With most colleges starting the fall term in the next four to five weeks, are you ready to set your schedule in a way where you can also launch your sports career?

The best way to advance your sports career, with no experience, is to make it easy for future employers to actually bring you in, whether paid or for an internship. In these final weeks, you can even make a few necessary adjustments to maximize your opportunities.

Everything from shifting your class schedule to making sure your old hatchback works can play in your favor.

• College Student's Checklist to Build a Sports Career

I've mentioned this before but this really is the most enjoyable time of the year for my sports-related reading. With college football still the one sport I follow with a daily intensity, I have been known to spend some free time at the local bookstores, thumbing through the annual preview magazines.

Do you live in a place where high school football is king? Where the small college programs still have a solid fan base? If so, are publications actually covering these teams?

If not, you just may have a strong market to write for to be the publisher of your own annual sports magazine.

Look at some of the names on the college and pro football magazines. The ones not named ESPN or Sports Illustrated had to start somewhere. If you want the freedom to write your own articles and enjoy the risk and challenge of your own operation, consider launching a high school or small college (or even one that includes both) football preview magazine for August of 2009.

• Starting Your Own Sports Magazine

If you have been following this whole showdown between once-retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and his team of the last 16 years, the Green Bay Packers, you may or may not realize just how many other "players" are involved in sorting this out.

A brief refresher: Favre retired in March and the Packers went on to prepare without him. The team drafted two more quarterbacks. Now Favre wants to come back and the whole episode is playing out in the media.

Here is a look at what sports careers and positions are now involved in this constant story:

• Athlete
  
• Coach
  
• Team Management
  
• Agents. Favre's agent has been a major player in just about every meeting with team personnel.
  
• Sportscasters. They are broadcasting hourly coverage in Wisconsin (and across the nation).
  
• Sportswriters. Their columns and coverage is seen in thousands of outlets. Just do a Google search for 'Favre' and 'Packers' and see 5,000 articles come up in the last 48 hours.
  
• Pro Team Positions. Especially with media relations, as team spokespeople are now trying to deflect reporters' questions about the latest on the situation.
  
  

As you can see, this story affects nearly all of the elements of the Sports Careers Guidesite here on About.com. This is one of those rare stories that goes far beyond just the playing field. At least for many of the people in these jobs, this developing story is causing some excitement much earlier in training camp than usual.

In the aftermath of a 15-month sentence in prison to former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, the league has named a retired U.S. Army major general to a newly created post to oversee referees.

General Ronald Johnson takes this civilian position at a time when officiating is being scrutinized like never before. Donaghy testified that other NBA officials were inside a conscious effort to length certain playoff series. In theory, more games would mean more revenue for the teams, the players and the NBA.

As Johnson is the new overseer of this new department, this also casts a bright light on officiating in general. Donaghy is going to prison for his role as an official who actually bet on games he was working or played a part in helping the "over/under" number. (The "over/under" number is a common bet in sports in which gamblers bet on the total number of points scored in a game. For example, if an official calls more fouls, that means more free throws and more opportunities to score points). The NBA insists Donaghy was operating on his own as a "rogue" official.

• Donaghy Gets 15 Months in Prison (Post Chronicle)
  
  
• Getting Started as a Sports Official