Okay so I admit it. I am a HUGE sports fan.
I have to pick and chose now what I watch but trust me I could listen to ESPN radio all day and stay on their web site all night long. My favorite sport is Football and why wouldn’t it be. I was given the privilege of playing high school football for the Loyola Dons and I was fortunate enough to play football for the Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) Green Terror.
Clearly, like most Marylanders now a day’s my full support is behind the Baltimore Ravens. I could go into a lot of reason for it but the bottom line is that they are my hometown team. Thankfully I am not one of those fans whose entire week depends on the outcome of a Ravens game. I actually cannot stand that type of person. I always figured a long time ago that there are so many more important things to care about that why does my team winning or losing matter. Now please do not get me wrong, I love it when the home team wins….Especially over a friend’s team but I am not going to lose an ounce of sleep on an outcome of a game.
If Football is my number one sport it would have to be followed up by a baseball. As much as I love the Ravens, I bleed the orange and black of the Orioles. I truly believe that being able to grow up and watch the immortal Cal Ripken Jr. play ball was just a blessing. Cal to me is what a Yankee fan thinks of Babe Ruth, or a Red Sox’s fan thinks of Ted Williams. Cal Ripken was one of my hero’s growing up and I was honored to be able to see him play baseball. I think the Orioles nine winning seasons during Cal’s twenty year career but just having the privilege to see him play baseball is a memory I will take to my grave. I had to shed away the tears when he did the famous lap around Camden Yards during the 2131 ceremony, I cheered like a five year old when Cal hit a homerun in his last All-Star game, and a felt nothing but pride when he finally hung up the cleats. I can go on and on about Cal Ripken and the Orioles – but that is for another time.
Last week was crazy week in sport. The biggest of the stories were Lebron James going to take his talents to the Miami Heat and the death of the New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. I am probably in the minority here but I do not care that Lebron left the Cav’s to play for the Heat. I really do not blame him. He had an opportunity to sign with a team that is going to play deep in the playoffs for the next 4 or 5 years. I respect that Cleveland tried to get Lebron help but in the end Lebron did not see a championship with Cleveland and does in Miami. He took less money to play so I doubt the selfish term can even apply here at all. I also love the people who say that the Lebron name/brand is tarnished. That makes me laugh. Sports fan are such a fickle group of people. When Lebron wins just one championship no one outside of Cleveland is going to care what team he is playing for.
Finally I just want to touch on George Steinbrenner. Trust me I was not a fan of his. I hated him and the Yankees (the way a rival sports fan should hate them). I am extremely jealous of the way he was with the Yankees. I hated the fact that they bought Mike Mussina from us, and that they just go out and buy the best player. But my hate maybe confused for jealousy. George Steinbrenner was not a saint at all but you have to respect that he wanted to win and losing came at a big price. RIP George….
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