"Turned To The Dark Side"

My mom stopped by last night. She was picking me up so I could run over to my brothers house, and run an errand. When she walked into my kitchen she found me debating with my 12 year old son over a purposed trade in our fantasy baseball league. For the first time in her life I believe my mother was speechless. She stood there staring and listening to my son and I banter about major league pitchers. At that point my husband walked into the kitchen to refill his Coke and my mom turns to him and says: "You did it! I can't believe it, but you did it!!" Gregs response was: "Did what?" Mom replies: "You've turned her to the Dark Side. You've turned her into a sports fan." She was laughing but I got the feeling that becoming a sports fan was equal to voting for Ralph Nader or Ross Perot.

In the house that I grew up in sports wasn't a big deal. My Dad HATES basketball. My Mom is only interested if the Jazz are in the NBA finals. In the house that I grew up in the only sports events that we cared about were:

The Indy 500. My Dad skips church and watches this race every year. I only watch the end to see if Danika Patrick is going to win.
The Super Bowl. We would all sit down and watch the Super Bowl just kidding: the commercials and vote for the best one.
The World Series. This is the only event that we watched to actually watch the Sport.

Other than a couple of seasons I played softball, and my brother played baseball for a little while, that is the sum total of my sports training in my childhood.

I have been married for 15 and a half years, and I have learned allot. If my mother knew the truth she'd know: I knew that Tony Stewart--the driver of the Home Depot Car in Nascar -- got put on probation before the season started. I also know that he has never won the Daytona 500. I also saw the accident the killed Dale Earnhart Sr. I know when, where and what the Masters is. I watch the NFL games every Sunday, and all the playoff games. I also have fantasy football and baseball teams. I can keep score at baseball games and compute stats (although I still don't know how to figure a ERA). I try to know who wins the Stanley Cup, but I'm not very good at that one. I also watch college football and basketball. I even try to go to a couple games.

So what's the point?

Growing up in a non-sports family I always thought the world of sports was a little silly. I was wrong. My parents and family all think I'm nuts but I love it most of the time. I love that I can talk to my husband about something we both enjoy. I love talking to men and my sons friends about sports and see the shock on their faces when they figure out I'm not as stupid as they all thought. (I've gotten some really good laughs in that situation more than once.) But I guess my favorite thing is caring about something that doesn't really matter. Ten years from now will anyone still be talking about how the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl? Will anyone care that the Dodgers played games in China, or that the Red Sox opened their season in Japan? Nope. And that's why I love it.

In my opinion we spend allot of time worrying about things that do matter. The mortgage, the kids, our health, the job, the marriage, the bills, school, and on and on and on. We all need something to care about that doesn't matter to anybody else. For some people it's gardening, fashion, reading mystery novels, decorating, or whatever. For me, it's sports (most of the time, but I also love to read).

So yes Mom, I have "Turned To The Dark Side" and I'm loving every minute of it!! I also have never voted for Ralph Nader or Ross Perot!!!!