My name is Matthew McCord, and I have been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. Growing up in Arizona, I played multiple different sports including football and baseball. Growing up was fun and I always used sports not just as an outlet, but also something to get excited about, and to this day is something I look forward to.
I grew up a fan of the Arizona sports teams, except for football. My dad has been a New England Patriots fan since he was a little kid, so I was raised into the culture of being a patriots fan. New England was always my first love, and to this day there is not a long of things I care about more than the New England Patriots.
Watching football every Sunday was a blessing and is still a blessing, as in my opinion there is no better pastime. Growing up I watched my favorite players like Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, etc, and wanted to be just like them. I played sports throughout my entire childhood and wanted to be a professional athlete so bad, until I realized that it truly wasn’t for me.
Being an athlete did not come as easy as I got older. I began to deal with some anxiety problems that halted my love of playing. I stopped playing sports around 15 years old, and pondered things that I would want to do when I got older. I didn’t want a job that I didn’t love, and I didn’t want a job that was not something I’ve always been interested in.
Even though I stopped playing sports, my love of sports has never wavered, and If I couldn’t play, I still wanted to be associated in some way. That’s when I realized that sports journalism and broadcasting was something that intrigued me very much, and some of my favorite on-air personalities were also considered sports journalists like Al Michaels, Jim Nantz, etc. Lucky for me Arizona is home to one of the best journalism programs in the country, so I could follow my dream without having to travel.
Arizona State so far has given me the opportunity to further my dream of being a play-by-play announcer, or even a sports journalist. It has also given me the opportunity to dive into something that I have loved since I was a little kid, and I am grateful for that.
In the future, I would love to commentate for some of the ASU sports teams, as I am trying out at the moment for that position. After graduation I would like to continue in this path, or become a sports journalist and write articles from wherever the job takes me. I believe this class can help me in that, and provide me with the information needed to be successful in whichever sports job I find.
