SPORTS!

so, i enjoy sports. i like the competition. the thrill of winning and the anguish of losing (okay, maybe i like winning more than losing...) but i've always been a fan of sports.

I think it all started in elementary school.

I wanted to play little league. and i was good. i was really good. my mom was sitting with the coachs during try outs and they kept making comments about me and my talents (they didn't know she was my mom...) The only thing i wasn't really good at was pop up fly balls. i had a hard time getting under them in time to catch--the whole hand/eye coordination thing was too much for me handle at the age of 7. BUT sadly, i was not picked for a team. in my small town, your last name was everything and i mean everything. And since i didn't have the right last name i wasn't picked, but the kids who were worse than me were picked. Even though my parents had grown up in my hometown and my mom was quite popular in high school, i was still considered an outsider because they had left for almost 25 years before returning to take care of my grandmother. even when i graduated high school, almost 12 years after moving to caribou, i was still an outsider, even though everyone knew me and my family...it was a small town. anyway.

so since i didn't make little league i did summer rec ball and played for 3 years on that team. it was fun and have fond memories of the summer league.

in 5th grade i was a cheerleader for the Rec in my town. We would cheer for the girls/boys traveling teams (the best of 5th and 6th grade). I remember my friend EMily saying that they needed more girls to play, so that i should try it out. I played basketball on the girls league and was picked to play on the traveling A team (the best of the two, A and B). Game days i'd play on the girls league and then run to the locker room to change into my cheerleading uniform to cheer for the boys. I had cheer practice, my regular Rec league practices and traveling team practices all week. i loved it and loved spending time with teh older girls. i thought i was so cool. In 6th grade i gave up the cheerleading and focused solely on basketball. i loved the game.

in 7th & 8th grade i played on my middle school team. i wasn't the best player on the team, but would get some time in. i think my coach didn't have much faith in me and didn't push me hard enough or give me enough credit. in 7th grade i forced my parents to pay for me to go to an enrichment summer camp. all the cool kids and best players went to this camp and i loved that i was able to go. i enjoyed my time there even though it kicked my ass--basketball practice from 8 am to 8 pm almost everyday for 5 days. it was rough but a great time.

in highschool i tried out for the girls basketball team and was given a trial period on the JV team. i wasn't given an opportunity to really prove myself and was cut off of the team and stayed on as the team's manager. Even though i wasn't playing the sport, i was still involved to some extent and loved that as well. IN 10th grade i became an athletic trainer and worked with many of the teams, but mostly just on the basketball teams because my friends were on the team and it was, in my opinion the best season. i continued my manager/athletic trainer duties until graduating, working with both JV and varsity boys/girls basketball, JV soccer teams and track & field in the spring. i worked hard but loved it. i would be at school until amost 9 every night and on the weekends all throughout the year.

in college i fell in love with hockey. growing up basketball was the thing everyone did and the town went to every game. we didn't have football or hockey so this was the closest thing we had to a 'homecoming-worthy' sport, but once i got to BU i realized what a real sport and real fans where. i loved (and still love) everything about the sport, the athletes, the crowd, the ice, a new arena, roadtrips to see away games, drinking away a loss or celebrating a win. it was great and many of my best memories in college are centered around hockey games.

i loved the sport and miss that i'm not able to go to games on Friday nights with my friends. singing the fight song and the "f 'em f 'em up BC sucks" song. it makes me almost wish i hadn't given up my season tickets and stayed in boston just to keep earning points. maybe some day!

growing up in New England and going to school means one thing, you're an automatic Red Sox fan, and even though i don't remember much about cheering on the sox prior to 2000, i do remember liking Clemen's because a kid i was friends with Chris (and had a crush on) loved Roger and wanted to be like him. i do remember the World Series the first time the Braves won in the 90's....i can't remember the year but do remember cheering for them--mostly because i think they were winning and i thought it was cute how during the national anthem people would sing "home of the braveS" i thought that was hilarious. hahh

now that i'm a grown adult, i don't have as much passion as i did when i was younger, only because i dont have a team (school related) to follow. I"ll always cheer on BU, but it's different being a couple hundred miles away from the rink/court. i hope to go to my first Nat's game at the end of the month and, if all things work out, will be going to some Caps games with Glen on student nights when tickets are only $10. he's a HUGE hockey fan, depsite growing up in SoCA, so it'll be fun to be with someone who has as much passion for the game that i do. plus, he's a cutie and that's always fun ;)

anyway, i just wanted to post this so that i wouldn't be pegged as the typical girl who knows shit about sports-- i actually know stuff :) and can hold my own against any guy :) plus i look cute in my sox hat!