meet-the-brat

About

TheSportsBrat.com is the girl’s guide to game day. From tailgating to outfit selections, it’s more than just a game at TheSportsBrat.com.

Whether you hate sports, you love them, or don’t care either way; The Sports Brat offers guidance and entertainment (cue the margs) for game day.

Here’s to the girly girls about to take Sundays by storm.

About the Brat

Hey everyone!

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I’m Jess Ceresino and I grew up a “sports brat.”  As the only child of a former NFL linebacker and granddaughter of an NHL forward I really didn’t have a choice.  I remember my dad picking me up after dance class and telling me it was time to pick a team sport.  Looking back, I think he and I can agree that dance could have taught me the same lessons but that’s neither here nor there.  Long story of tryouts short, I picked soccer.

I started being recruited to play for the “select” teams when I was about 8.  It was kind of a weird thing to go through, being recruited at such a young age (wish it was like that when it came time for college hehe).  I landed on the top team in San Diego when I was 12 and never looked back.  I had my eyes on being a D1 soccer player.  Well I made it and playing for the University of Colorado was a dream come true.  I will never forget the memories and my teammates but by the time my junior year rolled around, I knew I was destined to do something else.  I called it quits and began pursuing my degree in Journalism a little more intensely.

I had dreams of working in sports and those came true with my first job, an unpaid internship, at “Jim Rome is Burning,” a show on ESPN.  As a gal who loved sports and dreamed of working for “the 4 letters.” This was my way in.  I worked hard and a couple months later mustered up the courage to ask my boss to bring me on full-time and he did.  I had such a cool relationship with my first boss.  He’s the one who actually helped get me my next job at ESPN in Charlotte, NC.  He didn’t want me to go but knew it was best for me, I’ll always be grateful to him.

I went on to work for ESPNU for a couple years in Charlotte working mostly on college basketball.  I wish I could articulate the experience I had.  But I think the image that always comes to mind when I think back on that time is walking through the hall on my way to help produce highlight clips for SportscenterU and my colleagues tossing the football back and forth talking about a specific play that had just happened on one of our 30 -plus monitors.  I thought to myself, this is as close as it gets to being back on a sports team.  We were all there because we wanted to be and we were having the time of our lives working crazy hours to bring games to fans around the country.

My decision to go back to business school was easier than it should have been given the dream job I was in, but as someone who always wanted to create something of her own, I knew I needed to give it a shot.  With my boss’ blessing and an open door, he wished me luck.

Upon receiving my MBA I have had several different jobs.  Some in entertainment, some in advertising, some at start ups. To say my path is unconventional is an understatement, but its authentic to me.  Each of these jobs prepared me and taught me more as I launched TheSporstBrat.com.

My goals for TSB are different than they once were, its evolved, just as I have over the last 3 years.  Now it’s become the diary of my life, my travels, my passion for all things game day.  I get asked all the time what teams I root for and I always have the same anxiety because it doesn’t make sense for me, The Sports Brat, to not be a diehard fan of a particular team.  But I’m not.  What I love about sports is the entire game day experience.  The food, the cheers, the smack talk, the fashion, the fandom.  I love the drama of the game.  It’s unlike anything left in this world, completely unscripted and unpredictable.  It’s the best reality show available and I love it.  Not to mention, I’m a tad competitive so there’s something about witnessing competition in the highest form that electrifies me.

But, perhaps most of all, I love what sports do to people.  The emotion they evoke.  The commitment they take.  How a single game can bring people together.  In a world that’s never felt more divided, I truly believe you can still rely on sports to unite people no matter what.  If you walk through a tailgate, it doesn’t matter what you look like, what language you speak, how tall you are, where you work, how smart you are, how much you make…all that matters is who you’re rooting for.  It’s so cool.  You win together and lose together.

If you’ve read this far,  you may be wondering, “what’s a sports brat?”  When I was looking for a name I wanted something sporty, something tomboyish to capture that side of my personality and the subject I wanted to focus my content around.  But I’ve never really fit into a box, never been just one thing.  So while I’m a total tomboy, there’s a part of me that’s super girly, and even a little bratty.  I know “brat” get’s a bad wrap by definition, but to me it’s sassy, spunky, and yes, a little immature.  I’m a little immature.  I’m goofy, can often be caught dancing down the aisles of CVS, somehow attract the strangest things in this life (see monkey in the parking lot at the mall story), but most of all I like to make people laugh, that’s the kid in me.  When I hear brat, I think of “spoiled brat.” And that I am, especially when it comes to sports.  I’ve been so lucky to go to so many games, have such cool experiences, to have worked in this incredible industry.  So to me, that’s why “brat” was actually the perfect fit (and why its not actually a bad thing).

Sports Brat: Someone who enjoys tailgating and a cold beer, but still has concerns about shoe choice, lipstick and the cutie in section 102.  Isn’t shy to share an opinion (or 7).  Prefers courtside to nosebleeds.  Knows what the west coast offense is or, if not, knows how to expertly fake it til you make it.

If you can relate or simply enjoy sharing in my adventures, then welcome to the club fellow brat!

I hope you enjoy the bits and pieces of my life, my ideas on game day fashion (you can shop all of my looks in the post, on the shop tab or by following this link), my recipe ideas and everything else here at TheSportsBrat.com.  If you’re more of the listening type, check out my podcast.

Hope to see you at a tailgate soon, save me a beer (and a burger)!