Born in Tennessee, and raised in North Carolina, I am a sophomore in high school. I play centerfield for my high school baseball team, and try to balance the dream of being a professional baseball player with the backup plan of becoming a sports writer.

Ever since I learned to read, I have been an avid and very knowledgeable baseball fan. Most kids had blankets or stuffed animals; I had Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract. No lie. I would lug that book around wherever I went from a very young age up until middle school, when I could no longer carry it in my backpack. Without a doubt, baseball is my favorite sport, and I doubt you'll find any bigger baseball fans than me.

When I was 9 and 10, my dad took me to spring training in Florida. We saw many games, the Rays being the most frequent team we watched. They had a young team, and although they were bad, they had a certain aspect of looseness and energy that I fell in love with. Living in North Carolina, I adopted the Rays as my favorite team. I liked the way the National League's game is played, so I picked Atlanta as my NL team.

I live amongst many North Carolina Tarheel and Duke Blue Devil fans, so I got sick of it and chose Wake Forest as my ACC team. Since I was born in Tennessee, I pull for the Volunteers in the SEC.

College basketball is my second favorite sport, and I can think of no piece of paper I am more infatuated with than my annual March Madness bracket. I draw up many a year; maybe 5 or 6, but I end up choosing one and sticking with it.

Around 3 years ago, I got into football. I adopted 3 teams, picking the Cleveland Browns (my dad's favorite) as my favorite team, as well as my hometown team, the Carolina Panthers, and the Tennessee Titans. My dad warned me about the Browns, and I ignored him. I should've listened to him, but instead, I am stuck being a die-hard hopeless Browns fan.

I play both fantasy baseball and fantasy football, but I am most knowledgeable of fantasy baseball. One of my favorite times of the year is sitting down at the computer on a Saturday afternoon in March with a drink and my spreadsheets stacked up next to me.

Working as hard as I can to become a professional baseball player, I need to also work on a fallback plan. If you ever have tips on how to become a better sportswriter, or how to advance myself in the sportswriting world, I would love to listen.

I would also love to give anybody my views on certain situations in the sports world.

Thanks,

Gavin