This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.
The following tale is not exciting or particularly interesting. Please read on.
My earliest memories aren't of playground shenanigans, trips to friends' house or preschool nerves, they're of winter nights and afternoons spent in front of the television watching basketball and asking my father if the good guys were wearing red or white this time.
I wasn't well versed on the rules of the game, I couldn't name a player, but I knew that I cared...a lot.
My father was and still is a basketball man. He played on some outstanding teams at Male High and later on some OK teams at the now defunct Kentucky Southern College. As far as fandom is concerned, he was never a strong blue or red lean until he followed the 1983-1984 Kentucky basketball team for a Season on the Brink- esque book about the Wildcats that was backed by the Courier-Journal. I was born the same year the book was published and my "which ones are the good guys" questions were never met with a hint of hesitation by the old man.
My passion for Louisville sports grew along with my body...until 6th grade when my body stopped growing (Seriosuly. Same Size. It sucks. )...at that point my passion started growing without my body. I spent free periods in grade school writing fake news stories about Cardinal sports (and, not coincidentaly, getting beat-up during recess), I wore long-sleeve shirts cut off at the stomach for my flag football games so I could look like Aaron Harris and I wore red U of L garb to school on game days. The last one isn't exciting or unusual, but it's important and thus worth noting (11-year-old Chronicloids, stand up).
I left the state for college for a couple of years before returning home with a 700-day hangover and a handful of average to slightly-above-average reports cards (earmuffs, 11-year-old Chronicloids). I was 21-years-old, I was living at home, I was bored and I had a computer. The result of this lethal combination was a blog about Louisville sports that eventually became Card Chronicle.
Over the past four years, CC has served as a personal outlet, a sanctuary and a place to watch the game with friends, all at the same time. It's made me both a more enthusastic fan and, I think, a better fan.
I'm 25-years-old and when the topic of fondest memories is introduced, a handful of my first thoughts are always days, moments or events that involve Louisville sports. It sounds silly, and in the grand scheme of things it is silly, but if you're reading this you probably understand. Louisville is my city, the Louisville Cardinals are my team, and I will love both immelsely until the day I die.