User:JoeM3120

My name is Joe Martinez, a.k.a. JoeM3120. That is a frequent username of name, a combination of my name and a tribute to my two favorite baseball players of all time, Greg Maddux (number 31) and Mickey Tettleton (number 20 during his stint with the Detroit Tigers. I am 28 years old and currently live in a small town in Lower Northwest Michigan, wife my wife Courtney and our three cats. I was born in Mount Clemens, Michigan, which is a part of Metro Detroit in Southeast Michigan and have three half brothers.  I was raised in Metro Detroit my whole life, attending L'Anse Creuse Public Schools from kindergarten to graduating high school in June 2003.  After high school, I attended Macomb Community College part-time from 2003 to 2008 while also working to pay for school.  I attended community college to reduce costs on general education costs and because I was less than stellar student in high school.  In high school, I played football all four years (including two additional seasons in middle school) and was on the wrestling team every year except my freshman year. In 2002-03, our team won the Macomb Area Conference Gold Division Champion for the regular season and the post-season individual tournament. In addition to sports, I was a member of the school newspaper, "The North Star" during my junior and senior year. In my senior year, I served as a Sports Editor and was a general sports columnist.

In my times as a student, I have worked in several different fields.
 * Baseball Umpire (Summers 2000-2002, 2007, 2009-2011)
 * Big Boy, Waiter (March 2003-August 2003)
 * Energy Efficient Homes, Construction Worker (January 2004-July 2004)
 * Father and Son Pizzeria/Alexander's Restaurant and Pizzeria, Delivery Driver (February 2005-July 2006)
 * Brookstone, Sales Associate (October 2007-August 2008, December 2008, July 2009-August 2009, December 2009)
 * Buffalo Wings and Rings, Server (May 2008-September 2008)
 * Robinson Residential Restaurant, Cook (January 2011-April 2011)
 * Barrister Gardens, Server (May 2011-February 2012, May 2012)

Education
In the early part of 2008, I was accepted to both Oakland University and Central Michigan University. I chose to attend CMU, located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan beginning in the fall of 2008. During my time at CMU, I have declared as a Journalism Major and Political Science Minor. On my first day on campus, I joined the staff of Central Michigan Life, the independent student voice of CMU. I spent two and half years on staff at CM Life as a staff reporter, where I covered student life, the university administration, the 2008 Presidential election and the university's 2009 presidential search. I was also a staff columnist for the Fall of 2010. My complete CM Life archive is available at my blog, JoeMartinez20.wordpress.com

Also during my time on campus at CMU, I joined Phi Kappa Tau (a social fraternity) and the CMU chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and in December of 2010, volunteered in New York City at The Fortune Society as part of the university's Alternative Winter Breaks Program.

Interests
I am a major fan of both professional and college sports. My favorite pro teams are the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Lions and Detroit Pistons. In my youth, I was a huge fan of the Atlanta Braves due to them being nationally televised on Superstation TBS and the fact that most of the time in the 1990s, the Braves were on TV more than the Tigers with my cable operator. My favorite college teams are the Central Michigan Chippewas and the Michigan Wolverines. As fans of these teams, I hate most of their rivals and my least favorite college teams are the Ohio States Buckeyes, Michigan State Spartans, Western Michigan Broncos and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. My most hated pro teams are the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings.

I am also a major fan of WWE and pro wrestling and have been for over 20 years. My favorite wrest