Thoughts of a Female Sports Fan: History

To give some perspective on why I am such a big sports fan, here's a little of my history.

It all started one early morning in Birmingham, Alabama when my mom gave birth to me. I was born into a family where both parents had attended and graduated from The University of Alabama during the late 1970s. And if you know anything about college football's history, you know that was a pretty good time for Alabama Football.

From the time I could walk I was going to Tuscaloosa every Saturday in the fall. Once I was in kindergarten, I became a cheerleader for my older brother's peewee football team. And even at this young age I knew a lot about football. My five year old self knew enough to scold the older cheerleaders who were cheering "DEFENSE" when our team was in the red zone about to score. I was surrounded by football and I loved it.

In second grade I started to partake in real sports (sorry, I don't count cheerleading) and began playing basketball and softball. I ended up playing softball until 6th grade when I focused on basketball because it was definitely the sport I was best at (being the tallest girl in school definitely didn't hurt). I played basketball year round until I graduated high school and, much to the chagrin of my mother, decided to focus on less athletic endeavors in college--like traveling, my other passion.

But despite not playing sports competitively any more, I still love them. I live on ESPN, reading as many articles as I can, storing factoids, forming opinions. When possible I go to the big sporting events. I make posters and get on TV. And until I am physically unable I will travel to see my Crimson Tide.

My favorite sporting events that I have attended:

2009: Alabama 12 Tennessee 10: Rocky Block. Bryant Denny was a madhouse after Mount Cody blocked his second field goal of the day.
2009, 2011, 2012: Alabama's most recent national championships--37-21 over Texas, 21-0 over LSU, and 42-14 over Notre Dame--I'm just sad I won't get to make it to the Fiesta Bowl before the BCS is no more
2013: USA 4 Germany 3: Despite this being a friendly and with Germany bringing their B-team, no one thought the US had a chance. But after 3 highlight reel goals and a blunder by Ter Stagen, the US held on for victory
2012 Cincinnati Open Final--Federer v Djokovic: It's not often the top two seeds make it to the final in the smaller tournaments but boy was I glad they did for the one I attended. Each a legend in their own right, this was fantastic