Thank You Mom: From a Sports Fan

Joe’s and Long’s wonderful articles touched my heart and compelled me to take a trip down memory lane.

Years ago, it was around 3 A.M. when I discovered my dad, fervently glued to a tennis match. Flabbergasted by his zeal, I could not resist asking him who the players were. I learnt it was the '94 U.S. Open Final and the finalists were Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

My reply to this was a minimalistic "ok’’ and I went back to sleep.

Today when I look back at that day, I feel surprised to realize how naïve and may be dumb I was.

Over the years, it has been a journey for me—a journey I had willingly undertaken with my parents into the frenzied world of sports and saw my transformation from a fledgling fan to an ardent fanatic.

True, it was my dad who inculcated the values of sports and its love in me, but it was my mother who had been my constant company for most of the matches and also patiently bore the brunt of my antics—my dad being out for work most of the time.

Oh, how we both ran together breathlessly to the Eden Gardens to catch an ODI between India and England. How she religiously updated me the score of my favorite Henin’s match when I was out on college tour and yet never complained.

How we both stayed up till late at night to witness Rafa dethrone Roger in an epic final at SW19; how I, on the verge of tears, woke her up in the middle of the night to convey that Chelsea had incredibly lost the UCL final.

Yes, my emotions, are varied as ever, while watching sports.

Yet my mom had been able to tackle everything—the bitter disappointments, when I would virtually stop talking; the boundless joys, when my countenance would be beaming endlessly, and the unending disparagements when I would be telling her for the zillionth time how my favourite player could have turned things around.

Yes, she has always been my pillar of strength and has always emboldened me to do the thing that I love the most and today I realize I could never have discovered sports like this had it not been for her unflinching support.

Even today, when I vent my passion into words, she is right there with me keenly reading my articles and motivating me to do even better.

Thank you mom, for what you have been and I think, somewhere inside, I was always destined to love sports, my birth being just hours after a World Cup Football semi-final match that you were watching!