Baseball , the NBA and NASCAR

My thoughts turned to sports this weekend as the Astros defeated the Braves in an 18 inning game. Although I am not really an Astro fan, or even a very faithful baseball fan anymore, it brought back great memories and made my mom supremely happy!

As long as I can remember, I have been a sports fan. I get it from my mom! When I was a kid, we lived in Houston and she would take me to watch the Astros in that amazing architectural wonder the Astrodome (okay, it was 1969.) My dad wasn't into baseball and my brother and sister were older and definitely not interested--so that left me. She taught me how to use the scorecard and keep score and we always had a great time, even though the Astros rarely won much back then.

When we moved back to California (I was 13), I became a Dodger fan, while my mom remained an Astro fan. We made it a point to go see the Dodgers play the Astros a couple of times every season, even though she would totally embarass me, rooting out loud for the visiting team; but California fans are pretty mellow, so no one ever paid much attention.

Then the Dodger management changed and they traded away most of my favorite players and stopped being the team that nurtured young players through the minors and stuck with them for years and became just another trade 'em away franchise---my interest waned. Now I don't pay much attention to Major League Baseball, although we do go to a few games of the local triple A team, the Norfolk Tides, each season. But watching the Astros playing the Braves and then the Angels playing the Yankees reminded me how I used to be so into baseball. It all came back: the lingo, the plays, the strategies. It was fun. I hope the Angels beat the Yankees tonight. (After all the Angels manager is long-time Dodger Mike Scioscia and I just hate the Yankees on principle---to much arrogance, like USC and Notre Dame.)

But after I lost interest in baseball I became, for a time, an NBA fan. First it was the Showtime Lakers (Magic, Kareem and Worthy), then it was Kobe and Shaq (until they became to unbearablely childish to root for) and finally the San Antonio Spurs. I loved the Spurs style of play--it was about the team, not about the superstars--even though with Robinson and Duncan they had bona fide superstars. It is tough to keep track of basketball living in a football town---the NBA coverage in the local paper is often limited to one column a couple of times a week (don't even get me going on the who-cares-Redskins lol.) Now I only really watch the playoffs and finals (I really like Manu Ginobli :) So we have become (much to my amazement) a family of NASCAR fans.

It all started one day in 2003, when Matt Kenseth won a race. My youngest (then 6 yr old) son had to stay home from church one Sunday with a fever. He was laying on the couch flipping channels and discovered a NASCAR race and ended up watching the cars go around in circles for 2+ hours. Matt Kenseth won that race, so my son became a Matt Kenseth fan--although he only knew him as #17 for a long time. Since then everyone in the family has chosen a driver (Kenseth, Stewart, Gordon, Johnson and Sadler) and we watch the races that are on regular TV (no cable, so we miss the races on TNT.) We are certainly not fanatical, but we enjoy rooting for our drivers and rooting against those we don't like (we aren't terribly fond of Biffle or Junior) and the broadcasters' commentary and all the inside info they throw around make it interesting. There is also an amazing amount of science involved!

Funny thing is---my dad was a NASCAR fan for years, he loved the Intimidator (Earnhardt Sr.) and was also a Mark Martin fan. Dad passed away a couple of years ago before his youngest grandson converted the rest of the family. There is something kind of full circle about it. I started out as a baseball fan because of my mom and have become a NASCAR fan like my dad (he would have been happy to see Mark Martin win at Kansas yesterday.) Interestingly, the last year of my dad's life, he was an invalid and so my mom would sit with him every Sunday and watch the race---as a result she is a NASCAR fan too! I guess sports are all in the family (even my sister is a fan, although she persists in following NFL football :) BTW I also like to watch Grand Slam tennis and the occasional golf tournament!

Morethanfine,
Barb