If you plan to make an impact in the sport of your chosen profession among fans, players, media and marketers, it certainty helps to be known as the first woman to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in Grand Slam tournaments.

When Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics' GM, approached the 2002 MLB draft, he threw out the old statistics teams used to gauge players. Avoiding subjective metrics like stolen bases and fielding percentage helped the A's fill out their roster with undervalued players, and brought them to playoffs in 2002 and 2003. He saw through the noise and knew prospects inside and out by taking a cold, hard look at the data.

As a marketing researcher, I enjoy learning thing and observing my environs, even when "off the clock." I've never been shy about intertwining personal time with my chosen profession. That's partly why I love going places, whether it's to all 30 current MLB stadiums or 45 of 50 states. I continue to relish as much time on airplanes as my stamina and family will allow.

For most sports franchises, the season ticket holder is the holy grail of fan. And for good reason: according to research from Deloitte, season ticket holders "spend five times as much money as non-season ticket holders on non-ticket purchases from sports organizations and authorized partners."