I'm such a girl sports fan.

I'm such a girl sports fan.

I can see the eye rolls and judgmental comments now.

However, I enjoy sports in a different way than most sports fans would be expected to.

I don't like fantasy sports, they get way too involved in stats for me. I don't wear jerseys or t-shirts or hats with my favorite team's logo on it. I don't have any autographs (except for Mia Hamm because I want to be her). I would just as quickly watch the last two minutes of a game or check the score online after the game as I would sit and watch an entire game (this is, until the playoffs, when games begin to matter.) I can't recite stats of my favorite players or favorite teams. If someone asked me who my favorite sports team is, I would not have an answer for you right away. It changes a lot.

I am a sports romantic. I love hearing stories about athletes or teams and the adversity they have faced to accomplish their dreams. I find amateur athletes far more intriguing than most professional ones. I want to know what college athletes are studying in school.

The legend, Mia Hamm. 

Am I not as big of a sports fan because of this?

I was a college athlete, I have a master's degree in sports journalism, I have been to NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, college football, basketball, soccer, hockey, and hockey games. I worked for an NBA team. I enjoy reading sports memoirs and sites like Grantland and SI Longform.

Am I sports fan now?

I don't think it takes a jersey or a fantasy football membership to describe you as a sports fan. Anyone can appreciate the hard work and dedication an athlete puts into their sport.

Sports do different things for different people. I once read a story about a man who claimed to the WWE's biggest fan. He had lost his wife a few years prior and it seemed he could fill that void with his passion for wrestling. Sports are romantic, they are distractions, and they tell the stories that parallel life.

I'm not sure why I ingest sports the way I do. I remember being asked as a little girl what I wanted to be when I grew up. I always wanted to be a professional soccer player. Then, in middle school, a teacher had us write an essay about our future career goals. She specifically said, "You cannot write about being a professional athlete. It is too far fetched."

From then on I always thought of being an athlete as a far away dream. Kind of like a movie, something that would never come to fruition.

In the last couple of years as I've immersed myself in sports and I've realize that these athletes are just people who were told that they could do it. When they were in middle school, perhaps their teachers told them to write about their future careers and allowed them to envision themselves as athletes.

In any case, I'm such a girl sports fan. I hate the Patriots, but I think Tom Brady is very attractive. I think football is boring to watch, but has wonderful story lines. I think the Olympics are the greatest things ever, but I hate when there is no dramatic music when the underdog pulls off the upset.