Arena Your Sports Loves

My newest sports love

 

I've been meaning to post in this thread for a long time, but just haven't found the time to properly gather and articulate my thoughts just yet. I will at some point with the break in super hero movies and TV shows at the moment.

So until then, I thought of this piece from George Carlin and his thoughts and summary of baseball and football that stuck with me.

 

I'm pretty sure I haven't participated in this thread before, so I'll give my teams, my fav classic and modern players, and a little spiel..

Kansas City Chiefs:
Jan Stenerud & Trent Green & Eric Berry
Y'all know what it is. I adore the Chiefs with all my heart, and that's why I often hate what they do, because they break it. Still, big hopes for my man Mahomes. Going to the preseason game tomorrow, and finally able to enjoy my family season tickets again

Kansas City Royals:
George Brett & Salvador Perez
Since I played softball for 12 years and my grandpa was a Royals nut, I was the person in my family rooting for them even when there was nothing to root for. But man oh man, there was nothing like that World Series win. Got to go to game 1, which is the best sporting event I have been to.

Mizzzou Football:
Chase Daniel & Drew Lock
Grew up rooting for my dad's alma matter and my state team. Went to a liberal arts school with no football team, so I never had to give up Mizzou. Drew Lock is a family friend so I have especially high hopes for him going to the NFL.

Mizzou Basketball:
Jontay Porter
I care way more about basketball than the rest of the family, because I also played it. But honestly there aren't many glory days to look back on. But I'm so happy Jontay stayed.

Sporting KC:
Matt Besler
Didn't really pay attention back when they were the Wizards. But Sporting is like a whole new franchise. Can't wait to actually go to a game... If I can get in, since they always sell out.

Arsenal:
Thierry Henry & Alexis Sanchez _|), or Aaron Ramsay
I could have picked any team, but instead I picked the Chiefs of the PL. I specifically didn't want a team that was too good, but good enough. I got my wish. This one is also Ossy's fault. But I'm totally bought in and love my Gunners anyway.

Los Angeles Kings:
Gretzky & Kopitar
The first year I decided to root for them, to actually follow an LA sports team (acceptable since KC doesn't have a team), they won the Stanley Cup. So inevitably it's been downhill from there. But unless KC gets an NHL team, I will continue to have the Kings as my legacy of having lived in CA for 12 years.


Others:
Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, the Shibutanis, and many other Olympians, because I am an Olympics nutcase. And the US Women's National Soccer team.

 

I have many sports love.

I think like most people, my love of sports derives from family. For me, it was my older brother and baseball, as my dad serve in the Navy and wasn't home for like 9 months out of the year. Additionally, my dad was in immigrant and didn't follow baseball at all. Anyway, as I was saying, baseball was my gateway into loving all kinds of sports and it started like pretty much like any other fan of the game, which was playing catch. Just the simple act of tossing back a baseball between me and my older brother was a bonding moment. He taught me how to look the ball into my glove, as he was toss the ball to me in many different ways; the high lob, the straight line drive, the grounder, the bad hoops, etc. And of course from there, the more enjoyable batting.

Baseball was still America's favorite sport and past time. When the number 61, 56 games, .400 were magical numbers. And that's one thing about baseball has over the other sports, magical stats and numbers.

I grew up in the last of the era of collecting baseball card and playing baseball in the street, commonly know at "stick ball," but we actually had a baseball bat not a tree branch. We would play with the other neighborhood kids in front of my house as there were not parks within walking distance of my house. And we used a tennis ball to avoid damaging the cars park in the streets. We didn't have enough kids to field a complete baseball team, which was fine because the street wasn't diamond shape anyway. So, we would generally have one or two infielders, two outfielders. So, with no first baseman, it was the throw back to the pitcher to beat the runner to first to count as an out. And since we would be short on players, we would have the "ghostman" on first thing going. Since, I've stopped playing "stick ball" I've never have seen kids playing it. I guess they're just playing video games or play in an organized league. It's a shame that there's no such thing as a pick up game of baseball anymore.

