While Josh will post a summary of the important NFL games over the weekend, I thought it was worth noting that I’ve seen two headlines this morning (and, it’s only 5:20 a.m.) that lead me to believe you better know know about the New Orleans Saints when you arrive at the office this morning. 

• All Saints’ Day in the Big Easy (Wall Street Journal)
• Saint-Sational (www.msnbc.com)

Apparently, the New Orleans Saints played the New York Giants yesterday and both teams were undefeated (5 wins, 0 losses for the season) upon meeting.  That is my very simple interpretation as a sports novice.  It also appears most expected the Giants to win.  Read one of the above articles for a detailed analysis … just know this for your Monday morning board meeting:  the undefeated Saints played the undefeated Giants yesterday and unexpectedly won!

I spent part of yesterday preparing a candidate who currently works in New York for an interview with a law firm in Kansas City.  Coincidentally, the New York Giants play the Kansas City Chiefs in football today and my candidate’s interview is tomorrow.  Thus, I recommended that my candidate, a sports novice, pay attention to today’s game and be prepared to comment on it during her interview tomorrow.  It’s very likely an interviewer will note the candidate’s connection to New York and mention the game – especially while getting to know the candidate and before starting the substantive interview questions. 

As I prepped my candidate yesterday, I was reminded that many job seekers today are interviewing anywhere they can find jobs and that often means outside of their current city.  I’ve outlined four interview tips that I recommend my candidates know about sports before interviewing in another city; the tips are applicable to anyone seeking and interviewing for a job in a new city.

While the purpose of this blog is to incorporate sports talking points into your cocktail chatter, another popular topic for cocktail party conversations is real estate. Imagine a conversation involving both sports (football, specifically) and real estate …

The Wall Street Journal recently provided a glimpse into the real estate markets of three college towns that have some of the strongest football teams — (1) Austin, TX – University of Texas Longhorns; (2) Baton Rouge, LA – Louisiana State University Tigers; and (3) Athens, GA – University of Georgia Bulldogs. Click here to read the column and learn more about the real estate markets in these college football towns. You will definitely have some talking points for your next cocktail party or networking event!

Welcome to CocktailSports, a blog designed to provide sports talking points for cocktail chatter. The idea for CocktailSports arose last weekend when one of my friends wanted me to ask my brother, Josh, which college game results she needed to know about in order to talk to her male clients who happen to be college football fanatics. I had always relied on my brother to keep me informed about sports but I realized last weekend that there’s an even greater demand for his knowledge. Business professionals must be able to talk about sports and many, like me, don’t know much about sports.

CocktailSports will combine Josh’s sports knowledge and my networking knowledge to provide sports talking points for cocktail chatter. Josh will provide the substantive blog posts for CocktailSports while I will review all posts to ensure business professionals with little sports knowledge can comprehend and use the information in the posts. Professionals with little sports knowledge should obtain enough sports knowledge from CocktailSports to engage in meaningful conversations with clients, colleagues and friends.