Sunday, December 6, 2009

It Felt Great To Be A Fan For Once

A sport is a dish best served with a group of friends, cold beverages, high definition, outstanding passion and a win.

From time to time, I feel like working in athletics sucks. I can't fully enjoy a game of my alma mater because I am working them. No time to be a fan. It’s cliché but I have green blood in my body. I’m naturally more invested in the outcome of a game then someone who collects a bimonthly paycheck, but does not have that UNC Charlotte diploma hanging in their office. It’s fact.


(If I had Spears and Jones on top of me like that, I think I might wet myself...This reminds me of that scene in Goodfellas, Spears is Ray Liotta and Jones is Joe Pesci.)---------------------------------------->

Having to work every home game slowly sucks the fandom out of my body. Dating back to my days as a student, I’ve never watched a basketball game inside Halton as a fan. Never sat in the stands, stubbed a ticket, pregamed at Picassos or screamed at the referees. That’s six years and counting! Don’t get me wrong I often have the best seat in the house and enjoy my all access credential, but it becomes physically painful to sit emotionless only cheering and jeering on the inside when we hit a big three or the refs make an obvious blunder. And half the time after the game, I have no idea what happened in the game. I don’t get a feel for the game when I’m running camera.

Saturday was different. With the men’s team in Louisville on ESPNU and no other home athletic event on tap the rest of the weekend I was able to unleash complete and total fandom in the privacy of my own home along with some of my closest Niner friends.

It was liberating. Refreshing. Awesome.

We pregamed, postgamed, watched, yelled, dissected, cursed, cheered, drank, ate and celebrated. It certainly would not have been as enjoyable if we lost, but we didn’t lose. We won by 22. It almost felt like a mirage. The game started, led from the getgo, Braswell looked like Tim Duncan, won by 22 points and then it was gone.

Now back to the usual. Tuesday will come. I will film Derrio Green hitting a 30-foot three pointer and sit stoically on the sideline as the crowd erupts. But ya know what, every now and then I may crack a slight smile.

No comments:

Post a Comment