September 02, 2003
How I Became A Footy Addict
Another thing I get asked a lot is how I became a fan of Australian football. I was born and raised in the USA (though about 10 different places in the USA!) but I didn't make my first trip to Australia until 1986, when I was 27 years young.
Way back in 1980, I was going to "uni" during the day and working during the evening to pay for it. Ditto with my roommate, George. He was a bit of an electronics wiz and had come upon an abandoned color TV. Which he promptly fixed up and we got it hooked up to this new thing called "cable TV". Not long after that we both came home one fine evening about 11 or so and turned on the TV. We figured we'd watch some sports while we drank a few brews.
We had this new 24 hour sports channel called ESPN. That particular night what did we find on the telly? Yep, this strange sport where the players ran up and down the field, kicked the ball, and sometimes passed underhanded. They didn't wear pads and they still tackled each other. And those guys in white coats and hats. Well, this seemed just perfect to watch while we got a bit toasted. And no, we had no idea what the rules were or what the heck it was.
I was hooked and soon so were all of our drinking buddies. I have no idea if George still watches footy, but I know that many of the rest of the crew from those days are still fans. Twenty three years (now 26!) on, I spend my time trying to help other fans and sell the sport to the masses.
So that's the story of how an aerospace engineer and mathematics major became a footy fan.
