I have been an admirer of SuperForest for a while now and I am pleased to have the opportunity to write about a topic that I am extremely passionate about: sports.
I’ve been involved in sports in some way or another since I was a little girl. When I was 5, I started a 12 year career in basketball. A couple years later, I went to my first San Jose Sharks game and someone gave me a free signed hockey puck. Growing up, I watched countless hours of football and basketball with my father and brother, learning all the rules and players. I remember thinking Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys was the coolest guy in the world and pretending to be Grant Hill while playing Nerf basketball with my brother. While I had other interests – like art, playing on the computer, riding bikes, making up weird games with my friends – sports was always a part of me. Once I went to college and met others who had the same passion for sports as I did, I became obsessed. I spend countless hours on ESPN, I lose my voice watching San Diego Chargers games on TV, I watch baseball (which is new for me), and my new career goal is to work for ESPN or a sports team.
What I love most about the sports world is that it creates its own special community. To me, loving sports is like loving music. Some people love a band so much they go to every concert, buy all their albums, decorate their room with posters, and maybe even get a song lyric tattooed on them. It’s the same with sports. Walk into my apartment and you will see an entire San Diego Chargers shrine around the TV. Look into my closet and you’ll see a Chargers jersey, Santa hat, and two shirts. Not to mention a Padres jersey, a Golden State Warriors shirt, and a Spain soccer jersey. Being at the stadium watching my favorite team play is like watching my favorite band in concert. Being surrounded by people who are cheering for the same team as you is an unbelievable feeling. Seeing people of all walks of life who all want the same thing as you do (for your team to win) is amazing. It doesn’t matter what age, gender, ethnicity, or political affiliation you are. For 3 hours, you are all in it together. We all cheer and jump when our team does well and we all scream in agony when our team messes up. Sports, even when you’re just a fan, make you feel a part of something and make you feel connected with others. It’s an instant connection that isn’t questioned.
And that connection is still made when you meet someone who roots on another team as you. Sure, when I see a construction worker wearing a Chargers hard hat (true story) or see another student in my class watching a Warriors game on their laptop (another true story – I definitely sat behind him to watch along), you can bet I make some sort of “Yeah Chargers!” or “I noticed you were watching the Warriors game – that’s awesome” comment. I want to share my appreciation of my teams with fellow fans. But at the same time, if I see some guy walking down the street in a New England Patriots jersey, I may not fully support his sports affiliation, but I can definitely respect the fact that he loves his team as much as I love mine. I know I could walk up to him and talk to him about football for a few minutes, if not hours. Sure, we’ll disagree on some finer points (like Tom Brady), but we can still get along.
In fact, my brother and his friend are perfect examples of this. My brother is a die hard San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Lakers fan. His friend, who grew up in Boston, is a die hard New England Patriots and Boston Celtics fan. For those of you who don’t know, the Chargers and Patriots are rivals and the Lakers and Celtics have probably the biggest rivalry in the history of sports. But they don’t let that get between them! They watch games together and make silly bets, like if the Lakers beat the Celtics, then my brother’s friend has to wear a Kobe jersey, take a picture in it, and make it his Facebook profile picture for a certain amount of time. I’m sure in some ways, the rivalry just made them better friends. That’s why I love sports. The loyalty, the friendship, the community, the pain, the happiness, the pride. There’s nothing else quite like it.
I went to a LA Lakers/Phoenix Suns game in LA last year with my roommate and her family. While I’m a Warriors fan first and foremost, I’m a Suns fan second so I was there to cheer the Suns on. Obviously, I was surrounded by Lakers fans, and the adults next to me were giving me a hard time about liking the Suns. But once they realized that A. I knew about basketball and B. I would tease them back, they liked me and we had a fun time at the game together. Am I ever going to see those people again? Nope. But I like to think they’ll tell their friends about “this crazy girl who liked the Suns” one day.
I have had this post half written for a while now, but my Chargers kept losing, putting me in a sad state. But despite the fact that the Chargers are 4-5 and keep shooting themselves in the foot week after week, I still put my jersey on every Sunday morning and watch the game. I have to.
My number one motto when it comes to sports (and life) is “optimism is key” and that motto is in full force this season. Even when the Chargers are losing by 20, I keep the faith and hope they’ll come through in the end. Because on those days they do…man, it’s a great feeling. And if not, there’s always next week.
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