A Sporting Chance

Growing up, all we ever watched in my house was football. And not just any football mind you, but Denver Broncos Football. My entire family are huge Broncos fans. I remember going to my grandma's house and showing up there with all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins all ready to watch that weeks game. There was always lots of cheering for our team. In fact I remember watching John Elway engineer "The Drive" against the Cleveland Browns. I had chicken pox at the time, but I remember mustering up enough energy to actually jump up and down when Elway threw the touchdown pass to Mark Jackson that tied up the game. Football has always been my favorite sport and I have lots of wonderful memories of watching Broncos games with family and friends.

But with in the past few years of my life, I have found and come to love other sports as well. I'm not saying that any of them will have a place in my heart like Denver Broncos Football, but I have grown to appreciate so many different types of sporting events. Within the last year or two I can't seem to get enough baseball. I would have to say that I root for both the Colorado Rockies and the New York Yankees. But my enjoyment of baseball has gone even beyond just watching "my teams". I found myself watching a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox the other day, for no reason other than it was a baseball game. I don't really care for either team and could care less if they win or lose. The only thing that I can figure out as to why I might care is that they are both ahead of the Yankees in the AL East. But baseball has become a wonderful pleasure that I enjoy and I plan on watching many more games, both in person and on television.

Another sport that I can't seem to get enough of is Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). The first time I saw an MMA match, I was living in Baltimore and a friend decided to order it on Pay Per View. I think it was the second UFC match between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. I remember thinking that it was incredibly boring. They're were both on the ground and I couldn't really see anything exciting that was going on. So I decided that it wasn't a sport that I was interested in. Flash forward a few years. My roommate had an membership to the local video store to rent as many movies as you wanted for a flat fee. We watched all the movies that we could think of, and then ran out of anything else we wanted to see. That's when we discovered the older UFC fights on DVD. We rented a couple and took them home and were just blown away at the skill, athleticism, and respectfulness of the fighters. After that first DVD we were hooked. We ended up going back to the video store and eventually watched every MMA DVD they had.

I guess I'm just wondering out loud why I have been turned on to so many different kinds of sports when all that was watched growing up is football. I find myself watching so many different sports and I wonder where it started. I'll end up watching professional tennis, and world strongman competitions, Nascar, and even golf. I don't even understand the sport of golf and have never played it, but I find myself watching. Explain that. Heck I even watched the hot dog eating championship on the 4th of July. Although I think I found that to be more novelty and circus side show than sport. But I do enjoy the watching so many sports and I find that I enjoy identifying with a team or individual. I hope to pass a love of sports and respect to my prosperity, especially a love of Denver Broncos Football.