Wow. It has been a while since I last posted. Life has been extremely busy since then. I spent Christmas with the family, and I have now gone on towards a life changing event. I've moved to Philadelphia. Yes, it is cold, but I did it for an internship with the Philadelphia 76ers. My internship is in the statistics office where I work for Harvey Pollack. He is a phenomenal person and a great man to work for. I couldn't ask for better!

You see, I aspire to be a general manager (GM) one day in the NBA. In my opinion, sabremetrics, also known as analytical statistics in sports, is going to be an important part of the future for these GM's. I'm in here trying to better understand this new and interesting field. I've already worked two weeks and I absolutely love it! I am helping Mr. Pollack put together his "Harvey Pollack's NBA Statistical Yearbook." I'll let you know more about what I'm doing later as I get spend more time working on the book.

Home Again

Ugh. Yesterday was long. REALLY LONG. I moved out of my apartment in Knoxville, TN. I started at around 7:30 in the morning. Luckily I had some good friends (thanks Jessica, Derin, and Greg!) come help me my belongings out. I didn't get on the road until 3:30. It took until 10:30 to get home (the drive normally takes four and half hours). I'm still tired from it and have to now go unload the truck. I know this post was not that fancy, but sometimes that is just how it goes! ;)

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death

The final decision is in. I will be moving to the land where the Liberty Bell resides. Yes, that is right, Philadelphia, PA. I'm going to be a 76er! I'm going to work as a statistics intern under the supervision of Harvey Pollack. He is the Godfather of NBA Statistics. He has been around since the NBA started in 1946-47 (when it was the Basketball Association of America). He made the sign Wilt Chamberlain held after scoring 100 points in a game!

It's crazy. I'm just full of emotions. Excitement. Happy. Nervous. I've never been to Philly before. To be honest, the farthest north I've been is Buffalo, but I was just a baby so I don't remember it. Other than that one time, it was Washington DC in 5th grade. There will be SO many place I can explore while I'm there. Philly. New York. Baltimore. Whatever in NJ. This should be a blast. Philadelphia, here I come!

Moving time...

This weekend has been a blast! I spent Friday night with my MBA friends at the bars. Went to Pigeon Forge with my closest friends. Ah, the good times. Unfortunately I'm packing to move out of Knoxville now. I still don't know where I will be heading next. Temporarily I will be back home in High Point, NC, but after that it will either be Philadelphia, PA or Charlotte, NC. I'll know tomorrow where I will be!

The past 17 Months

Well, first let me start off by saying I completely forgot I started a blog when I moved to TN. That was 17 months ago. (I'm an idiot and forgot my username, so check out my whooping two posts at: http://chase-ellis.blogspot.com/)

Wow. Just wow. Where have the past 17 months gone? I started off my dual degree program (MBA/MS Sport Management) not knowing anybody. Now I'm a graduate. A graduate from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. I went through the hooding ceremony this morning! Wow. I'm still in shock the program went by this quickly. One degree down, one to go. And I've been contimplating going to law school eventually.

I started out here wondering if I was doing the right thing. Now I'm leaving and there is no doubt in my mind that I have done what was best for me. My first year was spent in the MBA side. I loved learning the material and making friends, but I'm glad I got it over with. The last some-odd months were spent in Sport Mgmt classes. What words can describe those classes? Easy. Simple. At times interesting. I spent most of my time as an intern with two different organizations. I was a basketball operations intern for Tennessee Men's Basketball and a Marketing Executive/Game Day Operations Intern for the Knoxville Thunderbolts (http://www.knoxvillethunderbolts.com). Both experiences were awesome, but it was time to move on. I've been offered a statistics operations internship with the Philadelphia 76ers, and I'm waiting to hear back from the Charlotte Bobcats! Oh joy! I'm really excited about starting this new chapter of my life :)

I've made so many great friends here. Jessica, Jarrod, Greg, Drew, Derin, Bobby, Colby, Tucker, Steph, Eddie....the list could go on. Thank you guys for being a part of my life!