How I became a sports fan

As a youngster, I was enrolled in TumbleBugs, a gymnastics-for-beginners class. One day, while not in class, I fell and broke my arm, thus ending my career as a gymnast.

In elementary school, I made the basketball team. I started one time (in the sixth-grade equivalent of "senior night"), and I amassed one stat (an assist). You can safely assume I never dreamed of making it to the WNBA.

Through middle school and high school, I was a cheerleader. I cheered three years on the varsity squad, and though our squad won the district and region titles my senior year, I was never the star tumbler or on top of the pyramid. The best thing I did was shake my booty to an eight-count.

I do believe cheerleading is a sport, but I won't harp on that, considering it's not my point. My point is that I cheered for football and basketball for six-ish years, and never once knew what I really meant when I belted out, "First and ten, let's go (clap, clap, clap)," and other game-related cheers.

So, when did I learn the meaning of those words? About three months into my marriage.

Aside from the question with an answer that resulted in a ring on my finger, perhaps the most important question my husband ever asked me was this: will you join a fantasy football league with me?

It took some convincing, but I eventually said yes.

One of the best (worst?) things about my personality is that I don't want to do anything unless I can excel at it. Never mind that this is the reason I never learned to whistle or ride a bike — I couldn't do it the first or second time, so I stopped trying. My point is, if I was going to be part of a fantasy football league, I was going to give it my all.

I started watching ESPN, listening to Mike and Mike during my morning commute and absorbing any piece of sports data I could fit inside my brain.

While many of those shows (whether on TV or radio) focus heavily on the NFL, they also squeeze in plenty of NBA news, MLB stories, etc. So, sooner or later, some information other than that pertaining to football started to stick.

I'll go ahead and put my allegiances out there, just so you know.

•University of Kentucky Wildcats — I'm a 2007 grad, and will always bleed blue.

•Miami Dolphins — My husband has been a lifelong fan. I cheer for the Dolphins with him, though I will root for other teams as well.

•Miami Heat — Again, my husband is a LeBron James fan. We watch him play and cheer on the Heat.

•Cincinnati Reds — Geographically, we live close to the Reds, so it's easy to go watch them. However, MLB is my least favorite of what I consider the three major professional sports, and I don't cheer that loudly for any team, even the Reds.