A Tribute to Sports

If you scroll through my Twitter Timeline, you will get lost in a Sport's World. As stated in my first blog, nearly everything on here is going to be about sports, but in this unfortunate time, the closest thing we have to live to sports is watching @BarstoolBigCat race a fake horse race on Twitter (todays race: https://twitter.com/BarstoolBigCat/status/1244035883222745093) (if you would like to bet on these races please contact me). However, there are some sports moments in my lifetime that I have held near and dear to my heart that I have thought about in the past week or so while not getting to watch live sports. Without further ado a few sporting moments that I love that will hopefully brighten your day:

1) 2019 Masters Tournament

What an iconic image. I really didn't get into golf until about four years ago, but if you know sports, you know the respective "GOAT's" in every sport, and for the most part, you should know every man who is in the argument of being the GOAT of their sport. I'll leave my opinion of who the GOAT golfer is out of the blog, and you can debate it in the comments. Due to some recency bias, I needed to make sure the Tiger comeback made it in. If you want to see a majestic man swing a club in his Sunday Red 70 times for 18 minutes, here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExiuB6wicus

2) 2008 NBA Finals

Growing up my family was never big into sports, however, my best friend and I spent a lot of time together as young kids. His family was from Boston, and I loved watching the Celtics with his family since about 2005. With that being said, I was a self proclaimed Boston Fan, and this 2008 Celtics team was one of my favorites to watch. Before I even came into the world, Paul Pierce was already a Boston Celtic. I loved his style of play, and because of "The Truth," I fell even more in love with Basketball, the Celtics, and the city of Boston.

3) 28-3.

There are very few things that I could tell you exactly "where I was when it happened," but this one is something that I will probably remember clear as day until the day I die. There were about 15 of my friends in the basement of one of my friends houses. Four of us Patriots fans, the other eleven or so, people making fun of the four of us for staying inside while they went to go throw the football around outside because "the Patriots won't comeback". To be honest, having kicked only a field goal before halftime really made me think that Tom Brady might be done for good, but was I wrong. After a couple scores our friends came back inside, and I clearly remember one of them saying "holy shit this isn't real, they're going to do it". After the 75 yard overtime possession with a James White touchdown, us four die-hards jumped in a car and literally drove the streets of suburbia screaming like idiots, and to this day it still is one of the best moments of my life.

4) This is our F*ckin City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-YvMaXSk4s

By now, you can probably spot the trend, I love the city of Boston. But who didn't love Papi, Baseball, America, and Boston after this speech? I remember coming home from school that day and rewatching what Papi had said over and over on Twitter. I shed tears and was ready to run through a Brick Wall. There was no human more fit to deliver such a powerful speech for a city and a place that meant so much. Former President, Barack Obama even said "well, it should be clear by now they picked the wrong city to do it." That very quote from our former President defined how much I truly do love the city of Boston. They are some of the toughest people in the country, and that goes for their sports as well. Although I am a "bandwagon" in the eyes of many, I have been since I was four years old, and will love that city everyday no matter how their teams perform.

5) Askia Booker and CU upsets Kansas on College GameDay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ycTB27RlEc

This one is special to me because of the circumstances. Not only was it the first time in school history that CU was hosting College GameDay, but it was the team that I would consider one of my favorite basketball teams of all time, an unranked team knocking off red-hot #6 Kansas. I went to many games that season, and watched every one on the tv if they were playing away. This roster was unreal (in my 13 y/o eyes): Josh Scott, Colorado Gatorade Player of the year, and Mr. Colorado (Basketball) in his senior season; Spencer Dinwiddie, a future NBA starter for the Brooklyn Nets, who, if he played his senior season would've been a top 5 pick in the NBA draft (that is also my 13 y/o opinion); Askia Booker, my personal favorite player on the team was quick, shifty, and a lights out shooter (and who would be the star of this particular game); Xavier Johnson, a man bold enough to follow 13 y/o @ginoliciousboss on Twitter, and the swaggiest man on this team; and a kid that I knew from my hometown, Brett Brady. If you can find the highlights to this entire game, I'd watch them, it was an absolute dog fight. I think this is my favorite personal memory because I was at the game, and 13 y/o Gino had sat in many "CUnit" sections that season with the students. I feel like there probably is no better feeling in the world than being on a College campus as a 13 year old for an entire day, and for your favorite team of all time to bust a game winner against a top-name program on your friends birthday-- that was one of the best days of my life, and not the last time I would storm the court for a CU win (I know I got trampled all over the court by students and players alike, but I would run it back 100000 more times if I could).

(This is my friend Garrett, the kid who converted me to a Boston Sports Fan, and whose birthday it was when Booker hit the buzzer beater!)

(Video Credit to Garrett's Dad, Sean Sweeney - the memory was a little bit better than the camera work)

As sports seemingly disappears away from us, I hope this post gives you a little spirit and hope. There will come another time where we watch one of the greatest ever to put on the green jacket, the NBA will have another season, there will come another Super Bowl (and unfortunately an NFL season with a TB12-less Patriots), there will be another quote from an athlete that will last a lifetime, and there will be another last second buzzer beater in our lifetimes where we storm the court and get trampled. For now I leave you by saying if you don't "WASH-A-YOU-HAND" we will only have to wait longer for sports to comeback.