My sporting interests
So once again I feel like I have gotten a bit behind on my blogging and the whole weekly spindlers list is actually looking more like a monthly thing, however I promise I had my reasons to not being able to upload an article in some time. Being still in education means I have to spend a serious amount of time working on my exams and revision and I have recently been involved in some theatrical activities with the school production, and that left little time and energy for me to take the time out of my resting to type up some of my views, however now that my schedule has cleared and simply only revision is there to stop me from blogging I feel it is time for you lot to know a little bit more about me in regards to my love for sport, simply explaining who I support, why and when my most passionate moments have been for those sides.
Football
I am a huge huge huge football fan, ironically enough it was the last sport I actually got into. When I was 13 my dad got me a game called Football Manager and I was quite the whiz at the game, knowing some of the stand out names of course, but it actually gave me a huge knowledge of players, and it led to me actually becoming interested in football. I knew the rules, by saying I became interested, I mean I actually began to watch the sport as a whole and did research into not just my team but every team. As my family originates from Wales I always had a fascination for Cardiff City, because my grandfather lived there, learning the team inside and out I began to grow a bond with the bluebirds and my supporting of the team began at a time where they were in huge debt and yet still managed to have some great players in Ross Mccormack, Chopra, Bothroyd and more, I fell in love with the side and became a fan, however I was still at an age where if you didn't support a team in the premier league you were a weirdo. For a recently turned 14 year old you don't want to be a weirdo and therefore I decided to have a bit of gloryhunting and whilst still supporting Cardiff, I let people believe I was a Chelsea fan, however, when Cardiff was bought out by Vincent Tan (Yikes) and I had grown up along with the rest of my friends, I gave all my support to the bluebirds, and with luck we ended up being promoted to the big time a year later. In all the time being a Cardiff fan it is hard to pick a moment in which I specifically believe is the moment passionate I feel for them, however it is between beating Swansea in the first ever Welsh derby in the top flight, getting promotion or managing to hold our own against Liverpool in the 2012 Carling Cup final. I would have to sway towards promotion because I was so excited and proud to be not only the best in the Championship but also to be a Cardiff fan.Everyone knows though I am partial to watching the MLS and love DC united, but other overseas teams I am fond of include VillaReal, Shalke, Lille, Roma, Vitesse, Aberdeen and Dinamo Moskva (Moscow).
Rugby
Rugby is the sport I have a love hate relationship with. I love the way the game is, the no moaning, take no crap way the whole sport works, but then I hate how it is always compared to football and never is shown to the same extent as football. I think because of this it is a lot harder for me, especially as a fan of a side who plays in the Rabodirect, to follow the sport as consistently as I do for football. Like in football, I am a Cardiff boy. Cardiff blues are a team I am proud to support, whilst we might not be successful in terms of actual silverware in the league and cups, but I think the fact we have created some of the best welsh players in the national team and how many went into the British and Irish Lions side was something that not only the Cardiff area can be proud of, but the whole of Wales. I love how in Rugby though that the rivalry between the Welsh region clubs is fierce but kept in line, and that when it comes down to it, if a Welsh side, or the Welsh national team, come up against foreign opponents we all stick together under our Welsh banner, and I think that in the end if Cardiff and Swansea were more like that in football then we could create a much better national team and be a much wise footballing nation. As a Cardiff fan I haven't had many proud moments but I think as a rugby fan, I have to say there was nothing better than beating England in the previous Six nations to win the double, and fingers crossed the hat trick is still a possibility for us.Basketball
American sports, I love it! Maybe it's the cheesy names, or the excitement you hear in the commentators for some of the simplest piece of play, or even the sheer fact I have never heard of any wide scale violence between fans because at the end of the day sport is not the be all and end all of life and if your team loses, you moan a bit, slag off your side or theirs and then shake the opponents hand and have a beer with them, and for a nation which might not understand the beauty of sport as well as the rest of the world, if anything I think they know how to support a team better than us Europeans. Basketball isn't actually the first American sport I fell in love with, it is probably second or third (the last is baseball in case you are wondering, and that is not on this list because I don't love it enough) but I actually think I watch it more than my most loved because of the two facts it is now becoming much bigger over here in a bid to increase support for Team GB's basketball side and is televised more often. I am a big Wizards fan, the history of the franchise is not one of major success but when I decided on the American franchises to support I picked any city in America and Washington was the one I chose, maybe not the best decision, however I feel each club I have become attached to, the Wizards are a team I can really connect to and feel for. Having to rebuild themselves around John Wall and Bradley Beal, and at the time I grew interest they both were rookies and NBA first timers, meant that they had to suffer some embarrassing defeats, but knew that this trial by fire for the two guards meant they would come out of it much stronger and luckily this season, that wait has paid dividends in wins over teams like the Miami heat, but I love that plucky side to them in which every player works their socks off to make sure a win is assured. I think the whole improvement of this season for the Wizards is my proudest moment because I can see that in a few more seasons, playoff places can be assured especially if Beal and Wall keep growing as they are.
Cricket
I love Cricket, all of it. T20, ODI and test, but I think I owe it to T20 and ODI for getting me into cricket. As a youngster I didn't want to sit and watch a test match because it was too long for me to sit there and watch and I grew bored, maybe because I was always full of energy, but when I learnt about T20, I was intrigued. "A fast cricket? with flashy kits and big stars? Where can I watch this?!" I love the pace and the hard work put into T20 and it makes the sport much more interesting for a young kid like I was, I personally believe the England Cricket Board needs to spend more on T20 to bring in some more kids to cricket, not that they need it that much, but it worked for me. Then I learnt about ODI and I had grown up a lot since I had gotten into Cricket and was able to sit and watch this length of a game, even going to watch some of the ICC champions cup last year, I think it is my favourite type of cricket. I still struggle to watch test unless it's the ashes, but I don't have a favourite cricket team simply because I care more about the game and not the teams, I prefer watching the quality and not the teams as a whole.
ICE HOCKEY!
I could speak for hours about Ice Hockey, it is the sport I am most in love with, the sport I know the most about and the sport I feel is the best in the world. Anyone who knows me knows about my past with Ice hockey, which is a successful and disappointing one however it is such a long story it isn't worth bringing up. Getting back on track though I first learnt about Ice Hockey during the 2006 Winter Olympics (which I will be writing up about the Sochi ones soon) where after wandering through the channels one day I came across the sport known as Ice Hockey and the fast paced powerful play drew me in and kept me interested for the next 8 years, I couldn't really put my finger on why I fell for it instantly like I did but the actual sport on a whole, the way the leagues are set up, the way the teams organise themselves and the way it is just played all were what I needed at the age of 9. Like basketball I am a Washington fan, but the capitals are the side who represent the capital of USA and not the wizards, and I think If I hadn't of gotten into Ice Hockey like I did, I would never have dipped my toes into sport as much as I have and now here I am floating in the deep end surrounded by sports ranging from Football and ending up in Curling. I think though that is the most passionate I feel about the sport, the fact it gave me a window into wanting to learn about other sports, I want a career in Sports Journalism and because of Ice Hockey that is where my passion for the whole sporting world has come from.
