Clay’s Court: My introduction to the games I love

I was leaned back in my office chair last week staring at my calendar for June (it’s color-coded and very nice to look at) wondering what sports content I have.

I’ve had a bug in my ear since the middle of the NFL season saying I should have a column, and I figured what better time to (consistently) write one than my dead season.

So as the summer goes on and high school sports fall by the wayside, I figured I’d get a little more personal so people know who the random guy with a camera is at your kids’ events (one of many anyway).

Looking back I think I’ve always had a passion for sports, even though in my earliest years as a fan I was a casual viewer.

We didn’t really have TV growing up. Up through elementary school we only had three channels: Static, the 24/7 weather channel and PBS.

Sometime in middle school we ended up with a satellite dish, but my younger brother and I only used it to watch Nickelodeon cartoons. Still no sports.

It wasn’t until we moved into a nicer doublewide my freshman year of high school (2014) that we actually got some (kind of) real TV channels.

My parents bit the bullet and bought a Roku and my grandfather shared his cable password so that we could watch ESPN on it. This was in the middle of rivalry weekend for college football, and we tuned into Florida versus Florida State.

I can explain my fandom in another column, assuming I’m not run out of town with pitchforks before then, but I’ve been a Florida Gator for just over a decade now.

It’s been an unfortunate 10 years except for some really awesome moments in basketball, but this was one of the first football games I got to watch.

I will never forget my grandfather teasing me over the phone as we finally got the game set up. As the channel finally loaded and the game started to play, he realized there was a delay. He chuckled and said, ‘Guess who’s about to throw an interception?’

Five seconds later Treon Harris, the leader of an absolutely putrid Florida offense in 2014 and 2015, threw a dart to the Florida State defense.

My grandfather busted out laughing at my frustration, and that’s my first memory of football.

I was introduced to college and pro basketball in 2015, and though I followed the Braves loosely in 2016 my real introduction to baseball didn’t come until much later.

You might get a chuckle out of this, but the first time I watched college basketball I watched the NIT thinking it was the NCAA tournament.

Boy did I fervently follow the Miami Hurricanes through that tournament. I wasn’t a fan, I never watched them again after that, but for some reason I was so invested throughout that run.

In every close moment I shot up from the couch, standing in front of the TV with my hands on my head and heart pounding.

I didn’t even know until later that the NIT was the ‘losers’ tournament, so looking back that makes my heartbreak when Miami lost the finals even funnier. 

Similarly, my introduction to the Atlanta Hawks (still begrudgingly a fan) came at random.

Don’t ask me how I stumbled upon one random Hawks versus Celtics playoff game in 2015, because I couldn’t tell you. The only thing I even remember is sitting in my room late at night, and my arms shooting in the air whisper-yelling ‘Yes!’ as Paul Millsap drilled a three.

That was the beginning of the end for that era of Atlanta, I came a year too late to enjoy the great teams.

I followed box scores up through 2019, but then I started really getting into the team building aspect of the NBA.

There was a point in time I could tell you just about every starter in the NBA and how much they were making, what trades would fit what team, salary cap stuff, all of it.

My Hawks fandom peaked in 2021 as Trae Young led them to the Eastern Conference Finals.

I remember buying YouTube TV specifically so I could record the games and watch them after work (I worked closing shift at a retail store).

I put my phone on Do Not Disturb throughout my shift, and avoided any social media at all costs on my breaks so I could watch it all for the first time at home.

That’s also the same year I really started watching the Braves (I promise I’m not a bandwagon fan).

I’d always kinda liked the Braves, but never watched much baseball.

I specifically remember watching my first bit of Braves baseball in years on a trip to Jacksonville with my friends.

We’d stopped to eat at some sports bar, and I looked up and the Braves were playing the Brewers in the Divisional Series. I pointed it out to my friend and he caught me up to speed.

From that point I watched every game of the playoffs and texted back and forth with him. Since then I’ve been following the Braves a lot more closely and tune into a good amount of games.

It’s been hard to watch as many games as I used to with covering sports being my job now, but with how much I love them I’m sure I’ll find the right balance.