Learning to Love the Sport

Detroit. Many different things come to mind when people think of this city. Companies like Ford made the city popular and earned it the nicknamed "The Motor City". The city of Detroit hasn't seen all great days though, as they have been plagued with bankruptcy and other big problems in recent years. Even amongst the turmoil the city always shows up to support the hometown Lions football team. My love for football and in particular the Detroit Lions came from my dad. Starting when I was ten years old I loved sitting on the couch on Sunday afternoons with my dad, continuously asking him questions about what was going on. Now looking bad I realize the patience he must have shown after being asked over and over what a holding call meant while he was just trying to enjoy the game. As I learned more about the rules of the game, and got to know the players, games started to become more enjoyable for me to watch. I began to look forward to Sunday afternoons, rushing into the house after church to turn the TV to the game. Weekdays I would be looking at players stats and comparing them to other players around the league. I very quickly fell in love with Calvin Johnson and his ability to make great plays. For my birthdays all I wanted was Calvin Johnson shirts, jerseys and posters. When I was young I would run around with his jersey on, throwing a football up into the air and catching them, pretending be a superstar like him. Now as I've gotten older and Calvin Johnson has retired from the NFL, I've realized that I was very fortunate to be a Detroit fan during his time on the team. I will be able to tell my children stories about him just as my dad tells me stories of Barry Sanders.

I decided to write my blog on the Lions because I really enjoy watching them week in and week out, win or lose. No feeling in the world compares to the feeling when your favorite team is losing by a little bit and the end of a game, and is looking to score a game winning touchdown. Or the feeling when your team beats that rival team that you can't stand to see win. Those feelings of adrenaline is what keeps me addicted to the sport. When I was told to write a blog for school, I immediately knew this was the topic I had to do, and I'm excited to write these posts each week and share my love for the sport.