Jock Itch
I grew up just south of Cleveland in a smelly little town called Akron. The smells were from the rubber factories which have mostly shut down now. I still have family that lives there so I am inclined to visit about once a decade or so. I say this as an introduction to being a Cleveland sports fan.
While I was born in Akron and grew up there, my infant, toddler, and pre-school years were spent in Florida and southern Ohio. My earliest memories include watching a football game on tv with my dad in our house in Florida. I remember him talking about Jim Brown so I’m guessing we were watching the Browns.
The year I stared kindergarten we were living in southern Ohio. My dad bought me a football and some football cards for my birthday. A bunch of the cards were players from the LA Rams. I thought the uniforms were cool so I became a fan. In fact, if anyone ever asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered that I wanted to play football for the Rams.
We had moved back to Akron before I really became a sports fan, though. In 1967 I began collecting football and baseball cards. I began bowling in a league and playing little league baseball that same year. The kids in the neighborhood played a lot of sports and I joined right in. Naturally I began to like the Browns and Indians.
My mother used to tell two sports stories. She used to talk about meeting Jerry West. I think it took place at Marshall University when he was there to play a college basketball game. She said he was really nice, but she didn’t find out who he was until afterwards. The other story was when she and my dad were sitting alone in the beachers at old Municipal Stadium watching the Indians. Rocky Colavito caught a ball in right field and waved to her. It didn’t take much to impress my mom. Anyhow, the Jerry West story made me a Lakers fan. The Cavaliers didn’t exist yet and never really caught my attention.
The pages under this one will be for my favorite teams and you are welcome to post comments about those teams or other ones.
- TDOM
TDOM Posts Associated with this Topic
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