Fund and games.

• Author: Kinney, David
• Position: UP FRONT

Saying Chris Roush is a fan is like saying Barry Bonds is a baseball player. Chris' enthusiasm for athletic competition, combined with his background covering business, is why we've asked him to write Sports Section, our new column about how these two topics intertwine. It debuts this month on page 34.

"I've been a sports nut all my life," says Chris, an assistant professor at UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and director of its Carolina Business News Initiative. "This is a great opportunity to combine my personal interest in sports and my professional interest in business journalism. These are the two things that I care about the most. I am currently No. 6 lifetime on ESPN Fantasy Sports Game rankings and No. 4 for 2004, so my competitive streak runs pretty deep."

Chris, 39, grew up in Auburn, Ala., and went to college there. "I started playing Little League baseball when I was in the second grade. My coach that year was later one of my journalism professors. I played basketball in high school--I was the only white guy to start when I was a senior, and we went 20-4. I've continued to play basketball and played on an intramural team here at UNC with some graduate students and the accounting manager for the J-school. We made it to the intramural final four last year before we lost. Three of us fouled out, including myself, and a fourth was ejected."

Before coming to Carolina, he...