The Why

 

It's sports. It's always been sports. I truly cannot recall a time in my life that it wasn't about sports. Even when it's about music, sports never takes a back seat. There's sports, and then there's everything else. I think you think I am exaggerating, but ask anyone I know and they will confirm it. Seriously, I'll wait.

Hello, my name is Rod and I am a sports junkie. I'm not just addicted to sports, that is an understatement. I mean I am quite literally a junkie when it comes to the consumption of sporting events. And it's not just A sport, it's ALL sports. Well, except basketball and soccer, I HATE basketball and soccer. 

I am the reason they invented ESPN Ocho, or at least I'd like to think I was, although I don't have any proof that's true. I'll watch just about any form of competition you can cook up. And I do it all with an unhealthy intensity most people save for the most important events of their lives. When I am not actively watching sports, I am writing about it. Even now, when I have the opportunity to write about anything I want, anything it the world, I choose to write about how much I like sports.

I wish I had a better recollection as to how and where sports become what pumps through my heart. I just know it's always been there. Growing up as a San Francisco 49ers fan in the 80's could have provided the spark. Maybe it was knowing that talking football and baseball with my dad put me on his level and made me feel like a grown up. It could have been all of that, or it could have been something else, but I've always known my life would have something to do with sports. 

My family loved to get together on the weekends at the park. Luckily, my mom and dad had me at a young enough age that all my uncles and aunts were young and spry. That meant there were football games, volleyball games, heated frisbee competitions, and whatever else we could have fun doing. Sadly though, my short stature prevented me from participating in any of the organized athletics outside of our family fun and games. 

I did not get to play little league, did not get to play Pop Warner, didn't even take part in the ritualistic soccer torture - although in hindsight, I am thankful for that. My go to joke is that my dad refused to sign the permission slip for me to play football in high school because he was afraid I'd get creamed. He wasn't wrong and it took me until much later in life to realize he set me on the path I find myself now.

Because I was unable to put on the pads myself, I dedicated myself to the studying what was happening on the field. I damn near worshiped the game. Whether it was football, baseball, I dabbled in golf for a time, whatever sport I watched, I inhaled. I learned the rules, I learned the players, I learned the language, I became its biggest fan. 

It started out with the mainstream sports. Loving football and baseball was easy, everyone loved one or both of them. I needed more. I would stay the night at my Uncle Fred's house because he didn't make me go to bed early. Uncle Fred's TV became my gateway to the WWF, roller derby, the American Gladiators, Aussie Rules Football, and whatever else sports channels aired at 2 a.m. 

I have fond memories of watching the L.A. T-Birds play out their on track drama on a 19" screen. I watched Laser and Sunny fire projectiles down on brave warriors trying to traverse their obstacle course. I did it in solitude and I did it in the dark, like any good junkie. 

However, the itch to get out there myself was too strong. It was hard to ignore, it needed an outlet. My inability to play sports with other kids led me to many spirited sessions of football games alone in my front yard. Before you feel sorry for me, understand that these solo contests laid the building blocks for what I was to become, what I was always meant to be. 

Every kid my age in the 80's wanted to be Joe Montana, especially in Northern California. I did too, but I wanted to be me more. I wanted to be the one completing the touchdown passes to win Super Bowls. So, I created my own league. I created my own players. I played out entire seasons. Logos, names, standings, stats, I created them all from scratch. 

I made myself the quarterback of the San Francisco Kickbacks. The logo on the helmet was a stick figured guy in a reclining lawn chair sipping on a drink through a straw. Hey, don't judge me, I was 10 or 11, maybe 12, point is, I was a kid. We played teams like the Chicago Bazookas and a few others that time has taken the names away from me. I do remember later in my career after a few championship seasons with San Francisco, Los Angeles whisked me away. And yes, LA won a few themselves because of it.  

What I didn't realize is that I was actually living out what would later become fantasy football. The stats I was keeping, the teams I was assembling, I was living out a real life version of the craze that would take over the world in a few short years. But I didn't know that yet. At that point I was just a kid pretending he was playing the sport he loved.

Inventing my own league gave me a natural soft spot for anyone else who did the same. As such, I fully embraced all the latest crazes of the day. I witnessed Steve Young's rise from the USFL as a fan of the upstart football league. The NFL Europe experiment taught me more about geography than my high school class. When normal football was deemed not extreme enough, Vince McMahon's XFL gave me a new way to love the game. 

But it didn't stop there. The UFL, the WNBA, Roller Hockey, it didn't matter, if a group of investors started an organization, I was a willing fan. I am happy to say that trend continues to this day. 

So that's the long-winded way to explain the why. I probably could have just summed it up by ending this after the first sentence. But that would make for a very dull blog post. What I plan to do with the rest of this page is TBD. I just felt the urge to remind myself of the why as these days we tend to get lost in the grind. For now, I'm sure it will just be random musings about my life that no one will care about but me. I'll also toss in stories I like from random leagues no one will care about but me. 

Thanks for sticking with me this long if you didn't. If you didn't no hard feelings and you won't even know I said that. 

Until my next hit...