Most kids grow up rooting for teams in their area, teams they can watch on TV all the time, listen to on the radio, and see in person without having to get on an airplane.
I am not most kids.
For what ever reason, I am a San Antonio Spurs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. Actually, there is a reason for it.
My father, bless his heart, was once a serious gambler. Big time. Because his only favorite team is the Yankees, he'd bet on football and basketball free of fan bias. Thus, I wasn't able to follow his lead with regards to the NFL or NBA.
As to how I came to pick the teams, that's mostly just random order, combined with the fact that my parents were happy to see I'd picked guys like Warrick Dunn and David Robinson as idols.
Either way, the point of this post is that yesterday was a defining moment in my fandom. For the first time ever, I got to hear the Spurs on the radio. Nearly two decades into my career as a Spurs fan, I hadn't heard my favorite team on the radio. Prior to last season, I had never seen them on non-national TV. In the past year plus, I've accomplished both of those.
It wasn't nearly as special as I'd imagine it would be. Some how I half expected the announcer to say, "And, now, as we rejoin action here in the 2nd quarter, we'd like to say hello to first time listener, long time fan Scott Spinelli of New Jersey. Welcome, Scott! We've been waiting 22 years for this day!"
And then the crowd would go wild...
Then, I'd wake up.
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