Blake Snow

writer-for-hire, content guy, bestselling author

As seen on CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox, Wired, Yahoo!, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal
It looks like you're new. Click here to learn more.

Tagged luck

The discouraging odds of becoming a professional athlete

proathletechart

To many boys (and some girls), professional athletes are modern-day heroes. Iconic celebrities with fame, fortune, and power. What wide-eye youth wouldn’t want the same?

Turns out, a lot of them do. (With oversized Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan posters adorning my childhood walls, I certainly did.) But as with all desirable things in life, getting paid to play sports isn’t easy.

In fact, the odds are downright nasty for aspiring players, according to new data from the NCAA.

Continue reading…

Smooth Harold’s top 5 quotes of the year

Screen shot 2012-12-14 at 10.56.10 AMQuotes are a curious thing. They’re presented entirely out of context, so most of them go unnoticed. In the right state of mind, however, they can have a reaffirming or insightful impact on the reader.

Here are five quotes that connected and resonated with me most this year:

  1. “It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Do not mistake activity for achievement. Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs, therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity or undue depression in adversity.”?Isocrates
  2. “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”—Old British proverb
  3. “If you see someone on a high mountain, you can bet they didn’t fall there.”—Anonymous (Very similar to another one of my favorites from last year: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”)
  4. “If she’s amazing, she won’t be easy. If she’s easy, she won’t be amazing. If she’s worth it, you wont give up. If you give up, you’re not worthy…. Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.”—Bob Marley
  5. “Everything happens for a reason. And some of those reasons are because you are stupid and make dumb mistakes.”—Anonymous