Of course, the trends are different trends in each part of the country. But the real question is; how are the sports fans of this country doing?
Of course it’s a similar story for sports fans across the nation. It differs based on your location.
Green Bay isn’t having a good winter. Their only team was a prohibitive favorite heading into January, yet the Packers will be watching the Super Bowl with the rest of Green Bay.
While some locations are in the midst of their own sports recession, like Green Bay, State College, PA is in the throes of a full-on sports depression.
On the other hand, New York and Boston are once again in the sports spotlight. Each market has a hockey team atop the Eastern Conference of the NHL. And, in the NFL, the Giants and Patriots are the champions of their respective conferences.
So, nation, get ready for another week of Boston vs. New York. That said, there is more to it than that.
Just over two weeks ago, Joe Posnanski was named National Sportswriter of The Year. This past fall Posnanski was in Happy Valley preparing to write a Joe Paterno bio book. Shortly after getting to State College, PA the nation was made aware of a shit-storm surrounding the university. The victims of Jerry Sandusky are at the forefront of the tragedy at Pennsylvania State University. However, as PSU football fans have been quick to point out, this is certainly a great disaster for the Penn State program. That said, it might just be a book sales blessing, too.
On Tuesday Posnanski wrote an uncharacteristically short piece. The topic was Joe Pa’s death. While Posnanski stayed away from the cliche of saying Paterno died from a broken heart, he had something even more asinine for us.
I asked Paterno at one point in that last month if he hoped that people would come to see and measure his full life rather than a single, hazy event involving an alleged child molester. “It doesn’t matter what people think of me,” he said. “I’ve lived my life. I just hope the truth comes out. And I hope the victims find peace.”
It was just a single, hazy event? Huh?
We recently had some time to pick the brain of Jeremy Levine, the founder and CEO of StarStreet. During our time we touched upon the history of sports stock markets, as well as the future of the industry. As Jeremy puts it, StarStreet is like E*Trade for sports players instead of companies.
OWS: How’d you come up with the idea to start an online sports stock market?
Jeremy: It’s an idea I’ve had ever since I was a little kid collecting sports cards. Always how I thought about it. I always wanted the rookie cards of the players I thought were going to be good, because I thought down the line I could sell them for me. It was always my best idea, and as soon as I graduated college I went at making it happen.
OWS: When did you start StarStreet? Tell us a bit about that process and settling on a location
Jeremy: Started in May of ’09 (right when I graduated), though it moved much slower back then (I’m not technical, had no money and no helpful connections). I moved back home to Cambridge (where I grew up), so that’s why, but certainly doesn’t hurt that Cambridge/Boston has one of the best start-up ecosystems in the world.
OWS: I recall somewhere in the 2006-08 timeframe, while I was an undergrad I found something called ProTrade. ProTrade was founded upon a somewhat similar idea. Ultimately that website closed its doors. There have also been a few other similar start-ups that have popped up between ProTrade’s days and now. What differentiates StarStreet from these other “stocks stock markets”?
About 8 years ago, Curt Schilling decided to publicly back President Bush in his reelection campaign. Schilling quickly realized he wasn’t in the southwest anymore. The way many members of the Commonwealth saw Curt changed after this action. He became one of the more loathed athletes in the Boston area. But, was it because of his loud mouth? Or, was it due to what was coming out of that loud mouth?
Tim Thomas may be heading towards a similar fate in Boston. Thomas is a known Tea Party supporter. He even sports a themed mask at times. But Tim is in the heart of one of the more liberal states in the country. He also went to college at the University of Vermont. This means he should be no stranger to the popular political beliefs in the northeast.
Yesterday Thomas skipped a team White House visit. Here is Thomas’ statement on the matter via his Facebook:
