Fan Time

I'm picky about my sports, but then I'm female, and I can be.  I'm talking the three major sports played by high schools, colleges, and pros.  Even the non-pros, but probably because I became designated team scorekeeper in my 20s for what's called a "town team."  Those are teams made up of local players, past the age of high school and no longer in college, who can't give up the sport.

In high school, I was a member of the Pep Club.  Those went the way of granny dresses, when pep clubs and the male equivalents were deemed...  I don't know why.  By the way, the guys at our HS were called the Rowdy Rooters and had their own section in the bleachers.  Aptly named, because they did get rowdy.

But high school wasn't my first introduction to basketball.  My "big brother," the guy who I grew up next door to, taught me at a young age how to shoot a basketball.  Believe, I wasn't all that good.  I'm not much of sport participant, and more of a fan.

My dad didn't play sports.  For one thing, he was 5'2, and, when his dad died when my dad was ten, he worked at whatever job he could find that would add to the family's finances.  But he did love to watch sports.  Everything from football to bowling.  I, in turn, spent many Sunday afternoons watching with him.  My mom preferred baseball.  I remember her sitting in a precursor of a recliner, keeping score and stats on a pad of paper during the playoffs and World Series.  Yes, I had my own favorite baseball players.  Roger Maris (my fave of all), Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron...  The list goes on.  Later, I became a Dodgers fan.  I bled blue.

We went to basketball games when I was young.  Wichita had a National Industrial Basketball League team,  the Wichita Vickers.  I vaguely remember going to the games.  My mom liked telling the story of the game where, when she'd jumped up from her seat after an astounding play, she'd forgotten I was on her lap and dumped me on the floor.  Apparently it didn't dim my enthusiasm for the sport.

Football.  'Nuff said?  I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan and have been since high school.  I think it may have been because I loved watching Tom Landry coach. A real gentleman and a great coach.  Then came the Dream Team  --  Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Daryl Johnston, and more.

But Saturday we basked in basketball.  Not only did my hometown college team (WSU) win, but
so did the team (KSU) we went to see play--the team that was expected to lose that particular game.  Five of our family attended that K-State game, front row floor seats behind the dance team and stat tables, with a huge screen overhead, just in case our view was blocked at any time, and we watched them beat the 10-1 team by ten points.  Excellent game!  And so much fun to be a part of the drenched-in-purple arena crowd.  I'm known to get a bit rowdy, while watching games--shades of the Rowdy Rooters, perhaps?--but I behaved myself.  Not a single "Booooo" crossed my lips after a questionable call.

WuShock  (and if you don't know what a wheat shock is, it's time to learn)

Willie Wildcat

What a great Christmas gift my oldest daughter gave us, in spite of the sleet and snow we dealt with going and coming.  It will be a Christmas time we'll always remember.

Best wishes for a wonderfully memorable Christmas this year!  May your heart be open to the love of beauty of the season.

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! ~ Charles Dickens