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1. What are some of the larger themes in my memoir? (Themes such as: compassion, knowledge, economics, race, class, gender, politics, etc) Think about what your story ultimately deals with. Have fun and select some topics that you WANT to explore?

Sports

2. Now select one of those themes and brainstorm for a bit about the theme and how it appears in the cultural environment. For instance, if you choose compassion, then you may list ideas such as the Peace Movement, Humane treatment of animals, or issues related to Human Rights such as torture, genocide, etc.

Olympic regulations, history of sport, sport and immigration, soccer and society, soccer leagues and international soccer differences, history of the rise and decline of racquetball, controversy, cheating and corruption in sports.

3. Here is where you write one or two paragraphs, discussing what knowledge, experience, or background you already have about your topic, BEFORE having done any research on it. Explore your positions in regards to the topic.

There has always been large amounts of rule bending by participants to increase their position in the sport they compete in going all the way back to some of the first Olympics in ancient Greece and Rome. But in recent years (20th century- present) cheating has taken on increased levels of usage. From refs being bribed by bookies, most recently Tim Donaghy in the NBA and the ever constant fixing and investigation of lower league officials in the lower leagues of the Italian soccer leagues or trading fixed events with other refs in the Olympics, most noticeably the French and Russian skating judges in salt lake city 2002, to the use of banned substances to increase the athletes performance, like the many athletes named in the Mitchell report where it was self inflicted or like the athletes from west Germany and Russia during the cold war times and beyond where the trainers drugged the athletes with steroids in their food, and the most common of rule breaking, but least important to the sports themselves, flopping and acting to get calls.

4. Here is where you put down one or two paragraphs' worth of questions about your topic, questions you want badly, even desperately, to have answered. These questions will lead you to those sources that will answer your questions. These questions are the passionate, fiery fuel that guide you through the morass of library work, interviews, etc.

How does flopping and diving change the way that people play the games and ref the games. what does all of the cheating and corruption in individual sports change the way that the public looks at sports in general. Does the cheating and controversy lead to more people watching because they want to see for themselves if thy think the cheating happened or does it lead to more people not watching and boycotting the sport. Does the use of steroids lead to people not using steroids getting more injuries as a result of having to push themselves harder.