When he’s not taking pilot lessons, hanging out with friends or keeping up with politics, Rory Bialostosky, junior is covering and analyzing sports games. Since he was young, he’s been involved with sports, playing basketball, baseball and soccer. While he was a good player, he realized in eighth grade that he enjoyed the mental aspect of analyzing each move more than playing them.
“I always liked sports, but I didn’t have the idea physique to play them,” Bialostosky said. “I liked the mental process more.”
This led to him joining the broadcast team in his sophomore year.
“I didn’t join any journalism classes in my freshman year because I didn’t know they were options,” Bialostosky said.
Since Bialostosky’s joined, he’s started WLHS’s first ever sports podcast, Talkin’ Ball to carry out his passion. To start it up, he was donated a bit of funding from Mr. Horak, vice principal and athletics director.
“He likes me so I told him about my podcast and he said he would provide some of the funding to help,” Bialostosky said.
Prior to starting Talkin’ Ball however, Bialostosky never listened to podcasts.
“When I started Talkin’ Ball, I just made up my own structure,” ” Bialostosky said. Since then however, he’s started listening to more sports commentators and his current favorite commentator is hockey announcer Mike Emrick.
Bialostosky also hopes the podcast will boost his college resume and help him become admitted to his dream school.
“My dream school is University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism,” Bialostosky said.
In the future, Bialostosky hopes to become a sports broadcaster for the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team.
![Game, set, and match. Corbin Atchley, sophomore, high fives Sanam Sidhu, freshman, after a rally with other club members. “I just joined [the club],” Sidhu said. “[I heard about it] on Instagram, they always post about it, I’ve been wanting to come. My parents used to play [net sports] too and they taught us, and then I learned from my brother.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/MG_7715-2-1200x800.jpg)
![At the bottom of the third inning, the Lions are still scoreless. Rowe stands at home plate, preparing to bat, while Vandenbrink stands off to the side as the next batter up. Despite having the bases loaded, the team was unable to score any runs. “It’s just the beginning of the season. We’re just going to be playing out best by June, [and] that’s where champions are,” Rowe said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_3077-1200x900.jpg)
![The teams prepare to start another play with just a few minutes left in the first half. The Lions were in the lead at halftime with a score of 27-0. At half time, the team went back to the locker rooms. “[We ate] orange slices,” Malos said. “[Then] our team came out and got the win.”](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG_2385-1200x800.jpg)
