How my Love for Sports Began

I hated sports. Absolutely despised it. Mostly because on Sundays, Good Luck Charlie would have a new episode air, and I wanted my dad to watch it with me. But instead, it was Sunday Night Football, and getting him to turn away from SNF for a Disney Channel episode that re-runs every 5 hours: absolutely a no go. However, sometimes during halftime, he’d switch the channel to Disney for about 5-10 minutes, and we’d share a few laughs, but the canned laughter definitely won the laughing battle. 
That was when I was around 7 or 8 years old. Sports was a boy thing, and I absolutely wanted no business with it. Fast forward 2 years later. June 2010. NBA Finals. Lakers vs. Celtics. For a little context, during the NFL season, I always used to go against the team that my dad was cheering for, because it was fun. I think that strategy definitely gave me a premature hate for the Dallas Cowboys, which I don’t think will ever go away. So when the NBA Finals came along, and I found out my dad was a Celtics fan, I immediately knew that I was going to cheer for the Lakers, as if I’ve known them since day one. Just to get on my dad’s nerves. As my mom was doing my hair one night, an idea popped into my head. Why don’t I write about this game, and tally up the score? I have written about many things in the past, and I had my own blog within my notebook. So why not make this a sports blog? So on June 14, 2010 at 3:44 pm, (yes I took track of time) I created my first sports blog. In this mini blog, I explained my excitement of the fact that my dad was coming home from work to eat dinner with us, and watch Game 6 of the NBA Finals. The next day, I explained how I felt when the Lakers won that game, and the game after that, causing my dad’s team to lose the NBA Finals. I was so ecstatic. (Ironically, I became a Clippers fan 2 years later.) 

After watching and studying the games and players, I soon gained a huge interest in basketball. Football however, I swore up and down I would never get into. It was way too rough and it was boring. Touchdowns were only scored once every 30 minutes in my eyes, whereas basketball, a basket was scored every second! That’s when my dad informed me that I had a cousin who played in the NFL. I looked him up, but wasn’t that impressed. My dad told me that I had seen him several times at the family cookouts, but obviously I didn’t remember. (If you weren’t chasing me around with a water gun or water balloons, I promise, I didn’t know who you were.)  I remember sitting behind these boys in my sixth grade math class, who were talking sports. One of them mentioned a name that was familiar to me. Calvin Johnson Jr. . I immediately said, “Calvin Johnson is my cousin!” I was not the coolest in middle school, so I was expecting this to be a ‘wow, that’s dope!’ moment. 

Laughter. 

“She just said Megatron was her cousin!” 

“Well he is!”

 “Yea, right.” 

When I brought in a picture I took with him at the cookout, some said I photoshopped it and moved on from me, others decided to become my friend instantly and tried to pressure me into getting them an autograph. (Of course they never got one, that’s weird.)  I honestly and truthfully didn’t understand the hype behind Calvin. But looking at it now, I’d assume it would be like a kid nowadays telling their friends that they are related to Odell Beckham Jr., or DK Metcalf.

On December 22, 2012, the day that Calvin broke Jerry Rice’s single season receiving yards record, is the day I truly became interested in the NFL. I remember hearing the commentators talk about how special this Saturday Night game was against the Falcons. My dad even let me stay up to watch it, because Calvin could be making history. He was so close to breaking the record. Just a few yards away. Then, the time came, where Matthew Stafford threw the ball to number 81. Calvin ran as fast as he could, and was breaking the record in the process. I tapped my dad on his shoulder screaming, “Calvin is breaking the record!” All to find out, my dad had fallen asleep. At that moment, I knew that I was an NFL fan. Seeing Calvin Sr. go up to his son and congratulate him, was the dopest thing I think I saw that year. I recognized Calvin Sr. because he always took time to grill some amazing meat for us at our annual cookouts. My heart smiled more than ever, and it made me become immensely interested in the game that one of my family members devoted so much of their time to.

I decided to study football and basketball from there on out, and I never stopped. I always watched reporters interview athletes, and eventually, I was able to interview some professional athletes for myself. My first ever interview was with Calvin. For him to give me that opportunity, really helped kickstart my true passion for being a journalist, and I can not thank him enough for that. I started to go to more football games with my dad, and met many more NFL players. I began to search for some role models: specifically female sports analysts who I could look up to. My role model ever since 2015, has been Taylor Rooks. I absolutely loved her style, and loved the way that she interviewed people. I would screenshot photos from her Instagram, and remind myself that I can be like her too one day. I would have never thought that I would meet her 4 years later. Meeting her at North Carolina A&T was an absolute dream come true. I get emotional just thinking about it. That has got to be one of the biggest blessings that God has given me, and I am forever grateful for that opportunity.  I was also able to meet my favorite NBA player, Chris Paul. Chris was the reason I became a Clippers fan. I told him that, and I also told him that I couldn’t wait to interview him on the court one day. 

His response, “Yea, hopefully I’m still playing.”

So here’s to my journey as a sports journalist. I am excited to become more informed on every aspect of sports. From personal journey’s like Wayman Tisdale’s, to being able to document game winning shots or report on blockbuster trades. My goal is to simply remain confident in where my life is now, and where it can be in the future. With confidence, God by my side, and supportive friends and family, I believe I can accomplish anything that I put my mind to. Thank you for joining me in my journey!