Sports, an unconditional love.

I love sports unconditionally and what's more, my body hates me for it.  What's not to like, waiting until 2 am to watch a game and then having to work at 8:30 am the next day, watching the game on a slow stream, and flipping out when you miss a play or a series in which the other team scores and scrambling to fill in the blanks.  I think it slipped my mind when I was thinking what would be the worst things about going abroad, a list that I must admit was very short.  I thought about how hard it would be leaving my family (ok, I love them to death, but they're not going anywhere), or my friends (they were all heading in different directions anyway), or especially my kittens (who are now cats), but it hardly crossed my mind that I would be suffering the most from sports withdrawal.

Now that I'm away from my sports I realize that I was raised on sports.  I bled for sports, I yearned for the next game before the current game was even over.  I love competition and I need physical activity.  I hate running, but I'm willing to sacrifice it for the sake of the sport.  The worst hasn't been the lack of playing sports, mainly because I've come to terms with the fact that I could hardly run the length of a basketball court without being winded anymore, but the lack of ability to watch the games or enjoy them without worry about the speed of my internet connection.  Not to mention, and don't get me wrong, I've made great friends over here, but, I have yet to find a sports fan to rival me.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Pitt (http://lizenespana.blogspot.com/)

Since I can remember I was a Packer fan, which coincidently was the first year that Brett Favre took over the starting job from Don Macoski (not sure how to spell the last name, all I remember is that his nickname was the Magic Man, but ultimately not important enough to warrant this much of my time).  My brothers, my friends, and my relatives are all Packer fans (with the exception of my Grandpa Bardwell, who is a die-hard Lions fan).   So lets just say the Super Bowl was a tough one this year since it was the first time since 1997 that the Packers have played in it.  Many of you have been lucky enough to see my rants on Facebook when the teams look bad or my congrats if they look good.   Case in point, I struggle without a facet to vent my frustrations.  In closing, I would just like to say its not easy being a sports fan abroad, but it is possible, however, I regret to inform you'll that I'm pretty positive that sports will be the death of me.  Also, I realize that I can never come back to the United States now that the Green Bay Packers have won a Super Bowl while I was in Spain.  Oh well, there could be worse places to be forced to live.  Stay tuned...