Name:  David Portney

Hometown: Ridgewood, NJ

College and major/degree(s): Ithaca College with a B.S. in Sport Media

Hobbies: Playing pick-up games of any sport.  I also spend a lot of time following baseball.

Likes: Boston Red Sox (I know I’m from New Jersey, but my parents are from Boston so they made sure from a young age I became a Sox fan), Bruce Springsteen, Seinfeld, going to baseball games/watching them on TV, mild winters, cool summers and laying on the beach.

Dislikes: the Yankees, brutal upstate NY winters and stubborn personalities.

Favorite Baseball Team:  Boston Red Sox

Favorite Baseball Player of all-time: Nomar Garciaparra

Favorite play in a baseball game: Nothing like an around the horn 5-4-3 double play or a well-turned 3-6-1 double play.

Favorite Sports Movie of all-time: Rudy.  Cliche I know, but oh well it’s my favorite.  The Sandlot is my favorite baseball movie.

Favorite Sports Quote: “The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.” ~James Earl Jones’ character from Field of Dreams

Best sports moment as a fan or a player:  I’m cheating and putting two

1:  The Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004 then going to school the next day in the heart of Yankee land and proudly wearing my Sox hat and shirt

2:  After baseball suspended play for a week because of the events of 9/11, the Mets continued play against their rival Atlanta Braves.  Mike Piazza hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 8^th, and whenever I watch that home run it still gives me goose bumps.  With that one swing for the bat, even if it was just for a moment, the people of NY were able to celebrate.

 

Here’s the link (the home run is about 1:40 in):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu4_96gXWgs&feature=related 

 

Thing you like most about sports: The competition and the atmosphere.

Why do you want to work in sports?  Sport has always been my passion so I couldn’t imagine working in anything else.

What do you want to get out of your internship with the Redbirds?  Learning how a big league caliber ball park and staff operate on a daily basis.

What does your specific internship entail?  Media Relations.  So I’ll be scoring games with live pitch by pitch updates on the web site or writing game stories depending on the game.

Career Aspirations:  Work in a big league/minor league front office.

Three things you cannot live without: Pizza, baseball and my family and friends.

If you were a beverage, what kind of beverage would you be? An Arnold Palmer half lemonade-half iced tea because I’m a mix of delicious goodness.

Theme song to your life:  Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen

 

What is the background on your cell phone? Fenway Park