The First Peace

When I was a small child, I used to do the most pointless and mind-numbing things. I used to spend hours and hours every day outside, in my front yard, tossing a wiffle ball high into the air and blasting it with a bat as far as my miniscule arms could send it (which was probably about 20 yards). I did this whenever I could. It probably had something to do with my love for the Atlanta Braves. I guess I just assumed that if I was out there swinging for the fences, somehow that would mean I was playing like them. Or something. Soon though, I started simulating games by myself. I would pretend I was Javy Lopez or Chipper Jones swinging at pitches from Randy Johnson. And I always made sure I lit up Randy Johnson when I pretended I was the Braves. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that he had a mullet, and even at my young age I was able to differentiate between good and bad hair. And by "good", I mean that mullet (just kidding).

So why am I telling you all this? Well that mundane activity subconsciously spawned my love and desire for all things in the world of sports (excluding the WNBA). There are many other events in my childhood that I could pinpoint that led me to love sports the way I do, like the movie Space Jam, or when my Vols won the national title in 1998, but those simulated games inspired me to do something that the others didn't, which was to actually watch as many games as I could. I think I just wanted to make sure that the play on the field actually matched up with the games I was playing in the front yard.

So Saturdays in the fall became dedicated to college football, and Sundays went to the NFL. During the summers, I'd watch the Braves as much as I could, and during the winter and spring I was consumed by the NBA and college basketball. As I grew a little bit older, my appreciation for the major golf tournaments grew, as well as my excitement about the NHL playoffs. I read as many books about old players and teams as I could, and I memorized statistics and records.

I also want to credit my old man with helping to grow that love within me. It helps when you have someone to watch all those games with, and I'm so appreciative that he was there, and that we were able to bond through all of that.

Now, I'm 21 years old, and it's time to start making really important decisions in my life. When I was in 7th grade, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher. I can thank my English teacher that year, Mr. Penley, for helping me come to that conclusion. It wasn't anything that he said to me; it was more that I just thought he was a cool guy and he was a teacher. I know, that's kind of a silly reason to make a career decision, but that's how you come to a really important decision when you're in 7th grade. So ever since then, I had geared my whole life into making myself into a teacher. I think somewhere along the way, I talked myself into it. I wanted to influence and help young people, and I really did enjoy history, so it just seemed like a natural fit. But I always had this thought in the back of my mind that I wanted to do something else.

Writing has always been something that I enjoyed since my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Ingram taught me how to form letters. I probably had the worst handwriting in my entire class, but I still loved anyway. I was just in awe that I had a way to make my thoughts and feelings permanent, and writing was the way that I could do that.

Whenever most people are driving alone or tossing and turning and trying to sleep at night, they are struggling with things in life that actually matter, like bills or kids or work. I spend most of my time tossing and turning pondering dopey and comparitively unimportant topics like "How many points per game would prime Michael Jordan average if he was unleashed on the WNBA for an entire season" or "Which NFL team that made the playoffs last year is going to come crashing more quickly this year than OJ Simpson's public image" (my picks: Chiefs and Panthers).

So here's what I want to do with this, and the rest of my life; I want to write about sports in a thought-provoking yet entertaining way. I don't want to spew generalities and narritives about the sports, but instead write from the perspective of someone who has actually watched and actually cares about what is happening. Because I do care. And if you like what you read, share it with someone. Even if you hate what I have to say, I just appreciate you reading.