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Thanks for reading my first foray into blogging. My only qualification for this is my 3 years spent covering sports for a small time paper in So Cal. Rhema McKnight, who eventually went on to play at Notre Dame, was on my beat and that made it worthwhile. I once saw him score 5 TD's in 5 different ways. Rushing, receiving, passing, interception return, punt return. All over 35 yards. Simply the most amazing athletic feat I've seen.
Twelve years later I find myself with the same passion and enthusiasm about sports but no outlet. I coached for a few years at a high school in my town, but the necessity of a job squashed that. The small time paper is long gone but my thirst for talking, discussing, and writing about sports is still there. I don't do the NBA because the days of my childhood favorites - Bird & Magic - are long gone. My interest wained when high schoolers and expansion watered down the league. Just my opinion. Don't kill me for it.
I do just about every other sport and at all levels. Recruiting, despite the negativity, enthralls me. The time, money, and effort put into college recruiting blows my mind. I would love to live in their shoes if only for a week. But the grind of working 60-70 hour weeks chasing after the signature of 17 year olds doesn't sound like much fun all the time. What does sound fun is talking about it around the BBQ with buddies and a cold one, or two.
Sports has become such an identifier in our culture that my Mexican mother sometimes tells me that I'm obsessed. My wife? Well, she knows I'm a bit obsessed. Their is nothing like it in the world; nothing like the drama of sports. Mazeroski's series winner, Gibson's game winner, Montana to Clark, Elway, Jordan, Ali. It can't be scripted. That's the beauty, it's why we love it so much. The emotion. The drama. The passion. The joy of victory and the agony of defeat. It's why we love the games.
Looking forward to sharing this ride with all of you.