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About

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Jack Vita is a freelance journalist, writer, blogger, reporter, and podcaster.

In 2018, he founded The Jack Vita Show, a podcast highly concentrated on sports, but also offering conversations about entertainment, reality TV, movies, life, faith and more.

In 2020, he created JackVita.com, an online home for his podcast and blog work.

 

While Jack doesn't strictly "stick to sports" he is a firm believer in keeping his content apolitical. Jack strongly believes that the worlds of sports and entertainment should remain a beautiful melting pot; an all-inclusive, non-divisive place for performers and fans from various ethnic and sociopolitical backgrounds to come together, have fun, and find commonality and unity.

 

In a world currently plagued with anxiety, strife and negativity, Jack finds his purpose in his relationship with Jesus Christ, and hopes that he can share the joy that he has found with others searching for joy in troubling times. He hopes that through this site, he can create an enjoyable place for fans of sports and entertainment to have fun, consume thought-provoking and engaging content, and occasionally listen to healthy conversations about life, purpose, meaning, faith and God, in an à la carte fashion. We hope you will join us for the ride!

Bio

Jack received his bachelor's degree from Valparaiso University (IN) in the spring of 2017. At "Valpo", Jack spent two years as the school newspaper's beat writer for the Valpo Crusaders men's basketball team, giving him a front-row seat to one of the nation's best mid-major programs. Led by head coach and NCAA tournament legend Bryce Drew and future NBA player Alec Peters, the Crusaders finished at the top of the Horizon League both years Jack covered the team. Jack had the privilege of traveling to the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to cover the conference's basketball tournament in 2017 on press row.

In addition to men's basketball, Jack wrote feature stories, game previews, post-game recaps and opinions pieces on Valpo's baseball, football, softball, volleyball, women's basketball, men's soccer, men's tennis, and women's tennis teams for The Torch, Valpo's student newspaper.

While at Valparaiso, Jack contributed to the school's radio station, WVUR-FM The Source 95, providing color commentary services for the school's athletic events (which also aired on ESPN 3), and hosting a weekly sports talk program, The Viva La Vita Show.

He spent the summer of 2016 interning for 22nd Century Media, a now defunct newspaper corporation. With 22nd Century Media, Jack wrote post-game recaps, feature stories about local athletes, reviews of local restaurants and compiled the newspaper's "Pet of the Week" and "Athlete of the Week" sections, while providing copy-editing services.

Prior to working for newspapers, Jack founded his first personal blog, Viva La Vita, in January 2013, where, over the course of seven years, he wrote hundreds of opinions pieces pertaining to sports, entertainment, life and faith.

 

In the summer of 2015, Jack interned for and co-hosted Jewell On Sports, a sports radio program on AM 1050 WLIP in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There, he interviewed various pro athletes such as Ahman Green, Javon Walker and Javier Arenas, in addition to talking sports with the late, great Brad Jewell.

Two years after his graduation from Valparaiso, Jack underwent total thyroid removal surgery, in treatment for Graves' disease, an autoimmune disease that sidelined him from working for two and a half years. He has since recovered, no longer has the disease, and is now feeling "better than ever."

In addition to watching, analyzing and obsessing over sports, Jack enjoys summertime, days at the beach, long bike rides, reality television, Italian food, traveling to different US cities and Major League ballparks, and spending time with his church community.

Contact

Jack's "Old Stuff"

The Torch: Valparaiso's student newspaper (2015-17) - Here's a collection of Jack's greatest hits from the Valpo student newspaper​. Please ignore the cheesy (and in some cases, misspelled) headlines; he didn't write them.

 

22nd Century Media (Summer 2016) - Here are some archives from Jack's summer internship with 22nd Century Media, a now defunct media corporation that had several local newspapers across the suburbs of Chicago, including the following publications: The Glencoe Anchor, The Glenview Lantern, The Highland Park Landmark, The Lake Forest LeaderThe Northbrook Tower, The Wilmette Beacon, and The Winnetka Current. In addition to copy editing, Jack compiled the athlete of the week and pet of the week sections, interviewing the area's best high athletes each week. He also wrote feature stories and game stories in the sports section, and even wrote a food review!

Feature Stories

 

Game Stories

Athlete of the Week Compilations

Sweet Treats Desserts Section

 

Viva La Vita: Jack's personal blog (2013 - 2020) - Jack created Viva La Vita in January of 2013. At the time, he was taking a gap year before starting college, and really had no idea what he wanted to do next. But shortly after creating Viva La Vita, Jack fell in love with writing, and discovered his dream to be a sportswriter. Over the years, Viva La Vita became a place for Jack to air out his thoughts, whether it be in the form of sports opinion pieces, movie reviews, thoughts on life, faith or his personal experiences from Graves' disease, or even poetry. For seven years, Jack enjoyed writing on Blogspot, before finally upgrading to this site.

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