Some people fall in love with sports by playing them. Others fall in love by watching them. I fell in love with sports because someone showed me how to love them.
The biggest sports fan I know is my dad. As a Pitt alumnus and a Pittsburgh native, he’s spent a lifetime of dedication to this city and its teams. My childhood was characterized by moments spent together watching sports. From ritualistic fall Sundays centered around Steelers football, to staying up past my bedtime to catch the Pens’ Stanley Cup playoff game, to long car rides only filled by the sounds of 93.7 The Fan — he is the reason I love sports the way I do.
Growing up, I couldn’t quite yet grasp how someone could care so much about something they weren’t even involved in. My sisters and I used to poke fun at him for how much he cared about something that seemed so menial to us.
It wasn’t until I got to college that I got it. I don’t know why, but for some reason my palms got sweaty and my stomach hurt watching the final minutes of the Backyard Brawl my first year. I don’t want to admit it, but I think I teared up watching Jeff Capel and the Panthers give the senior night game-winning ball to Aidan Fisch. I think my dad might have been right. I think this is what it means to love sports.
I knew at the start of my sophomore year that when I stumbled across an opening for a position as a staff writer at the sports desk, I had to go for it. I understood it now, and I wanted every chance possible to get my hands on more moments that gave me butterflies in my stomach and made my heart feel like it was swelling. Writing for the sports desk is an outlet I never pictured having, and it has only made my love grow stronger. An opportunity to express to others what sports mean to me.
I’m indebted to my editors during my time at The Pitt News, who have given me the opportunity to grow my love for writing and sports. I’m thankful to Brian and Jermaine for bringing me on and believing that I had something to offer to the desk, and to Aidan and Matt, who have fostered an environment for my peers and me to express our love for sports. Being surrounded by people who share the same passion for something you care so deeply about only makes your love grow stronger.
I’ve had the chance to write articles that I take so much pride in. A chance to tell the amazing sports stories I used to hear my dad tell me, which brought him to tears. Stories that I hope can reach other people and deliver to them the feeling of passion and overwhelming gratitude that only come when loving something so deeply.
Wherever my career and life go next, I know that this love for sports will live on. As bittersweet as it is for me to graduate and watch my time on the sports desk come to an end, I know that no matter where I end up or what I’m doing there will always be a part of me that feels the tie back to this city and the sports teams within it. I fell in love with sports right here at Pitt, and you know what they say about love — the first cut is always the deepest.
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