The Past, Present, and Future Life of a Sports Fanatic

At a Cubs Reds game in Cincinnati  - 2008
I'm a sports fanatic. Ever since I was a little kid I've been raised playing and closely following different sports. It's been a predominant factor in who I am today and what I value and enjoy currently.

A young Messi
Sports have been a part of humanity for almost as long as human have existed. The intensity and competition are things that have filled a certain competitive edge that a lot of us have. One of my most disliked phrases in regards to high level sports today is "It's just a game man." These people miss the point entirely. Yes it a black and white aspect it is just a game, but that's not why people love it. How certain sports teams do can affect people's moods and other things throughout their week. It gives people something to be passionate about or proud of. I'm going to share how my life has fully embraced these things.

The Past: I started playing youth organized sports at age three. Yep you read that right, and yeah it's pretty ridiculous to start that young looking back. However I'm the oldest of three kids so I was also the child my parents really were over-killing on when I was young. T-ball and indoor soccer were my first organized
activities and while I don't have any photos quite that far back available online, or many memories of it. I'm told it happened
High school travel ball, freshman year?
As I got older I really focused in on three sports as far as my playing "career". Basketball, baseball, and soccer.
My dad was a big influence in my life whether it was coaching a lot of the teams I was on, helping organize leagues, or just going out with me at times to work on things one on one. So naturally he's who I chose to do conduct my interview with. I asked him why I was enrolled in sports at such a young age obviously well before I could make that decision for myself. "We wanted you and [your brother] to be active. Youth sports is a great way to stay active without making it seem like a chore and we felt an active lifestyle is great to help keep our kids entertained on top of it." I also asked what motivated him to put in the extra time as far as actually coaching us and doing one on one things rather than just simply signing us up. "Growing up I was really invested in youth sports and I loved everything about playing up through high school a lot. I wanted to give you guys those opportunities and show I cared about your success." And finally we talked about our love of sports teams and how his passion for it rubbed off on me. I asked him how growing up he fell in love with Chicago area teams. He talked about how he was originally from northwest Indiana so there's a large Chicago influence, and on top of that the Bears (NFL) and Bulls (NBA) were both really good during the 80's and 90's which kind of spoiled him. "Between Indiana basketball (his alma mater) The Bears, and the Bulls, my teams won 9 titles over a span of about 17 years. Easy to spoil yourself." My teams haven't quite had the same success as his during those years, but our passion is definitely the same.

Interview was done over the phone, so my dad on the left

The Cathedral - Hinkle Fieldhouse
The Present: Once I realized I wasn't good enough to play any sport on scholarship at the next level (Division 1) it can be difficult to come to terms that your playing career is over. In high school I played basketball, baseball for a year, and track my final 2 years. Always having that competitive edge can be tough to give up but it's part of the process. At this point in my life I'm using a lot of my time following teams. I'm a member on several blogs and forums about teams I follow, communities where fans share thoughts regularly. I spend a lot of my money on tickets going to games. I've been to Nba, Mlb, and college games all over the country before which has allowed me to see  a ton of really good and big games over my lifetime and I wouldn't trade anything for those experiences. Staying up to date with teams whether it involves recruiting, free agency, or just miscellaneous topics involving anything from injuries to lineups and strategy. I really live for it.

The Future: My major is marketing, and even though I haven't taken too many marketing specific classes yet, I am pretty sure I want to get into some aspect of it. A goal of mine would to get into sports marketing preferably using an online platform to collaborate with a college or professional organization to fill one of their marketing spots. Combining sports into some aspect of my professional career I believe would make what I do a lot more enjoyable since I have an obvious passion for it.
I played travel baseball for three years
So tying it all together I do think sports are something that is a positive aspect in life. I know personally with myself I let it determine my mood probably more than I should, but it gives people something to look forward too, like some people look forward to new TV season's sports fanatics look forward to the next game. 

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

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