Experience Spotlight - Matthew Provenzano, SBNation

In this semester's Experience Spotlight series, the blog will be featuring Cornell ILR SBS members who have excelled in positions in the sports industry. Many talented Cornell students are making impressions all across the sports world, and this is their chance to showcase their experiences.

This week's Spotlight focuses on Matthew Provenzano '16.  Matt is a junior in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences where he majors in Information Sciences and minors in Law & Society. Matt has been an active member of the club since his freshman year, helping to win the SABR Analyitic Conference's Diamond Dollar Classic case competition this past March.  He also has played a critical role in the success of the Big Red Sports Network as well. He can be reached at mjp294@cornell.edu.

Matt has been working since last November for SBNation at Pinstripe Alley, where he covers the Yankees. He was kind enough to answer some questions about his experience.
What were some Day-to-Day responsibilities of the position?

At PinstripeAlley.com my responsibilities are three-fold. Firstly, I'm a writer; I'm responsible for writing analysis, editorial, or game recap posts once or twice each week for the site. Secondly, I'm the social media manager where I am responsible for posting articles, lineups, game recaps/scores, and news to the Facebook page for general consumption. And lastly, I am part of the podcast team. Every week I and two others record the Pinstripe Alley Podcast where we discuss the state of the Yankees, answer questions, and humorously talk about baseball in general.

How were you able to get the position?

One of the editors found my baseball writing through a baseball blog started on campus, Batting Leadoff.

How has this experience shaped your career plans?

This experience has certainly opened my eyes to the possibility of sports journalism as a possible career. At the very least, it's given me the ability to communicate my ideas clearly.

What advice would you give another student interested in a similar experience?

Write. Write some more. And then when you're done writing, write even more than that. Aristotle said that to be a virtuous person one must do virtuous things, and so it is the same with writing. To be a good writer you have to write well, as ridiculous as that sounds. And the only way that happens is if you write and constantly ask yourself new questions about the topic at hand.

What was your favorite aspect of the experience?

Recording a podcast is my favorite part, for sure. Talking with like-minded people about baseball and the Yankees is always a fun thing, especially when it's not all that serious and we can joke around about it.

Thank you to Matthew and SBNation for allowing us to share this awesome experience. We hope you have learned about some of the wonderful opportunities that Cornell, the ILR School, and the ILR Sports Business Society can provide in the sports world. We hope to feature many more stories from students and employers this fall!