I don’t play sports…
The only girl of three children, I grew up with watching baseball and football with my dad. When I was a kid, Saturday afternoons were full of college football games – and only three channels to watch them on. Daddy would flip between all three of the games and be able to keep track of what was going on in every game. And sometimes he would find another one or two on the radio.
When he was transferred to the state office in Tallahassee, the Florida State Seminoles became our team to watch. Funny story – legendary Seminole coach Bobby Bowden was from Alabama – as are my parents. Growing up in Birmingham, Bobby attended Woodlawn High School; a few years later my mother attended the same high school. When Bobby graduated high school and went to college, he attended Howard University – later named Samford; three years later my dad attended Samford!
My brothers played Little League Baseball and attended summer baseball camp at FSU with Woody Woodward and later Mike Martin. Years later I would attend FSU and be a regular at the baseball games where I got to know Coach Martin – better known as ‘leven (he wore uniform number eleven).
I learned to score baseball games when I was a kid from a parent at the Little League games. I kept score in college too and always had people around me asking how players had done in earlier innings.
Florida State had a quarterback by the name of Peter Tom Willis. Under the wish I knew then category…come to find out through some family genealogy, Peter Tom WIllis’ great-grandmother and my grandfather were brother and sister. Peter Tom was drafted by the Chicago Bears…I’ve been a fan ever since. 🙂
Later in life, I picked up NASCAR racing after a discussion with someone over camera angles. My interest has now gone far beyond just watching the camera shots – although some of them are pretty awesome!
A couple of Winter Olympics ago, I discovered sled hockey in the Paralympic Games. Man, those guys are wild! And boy, can they move fast!
And in the Summer Games, there is wheelchair rugby. Holy Moly! they really go at it! Those chairs are built like tanks and the players – they have guys and girls on the teams now – do a lot of beating and banging!
I watch a lot of the events in the Olympics, but there are some really good games in the Paralympics.
I am not a big fan of boxing – or any fighting sport – but, I root for family. My brother’s youngest son is now a professional boxer and of course that means I never miss a fight. I even got to see him box a couple of years ago in Brooklyn. A Golden Gloves champion, his record is 14-1-1. He was originally scheduled to go to Tokyo for the Olympics but then Covid hit and he didn’t make the trip. He turned pro instead.
