 Sports have been a part of my life ever since I can remember. Even looking at pictures of me when I was 2 years old, you can see me with a glove or a bat in my hand. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I was never hindered by snow days or that much rain, and nothing made me happier than playing baseball with my Dad or shooting hoops at the schoolyard.
As I grew up, my Dad introduced me to the local teams like the Giants and 49ers and I learned to live and die with them each season. I idolized Will Clark and always wanted to try to copy his stance and swing until I realized it didn't quite work for me. I was lucky enough to be at Game 5 of the 1989 NLCS to see Clark single off Mitch Williams to propel the Giants the World Series. The celebration after that game is something I will never forget. Much like I will never forget the Giants collapse in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series that I also witnessed first hand.
These powerful emotional extremes that sports can evoke come from great games and great moments produced by great players. These moments come purely from seeing great competition without having to think about salaries, agents, luxury taxes or strikes. These were emotions I'd feel when I played baseball through junior college until two shoulder surgeries convinced me to hang it up.
Baseball was the really the only organized sport I played growing up. I played a year of Pop Warner and a year of basketball but every year since I was 8, I was playing baseball. When I was a teenager I was lucky enough to play for a tournament team that traveled to all over the country, a high school team that played its final game in the Oakland Coliseum, and be a teammate of two major leaguers.
Now my relationship with the game has changed to covering it as I started working for Channel 4 San Diego on Padres television broadcasts last season. My job is to do research and provide stats and stories for the broadcasters to use on the air. All of the research allows me to stay connected to game in a different capacity but I still get to enjoy experiencing the emotions of each season.
Football, basketball and hockey also grab my attention as the success of the Giants and Niners have come with the recent poor fortunes of the Warriors and Sharks. I still believe I've been lucky as a fan for what I've seen the teams I root for accomplish.
More than anything I consider myself a fan of sport and always want to see competition get better and that is why I wanted to write for this site. Trying to improve sports can only make competition better and that benefits every fan of every team.
Ed is a staff writer for ContractBud.com and lives in California with a fine collection of toys...
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