Talking about baseball yesterday got me to thinking... how did I exactly get into it in the first place?
My family as a whole isn't really big on sports besides basketball, boxing and the occasional tennis. Being a part of a Chicago-Filipino family, the most I've heard about sports relates to either the Chicago Bulls during the 90s or Manny Pacquiao of boxing fame. That's about it for my family in terms of sports. I'd say that my family is sort of bandwagon-y, but even when the Blackhawks took it home twice in the last three years, I never once heard their name in my household.
I didn't have anyone to encourage me to go into sports. The most sport-like thing I did was take karate for a year or so, but that never completely panned out for me. I also had the fortune of grow up during the time of the rise of video games, so my childhood primarily focused on catching Pokemon as opposed to catching home run balls at the ballpark, which I don't mind at all.
So my younger years seriously lacked baseball, though I remember some big events like the whole Chicago Cubs/Steve Bartman fiasco in 2003 and some of my high school teachers going nuts about the Red Sox taking it home after 86 years. I think that's about the time I got into the wide world of baseball, because during that time I met a good friend who was into baseball for far longer than I've been. I remember him saying he's gone to games when Sammy Sosa was on the Cubs.
Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure how we got to the topic of baseball as we generally hung out through a shared interest in video games, but I think at one point we went to a baseball game. I didn't immediately fall in love with the game, but I know I enjoyed it. From there we went to more and more games, and I was even able to catch a few fly balls! After that, my friend set up a fantasy baseball game and that's when it all came together.
I did a lot of research on who to draft, who was projected to have a good or bad year and all of that. I was so invested in the game that I started frequenting a baseball site, MLB Trade Rumors, in an attempt to get an edge. I've since read it everyday and have branched out to several other sites for baseball news and, as a result, have become decently baseball-savvy. What I like about the sport, I think, is that it's very tactical. That and it just feels so... community-based, maybe? Either way, I look forward to the day where I can pass on my love for baseball.
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Oh yeah, and in regards to the fantasy baseball league... Admittedly, despite all the player research I didn't look into how a fantasy game was played so I think I made a fool of myself during the draft period, but I quickly got the hang of it. I even made awesome moves based on sabermetrics, which is a whole 'nother beast; case-in-point, Max Scherzer. Leading the wins category in my league.
Still in last place, though. Three years straight, ha.
My family as a whole isn't really big on sports besides basketball, boxing and the occasional tennis. Being a part of a Chicago-Filipino family, the most I've heard about sports relates to either the Chicago Bulls during the 90s or Manny Pacquiao of boxing fame. That's about it for my family in terms of sports. I'd say that my family is sort of bandwagon-y, but even when the Blackhawks took it home twice in the last three years, I never once heard their name in my household.
I didn't have anyone to encourage me to go into sports. The most sport-like thing I did was take karate for a year or so, but that never completely panned out for me. I also had the fortune of grow up during the time of the rise of video games, so my childhood primarily focused on catching Pokemon as opposed to catching home run balls at the ballpark, which I don't mind at all.
So my younger years seriously lacked baseball, though I remember some big events like the whole Chicago Cubs/Steve Bartman fiasco in 2003 and some of my high school teachers going nuts about the Red Sox taking it home after 86 years. I think that's about the time I got into the wide world of baseball, because during that time I met a good friend who was into baseball for far longer than I've been. I remember him saying he's gone to games when Sammy Sosa was on the Cubs.
Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure how we got to the topic of baseball as we generally hung out through a shared interest in video games, but I think at one point we went to a baseball game. I didn't immediately fall in love with the game, but I know I enjoyed it. From there we went to more and more games, and I was even able to catch a few fly balls! After that, my friend set up a fantasy baseball game and that's when it all came together.
I did a lot of research on who to draft, who was projected to have a good or bad year and all of that. I was so invested in the game that I started frequenting a baseball site, MLB Trade Rumors, in an attempt to get an edge. I've since read it everyday and have branched out to several other sites for baseball news and, as a result, have become decently baseball-savvy. What I like about the sport, I think, is that it's very tactical. That and it just feels so... community-based, maybe? Either way, I look forward to the day where I can pass on my love for baseball.
---
Oh yeah, and in regards to the fantasy baseball league... Admittedly, despite all the player research I didn't look into how a fantasy game was played so I think I made a fool of myself during the draft period, but I quickly got the hang of it. I even made awesome moves based on sabermetrics, which is a whole 'nother beast; case-in-point, Max Scherzer. Leading the wins category in my league.
Still in last place, though. Three years straight, ha.
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