I have spent that last 20 years of my life in sports. It has been one of the most important things in my life. It has been so important that my first word was "touchdown". It also has become my future. A lot of people don't understand why I would want to go to school to be a sports broadcaster. When they ask me why, I often respond simply... "because I love sports". But over the last few weeks I have strongly been wondering why I love sports so much. What is it that draws me to sports and grabs my attention, no matter what sporting event it is. Now, obviously there are some easy answers. They are fun, they are a complete blast to watch or play. I also love the competition. But ultimately I don't think there is one exact reason, I think it is a culmination of things.
So often people talk about how it is just a game. They talk about how people make sports seem more important than they really are, that people get too upset when they lose, or their favorite team loses.
I would agrue that sports are what made me who I am. At a very young age I started playing organized sports with my brother. My parents did a great job of raising us, but sports gave us a type of discipline that honestly can't be taught, it just kinda happens. My family slowly became a football family and weekends were spent either at mine and my brother's games or in front of the TV watching football. It gave my family something that we all had in common. I remember watching every SuperBowl with the family and the memories created by that, I remember losing important games and my mom and dad just hugging me because of how sad I was. I remember watching my brother dominate after I graduated and sharing the joy with my entire family. All of those things were because of sports.
Sports were the only thing that got me through the tough times. When I found out my Mom had cancer I was able to let that frustration out in sports and I had 50 "brothers" there to hug me when times were hard. I had other families that took care of me because we were all part of a bigger family, and they knew I would do the same if the tables were turned. I had coaches that were great men of faith that truely cared about me. I still view these men as important male figures in my life.
As I got older I began to play middle school football. This is where I met my best friends. I played with the same teammates for 6 years and as some would quit, those of us that didn't grew stronger and became more like brothers than teammates. I spent every moment with my "brothers" all the way up to my last game as a senior in high school and the great thing was that friendship never ended. Some of those teammates ended up being groomsmen in my wedding. That is something I will never lose. I like to think that I was always a good kid, but honestly without those guys to keep me accountable who knows what I would have done instead of turning out the way I have. Do you get hit a lot? Absolutely, there is even a pretty good chance that you will get hurt (tore my acl in both knees twice) but would I go back and not play to avoid those knee injuries? I might jump out of the way of a D-Lineman, but no way, those injuries are a reminder everyday of the memories and friends that I made. Parents are always so affraid to let their kids play sports because they could get hurt, but don't we get hurt everyday in life, sure it may not be physically, but definitely emotionally. And it's worth all the hurt for those moments in life that you wouldn't trade for anything, that's exactly how sports are. You play the game through the bumps and bruises to get to the reward. Very rarely do you hear people regret playing sports, but you always hear people regret not playing, not because of the games they didn't get to play, but instead because of the memories they missed out on.
