When I was young, I enjoyed playing sports and I knew most of the rules and regulations to the major sports, but I did not care for spending time following leagues or teams. This was until January 31, 1999- the first day I started loving sports.
I was at the annual neighborhood Super Bowl party at the Cove's, my next door neighbors, house for the first time. The defending champion Denver Broncos, led by all-time great John Elway playing his last career game, took on the Atlanta Falcons in the last Super Bowl of the century. I didn't give a wink about the game. I was much more interested in the Nintendo stationed under a 16 inch black and white television equipped with Duck Hunter in their guest room. My parents told me that I should watch the game because I was born in Colorado Springs and the Broncos won the Super Bowl the year before, but I ignored them; shooting animated ducks was much more important.
Before the game started, my dad (in what was probably an attempt to get me interested in football... what a mistake) offered me a dollar to put down in the neighborhood pool guessing what the final score would be. I thought for a moment, and quickly predicted 33-19 and scurried back to the guest room. 33-19? Being that most points in the NFL are scored in multiples of 7 or 3, this prediction was something that of an uneducated 7 year-old would throw out in order to get back to his video game. My dad sighed and placed the bet.
Three hours of Duck Hunter later, a bitter Dennis Cove came into the guest room and he handed me a $20 bill. I was initially ecstatic, because being given $20 to a 7 year-old is like a tossing the keys to a brand new Ferrari to an adult, but I knew that there was a catch. I asked him, "What is this for?" He responded, "You won. God only knows how a little kid guesses a crazy score like that to within one point," and walked away. The Broncos won 34-19.
My first thought was, "Holy cow, I can buy so many booster packs of Pokemon cards!" My second was, "I will forever love the Denver Broncos!" That was the catch.
I went home and learned everything I could about the Broncos and over the years I developed an insatiable desire for more sports knowledge and I eventually expanded to following the Oakland A's and the Sacramento Kings. I quickly became an encyclopedia of random sports knowledge with an emphasis in those three teams. This love grew out of control into what some my mom sometimes calls an 'obsession'. What does she know, she's just a Psychologist.
I am now 19 years-old pursuing a career in sports journalism in an attempt to turn this obsession into something productive. That's the least I can do. Even as I write this blog, I catch myself taking peaks at ESPN, rivals, LA Daily News, Realgm, etc... to see if there's any news or stories that might peak my interest. You can call it unhealthy, you can call it weird but I call it my life.
