Thoughts About Being a Sports Fan

While watching the Super Bowl last night, I began thinking about my experience of being a sports fan during my lifetime. Over the years I have had my favorite teams. Most of my teams have not been very consistent with winning. Some good seasons but most seasons have been painful.

The first sport I became a fan of was football. My first team was the New York Jets with Joe Namath. My dad loved football so I would watch it with him. He also got me interested in high school football and took me to see his high school football team. I have been hooked since.

Here are the professional sports teams I have been a fan of in each sport:

Baseball
Atlanta Braves (1981-Present)

Basketball
Atlanta Hawks (1978-1999)
**Currently a free agent.

Football
New York Jets (1970-1976)
Atlanta Falcons (1977-2016)
Tennessee Titans (2017-2025)
**Currently a free agent

Hockey
Atlanta Flames (1978-1980)
Nashville Predators (2014-Present)

How many championships have I "won" with my favorite sports teams?

I thought back over the years and wondered how many of my teams have won championships. Here is the list I came up with:

1980    Georgia Bulldogs (Football)
1986    Villa Rica (High School Football)
1988    Warner Robins (High School Football)
1995    Atlanta Braves (Baseball)
2004    Warner Robins (High School Football)
2020    Warner Robins (High School Football)
2021    Atlanta Braves (Baseball)
2021    Warner Robins (High School Football)
2021    Georgia Bulldogs (Football)
2022    Georgia Bulldogs (Football)

Looking back, it seems that 2021 was a good year for my teams.  Unfortunately, the flip side of being a sports fan is the heartbreaking losses I have also had.  Some of the losses I took hard were the Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots after they had a 28-3 lead.  That loss was the end of my following of the team.  That's how hard that loss was for me.  I also took the loss of the Atlanta Braves to the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.  Another tough loss to take was when the Nashville Predators loss of the Stanley Cup final to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It has been an experience of ups and downs over the years.  None of my teams' wins or losses have affected my life one way or another.  Sports have been something that have been a part of my life.  I don't live and breathe sports like some do but it has been a part of me.

Thoughts on Moving

Last year I moved for the 35th time in my life. I relocated to a new home and a new city.

When I reflect on my lifetime of moves, I have never been one that ever wished to move back to some place I left. I know some who always wish they were back at a place they had left. It is sad to live that way. I have learned to adjust and be content where I am at the moment.

The only time in my life when I did not want to move was after my sophomore year in high school. I protested the move because I wanted to finish high school there. Unfortunately my dad decided it was God’s will for us to move to another church and another city.

Perhaps the most challenging move was when my wife and I moved to Tampa. It was nothing like we had expected. After the first month we wanted to move. It eventually took two years.

Moving has always been a part of my life. I never really had a physical place to call home. From an early age I learned that moving was a part of my life. I attended 10 different schools in 12 years. I was always the new kid at church and school. I had to learn to be good at adjusting to change.

They say that people who move around a lot can be called nomads, vagabonds, globetrotters, or itinerants, often driven by jobs, wanderlust, or a need for change, leading to adaptability but potentially shallower roots and relationships. Modern terms include digital nomads, while traditional groups like nomadic tribes follow seasonal patterns for resources, but many people today move for personal reasons like adventure or boredom.

Even as I sit here now, I know we will move again. I don’t know when and I don’t know where yet. Some of our family are upset that we have moved but making these decisions to relocate are never easy decisions.

So when and where will the next move be? I don't know but there will be another move.

I often wonder if I would prefer a cottage on the beach somewhere or another stare or even another country. I still remember our trip to Europe several years ago and remember my favorite place located in Weggis, Switzerland. It was one of the most beautiful places I have seen. Mark Twain thought so too when he visited it. Could the next move but further up into a New England state? We really loved our visits to Newport, Rhode Island and Ogunguit, Maine last year.

The only thing I am certain of is that there will be another move at some point in the future.

Thoughts About Church

I am not against church. I know sometimes in my previous posts it seems that way. I can only speak of my own experience and sadly it isn’t good. If you attend church and that’s something you need then do it. I’m not discouraging you from doing that at all. We all have to make our own way. 

I haven’t attended church in over 10 years. Don’t worry, I’m still a believer and I won’t say that I would never go back. For now, it isn’t part of my life. For the first 45 years of my life church was a major part of my life and the center of my universe.

So why did I leave? Did someone hurt my feelings? No.

Honestly I was floundering and felt lost. I started feeling worse when I left church than when I arrived. I was miserable and something had to change.

I made some life changes and I went in a different direction for me. I left the church but I didn’t leave God. You have to understand how the church had controlled my life to that point. It was suffocating me. I had to break free of that and find the person I needed to be.

I know the Bible talks about not forsake the assembling but you can’t expect everyone to be lumped into church going believers. I honestly don’t think that having any church attendance records is something that God expects of us.

I still have friends that I grew up with in the church who are either pastors or faithfully attending church. I have the utmost respect for them. There is certainly nothing wrong with them. As I stated earlier, we all have to make our own way. Life is challenging and takes us in many directions.

Regardless if we go to church or not, the important thing is ultimately our personal relationship with God. I would never make a blanket statement over what people do to remain faithful in their dedication as a believer.

Attending church offers significant benefits for many, but it's ultimately a personal decision, and a deep spiritual life is possible through various paths, including community engagement outside of a physical building.