This I Believe Essay

This I believe.

Covering buzzer beaters, home team advantage, close games and complete blow outs, this I believe is my dream job. College basketball comes naturally to me. I grew up with the men in my life watching UK basketball and hating Louisville, Duke, Indiana and UNC. Knowing that I have to put the hatred of those teams behind me is hard, but something I am willing to do.

Growing up, I heard yelling at the TV and now I am doing it myself, I know this dream is a long shot, but something that will be worth the hassle and it is a dream that I know I cannot give up on.

In 2011, I went to my first college basketball game with my dad, and boy was it something I will never forget. Kentucky was playing a not so good LSU team. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people surrounding me, all together for one reason, Kentucky Basketball. The roar of the crowd during the entire game will forever be etched into my memory. That’s when I knew for certain that this was what I wanted to experience for the rest of my life. I want to experience the insane fans from all over the country. I want to hear the roars of the crowd. I want to watch young teams grow together and become a family in one. I want to be the one who gets to write about these experiences for the people who aren’t as fortunate as I am and aren’t able to go to the games that they dream of going to. 

The buzzer beaters, home team advantage, close games, and complete blow outs, every game will be something I will always remember. Every game I get to cover will be a memory that I will never forget. Reading other sports journalists work gets me even more motivated to reach to my dream job because I know they were once in my shoes, believing this is their dream job and they were successful. Sports journalism is my dream job, this I do believe. 

Knee Injury Buddies and That Team Next Door

Cheers to hoping that this weekend is a better weekend of sports!

UK wise, things aren't looking too great for the future. With Willie Cauley Stein sidelines due to a persistent knee injury, that Cal decided should be taken care of before it got worse, UK is a man down for a few weeks. As if things weren't already just peachy for this team. Though, I do respect the fact Cal wanted to take the side of Cauley Stein and have this knee injury taken care of before it gets worse, even though it has been a problem since junior high. Maybe Willie and I can be knee injury buddies? What a way to bond.

70 miles west, Louisville is having one of the best years they've ever had. They are clicking and have great talent on the floor. I can say they are one of my picks to make it to the final four, IF and only if they continue to play like they are right now. (Yes, it did kill me a little to write that, but it's honesty.)

I can only hope things look better for UK in the future of this season.

Sports Curse

Well, let's just say, Saturday may have been the worst day to play on a team I pulled for. I must have been a curse. Not only did one team I was pulling for lose, three did. THREE. Kentucky got blown away by SEC newcomers Texas A&M. Partly due to the fact Elston Turner had the game of his life, scoring 40 points himself, and partly because these Kentucky boys have no fight. Along with that, I was big on the Broncos beating the Ravens, neither a team I would normally pull for, but hey, have to pick one. The Broncos were a heavy favorite and had a 7 point lead with less than 2 minutes to go, they basically had it in the bag. Well, they blew it and lost in double overtime. You can just blame that one on me, since I turned it on to watch it after the Kentucky loss. 

That night, I couldn't even imagine Green Bay losing to the 49ers. They have had one heck of a year, so I thought to myself, I'll flip back and forth between the game and a Lifetime Movie (boy am I sucker for those.) It was a tie game, and I had work in the morning so I decided to turn off the TV and lay down. Of course, laying down usually means picking up the phone and getting on Facebook or Twitter nowadays. So, I follow the game on twitter and notice Green Bay is losing and then that they lost...I was pretty unhappy, but what could I have expected when not a single team I wanted to win was winning. 

My next blog is going to be a paper that I'm writing for class, and from then on, more about sports or whatever I am feeling that day. :)

At least I wasn't a curse when it really mattered last April.

First Day as a Blogger

             I'm spending a beautiful Saturday in Lexington learning how to start a blog for my journalism class. If you know me, of course I am doing this before the UK game comes on. 

            Upon receiving my first rejection letter for an opportunity in sports journalism, I wasn't quite sure if I even wanted to continue on the track of reaching my dream as a sports journalist. I felt as if my dream bubble was popped and I was facing the reality that teaching was going to be my only option. It was heart breaking and I had every intention of not continuing down this path. I shed some tears and called my parents, both of them influencing me to keep trying. But it wasn't working, I was set on just giving up. That was until I really took a look into what mom was telling me about famous authors getting rejection letters for some of their most famous pieces. This did relieve a bit of the pain I was feeling and opened my eyes to a lot. I had to realize I have never taken a journalism class and my last english class was in high school, 2 years ago, I'm probably a little rusty. Then I realized, maybe my dream isn't completely out of my reach, I just have to keep trying.

           Anyways! I'm really going to be blogging about sports that I am following, and no guys, it won't just be about UK, though we all know that is by far my strongest subject. I am going to try to be unbiased, as hard as that may be. I look forward to hearing from you!