Sports

I was never an athletic child. Rather, I was a bookworm. My parents had to take books away from me to make me go play outside. Aside from a three-year stint in rec soccer, I didn't get farther than gym class.

Sometime while I was in middle school, my dad started following Manchester United, and I began watching soccer. Because it was the only game I ever really played, it's been my favorite to watch. Soccer has a fluidity and momentum that I love, not to mention the fact that it's got a set time limit. When you get two good teams playing, the Beautiful Game truly shines.

So other than that, I'm a total band geek. I started out as a flute player and after a semester in college, I decided to learn the trombone. I became a much-needed commodity and was asked to play at a lot of different sporting events. This, combined with a superfan friend in the section and the fact that they pay me for some of the games, led me to a new appreciation of sports.

After seven years of attending every home football game at my school, I decided to actually try to understand football. Basketball came a little easier, as it has more parallels to soccer in its fluidity and motion. I also started going to volleyball, lacrosse (men's and women's), and field hockey games with the band. (They only asked us to play at two women's soccer games, which made me sad.) And as I write this, I'm watching my school play baseball, a sport I'm still convinced I'll never understand, much less enjoy watching.

What I've determined is that, while I don't always like or understand a given sport, I really like watching sports when I have a team to follow. I've only picked up all these new sports to watch my college teams play and cheer them on. Any other baseball game I wouldn't care, but each of these pitches I'm hoping for something good for us (and right now I'm praying for a miracle to keep us in this). My favorite is when I'm in the stadium, but I'll settle for watching the TV with some friends. Tonight I'm all alone, and I'm still wrapped up in the drama, even if I forget to watch every pitch, which isn't something I ever thought I'd say.

Maybe I'll be able to keep following my school teams after I graduate. After all, I'll feel a stronger connection to them than to any pro teams. Hopefully following the teams or even just knowing the lingo will help me keep up at the water cooler in a male-dominated workplace. I do like guys' reactions when they learn that a girl not only knows a thing or two about sports, she's open to learning more. :-)