How Did A Brit Come To Writing About - And Falling In Love - With American Sports?
Explaining my obsession with all things USA...
“Why does a guy born in England love American Sports so damn much?”
I get asked that question a hell of a lot. Maybe not in the exact same way as I worded it, but the sentiment remains the same.
My passion for all things America has been, and remains, a mystery to those who know me. Particularly to those closest to me.
Raised by a soccer-mad family, it seems alien to a lot of my relatives that not only can I not stand the favorite sport of England, but that I am completely, totally, utterly obsessed with all sports on the other side of the pond.
I don’t watch soccer (I will dip into the MLS every now and again I’ll admit), I don’t watch cricket and I certainly don’t watch rugby. They just don’t do it for me.
I am, however, obsessed with the NHL, MLB, the NFL and the NBA. In that order too. Although they are all bunched up and there isn’t a lot separating the top three in particular.
And I’m a sucker for college sports too. I’m the type of guy who will strip down to my underpants and rest a massive plate of hot wings on my belly while consuming hours and hours of March Madness.
Is that what I’m doing right now? I’ll let you decide.
(Also, that’s probably not the image you wanted in your head right now, so allow me to apologize.)
Saturdays with College Football are the best kind of Saturdays, and I’m always heavily, heavily invested in the NCAA men’s hockey tournament. And don’t even get me started on College Baseball. I could spend hours and hours and hours watching College Baseball, and The Road To Omaha is always a captivating one to watch unfold.
Put simply; I am head over heels in love with American sports.
But why? How does a Brit become so passionate about sports in another country, sports that many of his fellow countrymen are quick to mock?
And how does a Brit come to forging a career writing about those said sports in a foreign land?
Allow me to explain…
For as long as I can remember growing up, I was soccer mad. I went to a lot of games, I had all the kits, all the merchandise, I played FIFA constantly and I was just obsessed.
I even turned down a trip to New York with my school because I wasn’t a kid who liked being out of my comfort zone, and I’m also pretty sure my local team was playing that week and I didn’t want to miss it.
However, as you get older, you start to change and you fall out of love with things that once made your life go round. Particular interests you once had suddenly become nothing more than relics of the past.
And, as I was growing older and (not so) wiser, I began to discover that I just wasn’t really interested in the same things as those around me, and that I didn’t want to keep investing in those interests just because it was the done thing.
I didn’t want to be a sheep. A follower. I refused to do or like things just because it was what was expected of me.
So, I quit my job working for a soccer club (a process I would repeat a couple of times 😬😑) and decided to pursue my dream of becoming a Sports Journalist in the States.
The idea itself didn’t seem that crazy to me.
I was exposed to American sports from a young age. One of my best friends growing up - his younger brother was best friends with my younger brother too - played hockey and every time I used to go round to his house ESPN was on.
It was there that my love for the New York Rangers was born.
I was hooked on highlights of an aging but still insane Brian Leetch, an elite Jaromír Jagr and I soon became obsessed with SportsCenter and digesting every possible NHL highlight I could get my hands on.
From there I grew up on a diet of Brian Boyle, Marty St. Louis, Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Drury, Marián Gáborík, Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan, Chris Kreider, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan Derick Brassard and Jesper Fast as my love for the Rangers grew even more year after year after year.
I still remember my first-ever trip to Madison Square Garden like it was yesterday. Walking around the winding concourse with a slew of mouthwatering food and drink options was head-spinning enough, only to then catch a glimpse of The World’s Most Famous Arena at its most famous for the first time. To see that beautiful pad of ice all lit up was just breathtaking.
Things only escalated from there.
As my love and passion for the Rangers and the NHL in general grew, I also fell for baseball, football and basketball. I quickly came up with a strategy where the first team I’d watch live in each sport would be the team I’d follow for life.
Hello the Jets, Mets and Knicks.
Yes, sometimes I have questioned those choices too…
But, in all seriousness, it just all felt right and my life became consumed by watching those sports every single day. Man, the amount of hours of sleep I would lose just staying up to watch my teams and, indeed any team, in action.
Totally worth it.
From becoming besotted with the art and intricacies of baseball thanks to my obsession with Derek Jeter (yes, I know that’s a strange sensation being a Mets fan) to suffering the torment of the Knicks and the Jets being stinkingly bad every single damn year, I quickly realized just how much happiness and joy I got from watching American sports.
And, yes, I’m the weird guy who will happily dedicate hours watching a Pirates-Reds game on a random Wednesday afternoon in July.
Then, when it came to deciding I wanted to live and work in America, that was pretty simple too.
From my very first trip Stateside, it felt like home. It felt right, almost as if it was meant to be. I’ve often wondered if I was somehow swapped at birth and teleported to England given how connected I feel to America.
I could be myself in the States. I could truly be the million percent authentic Andrew out there, particularly in New York. It sounds corny, but America was where I truly discovered who I really was. It’s where I’m the most happiest, the most content and the most me, I guess.
You could say that me and America goes together like a fine-ass PB&J sandwich.
I owe a lot to that country, and I owe a lot to American Sports.
So, given I’ve wanted to be a sports journalist from as young as I can remember, it made sense to continue to pursue that dream Stateside, which I have. That’s exactly why this website exists.
It’s the only goal I have, the one that gets me out of bed in the morning, the one that drives me on through hard times and the one thing that brings me so much unbridled joy.
I mean, why wouldn’t it? I’m combining two of my favorite things on the entire planet in writing and American sports.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
So, there you go. For those of you who have always wondered why I’m so obsessed with American Sports, and why I’ve made it a mission of mine to become the best Sports Journalist I can be Stateside, there’s your answer.
It’s that simple.