The Oakland A's were in the Rickey Henderson/Billy Martin era when I fell in love with the team. I remember the outfield of Rickey in LF, Dwayne Murphy in CF and Tony Armas in RF. I don't remember much of the infielders, but I love playing the outfield, so I remember those guys. I remember Mike Norris being the ace of the staff. Rickey is my all time favorite player. I remember modeling my batting stance after his. It was just to unusual. I asked my bother, "why does he bat like that?" And my brother said, "to shorten the strike zone." It's those little things that kept on building my enjoyment of baseball. I also love when Rickey would get on base, especially in the playoffs as he was such a distraction on the pitcher with his threat to steal a base at will. So much of a head game. In the summer, I would often listen to baseball games on the radio and the great Hall of Famers, Bill King and Lon Simmons would be the play-by-play guys. I love their voices and how they could pain the picture of the game; as well as capture the emotions and expression of the players and managers. I mean, Billy Martin was famous for having tirades and kicking dirt on the umps.

I miss those days. Baseball is part of my childhood as much as Star Wars, comic books, and metal lunchboxes. And it will always be my first sports love.

 

The sport I fell in love with was football.

Growing in Alameda, which could be considered a small suburb of Oakland as it's (Alameda, left side on the picture below) a small island separated from the city of Oakland by an estuary.



And so, the Oakland Raiders was huge in my house growing up. My mom had worked with a Raiderette and so I would get alot of left over promo items from the Raiders like buttons, bumper stickers and whatnot. And during the 70s, the Raiders were the most colorful football team in the NFL, with players with the nicknames of The Snake, The Ghost, The Mad Bomber, The Assassin, The Stork, and the Eleven Angry Men lead by John Madden, who had a motivation quote of "Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon."

The Raiders were The Autumn Wind that sweep through the NFL.

Additionally, the Raiders were known for being in the most memorable games of NFL, which are nicknamed as "The Holy Roller," "The Sea of Hands," "The Heidi Game," "The Immaculate Reception," and later, "The Tuck Rule." The Raiders of the 70s and early 80s were the winnest team on Monday Night Football.

Their offensive line look like gladiators with the taped up forearms and armored paddings.






The image and mystique of the Raiders was quickly adopted and identified with the city of Oakland, as it was considered to be Gotham to the Metropolis of San Francisco. The Raiders were part of the community as they were visible around the city as they would hang out at the bars and whatnot. The Raiders and the city Oakland were a perfect marriage, until it wasn't. Al Davis divorced himself and the team from Oakland and moved to LA.

Following the Super Bowl XV victory, the Raiders tanked the season and attendance dropped and subsequently their home games were black out.

And as the Raiders were no longer on TV, the 49ers happened. And I jumped on that bangwagon of Bill Walsh, Joe Montana, Dwight Clark and Ronnie Lott; the third team I fell in love with but now are my number one love.



The 49ers burst onto the scene with "The Catch" and ushered in modern football with the principals for the West Coast Offense. The Niners were a beautiful team to watch and applied the new philosophy of "pass to set up the run." And as such, during the those winning seasons the 49ers were either the number one rushing team in the league or near the top of the list.

And when the Raiders left for Los Angeles, the 49ers did become the team of the Bay Area. And of course, with being the team of the 80s, the 49ers grew their fanbase beyond the Bay Area.

Football is my number one sports love, not only because of my favorite teams but all that goes into the game. I feel football is the best representation of a chess match, as you have consider every piece on the board and employ a great deal of strategy and knowing your opponent's tendencies. The game that was once considered "three yards and a cloud of dust" is now a sophisticated and coordinated effort from the coaches to the players. The best QBs and Offenses in the league have the best mental players that are able to look over the defense and know what to expect and how to be it.








And defensively, football requires that same kind of mental capacity, planning and coordination, whether is zone or man-to-man.





Defensive players have to read, use technique and understand the game as much as anyone of the offensive side of the ball.








NFL Films also help make football my favorite sport. I love the cinematography of the ball leaving the QB's hand into the receivers. It's so good.





NFL Films did so much for the sport as it had the voice of God in John Facenda narrating each episode and was accompanied with a Hollywood like sound track.





Baseball is America's pastime, but football is America's passion.