About SPORTS MEDIA EXCHANGE

WHAT WE ARE: A clearinghouse for sports freelance assignments. Sports Media Exchange (SMEX) matches sports publications and organizations with writers to cover events around the U.S. and worldwide. Registered freelancers will have the opportunity to get and pitch assignments with print and online media outlets on an a-la-carte or contract basis.

WHO WE ARE: Sports Media Exchange was formed and developed by three veteran sports journalists who have built an extensive network of editors, publishers, sports organizations and writers. And they know just how hard it is to get good help and find assignments. 

WHAT WE HAVE DONE: Placed hundreds of articles in major online and print media outlets, helping freelancers to find assignments and cover events.

Press release of NCAA partnership:
NCAA, SMEX Team Up to Expand Coverage on NCAA.com

We have also been featured in Poynter.org: SMEX Offers Federation of Freelancers

Brewers Fan Sets Sights on 162 Games

By Matt Lindner
Special to ESPN.com

Ben Rouse has a new lease on life, and he's enjoying it by soaking up as much baseball as possible.

After beating leukemia for a second time with the help of a double umbilical cord stem cell transplant in 2009, 25-year-old Brewers fan Ben Rouse decided life is too short to spend it working.

So he did what countless working stiffs spend their days dreaming of doing -- he saved up a couple of paychecks and quit his job as an analyst at Tetra Tech, consulting and engineering. Then he decided to go to a ballgame.

One hundred sixty-two of them to be exact.

"I started seeing money show up in my [checking] account and I'm like, 'If I start saving, I might be able to do it next year,'" Rouse said.

The reaction he got from his boss, Tetra Tech vice president Bonnie Brandreth, wasn’t exactly what he was expecting when he gave her his notice.

FULL ARTICLE

Taproot's Diverse Sports Interests

By Jeff Arnold
Special to ESPN Music

Stephen Richards learned to skate when he was 3 and drum when he was 4, so it's only natural the Taproot frontman considers himself equally versed in hockey and music.

Throw him into the company of his hockey friends and Richards can guarantee they'll want to discuss his craft as much as the rocker does theirs.

"All my pro hockey buddies are definitely wannabe rock stars just like I'm still definitely a wannabe hockey player," he says.

At times the two intertwine, allowing Richards to chase his dream rather than simply live vicariously through his puck pals or his beloved Chicago Blackhawks. But given the time that's passed since his music career grabbed topped billing, Richards dedicates himself to the stage rather than the ice.

Taproot's sixth album and first in two years, "The Episodes," will be released April 10. The album, conceived six years ago by Richards and guitarist Mike Dewolf, includes "No Surrender," a single with a music video shot at Chicago's Logan Square subway station.

FULL ARTICLE

Phillies' Worley Shelled By Twins

By Woody Wommack
For Philly.com

The Phillies went into Wednesday's spring training game against the Twins with a plan to give pitcher Vance Worley a chance to throw around 90 pitches. But the plan wasn't to have him do it by the end of the fourth inning.

Bad defense by Philadelphia combined with solid hitting by Minnesota doomed Worley and the Phillies, as they fell behind 11-1 before eventually losing to the Twins, 11-7.

Only five of the runs given up by Worley were earned, with six more crossing the plate due to a pair of Phillies errors.

Minnesota wasted no time getting to work offensively, getting two runs in the bottom of the first and second innings to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

The Phillies' bats showed signs of life in the third, when a Jimmy Rollins single plated starting left fielder Luis Montanez. Philadelphia loaded the bases later in the inning, but Hunter Pence struck out looking and Ty Wigginton grounded out to end the threat.

FULL ARTICLE

Bryan Brothers Still In Tune Off Court

By Judd Spicer
Special to ESPN Music

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Cougars cooed in the background and palm trees swayed gently in the cool desert night. And then the serenity was broken -- by a couple of tennis players.

Mike and Bob Bryan, ranked No. 1 in men's doubles for the past three years, made some noise -- on the stage, rather than the court. The Bryan brothers, who were in town playing in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., performed with their band before an audience of several thousand people on March 8.

"We're trying to play every other week at these tournaments," said Bob Bryan during the sound check. "In the U.S., we have a little better following and it's easier to organize so we can bring our bandmates in from where they are in the country."

The performance -- their 70th in two years by Bob's estimate -- was one in a string of charity shows that have become a staple of their tennis appearances. And it turns out the Bryan Bros. Band isn't half bad. The twins have teamed up with Counting Crows drummer Jim Bogios, who has also played with the Dixie Chicks and Sheryl Crow, and Michael Johns, who was featured on "American Idol."

FULL ARTICLE

Amanda Lucas Using Her Force

By Josh Stewart
Special to Page 2

Amanda Lucas isn't using her father's success to propel her MMA career, but doesn't shy away from it.

At 8 months old, Amanda Lucas could climb out of her crib with ease. Why stick around there when there was dancing to do?

"I literally have home video of me, and you can see me bouncing to the music playing in the background," Lucas said.

Of course, she didn't know at the time that her adoptive father, George Lucas, created the "Star Wars" franchise. But her -- dare we say -- Jedi path was already set. The daughter of a man Forbes just estimated to be worth $3.2 billion wouldn't settle for a life without purpose.

Lucas, now 30, has traded climbing out of a crib for a career that often involves climbing into a cage.

In February, the hip-hop dance instructor-turned-MMA fighter won the DEEP open-weight title in Tokyo. Her win was celebrated by Darth Vader and his storm troopers, who awaited her on stage.

FULL ARTICLE