It is what it is.

Why do I like sports so much? It's a question I get asked a lot. Probably because my love for pretty much any game came on so quickly. It's a small question with a big answer that I think a lot of people would have deep down if they really thought about it.

Rather than give my real answer whenever asked this question, I say "because they're just fun to watch" or "I really like such-and-such team/player". It appeases the person asking, but not the person answering. And for all those times I've wanted to go back and say, "No, I'm wrong. Here's the real reason why I like sports so much.." I give my reason now.

I like sports so much because it's like an escape. For however many hours of the day I can sit in front of my television and be completely lost in someone else's struggles, someone else's achievements, someone else's defeats, someone else's victories. There's no worrying about what project is due the next day, or if I have to work next weekend. All I have to worry about is if I'll be late to dinner with my friends because the game went into overtime.

I like sports so much because they're full of surprises. You never know beforehand when someone will score 42 points on senior night or when the underdog will beat the number 1 team in the nation back to back years. You also never know when a coach will get ejected from a game or when a team that should have won loses in embarrassing fashion. Good or bad, it mixes things up a bit and in the end makes it that much more memorable.

I like sports so much because they're comforting. Each December I get to look forward to climbing the (what seem like) thousands of stairs to the upper deck of Memorial Gymnasium with my mom and sitting in the same seat I've sat in for the past 6 years. It's seeing the family you barely know, but feel like you do because you've sat with them in those same seats for so long. It's knowing that that couple will always show up late and leave early. It's knowing that that guy over there will be wearing orange when UT comes to town. It's routine. It's my basketball family.

I like sports because they're uniting. For however many hours of the day, thousands of people are hoping for the same thing. They're reacting the same way be it happy, sad, disgusted or just plain maniacal. They all want their team to win, to be the best, to earn them bragging rights. For however many hours of the day - if you're for the same team - there's nothing to disagree about. No politics, no religion, no black, no white. It's all grey.. or orange and blue, or crimson and white, or black and gold, or purple and gold, or... you get the idea.

I like sports because it's an escape, it's surprising, it's comforting it's uniting, it's a game winning field goal as time expires, it's a walk-off home run in the 13th inning, it's a 5 hour 5 set tennis match lasting into the early hours of the next day, it's beating a country synonymous with swimming in the men's 200 meter medley relay in the 2004 Summer Olympics, it's crying at the end of Rudy, it's receiving your World Series ring at home in front of the Yankees, it's getting the ball the length of the court in .07 seconds to win the game, it's having your jersey retired, it's scoring 42 points on senior night, it's knowing that having that talent is bigger than you, it's losing your voice from screaming at the top of your lungs, it's hugging a stranger after your team made the first touchdown during the #3 versus #5 game, it's beating your biggest rival 6 years in a row, it's the deafening roar of thousands of fans after a good play, it's winning the World Series after 86 years, it's winning the World Series 3 years later, it's watching the eagle fly above the people at Jordan-Hare Stadium and getting chills in the middle of August, it's crying during Andre Agassi's retirement speech, it's winning 5 green jackets, it's Steve Bartman and wondering what could have been, its wondering if it ever will be, it's being thisclose to winning the triple crown, it's Teddy Dupay, it's the Music City Miracle, it's getting text messages of scores when you can't be at the game and are no where near a television, it's looking down at the seats behind the player's bench and seeing players from years ago still supporting their team, it's seeing the student section packed full two hours before the game even begins, it's 800 career wins, it's rushing home to watch sportscenter to see highlights of that game you just saw in person, it's tivoing the entire game you just saw in person, it's the Cameron Crazies, it's the Terrible Towel, it's having a court named after you, it's being the winningest NCAA coach of all time, it's the greatest comeback in sports history.

it's the thrill of victory, it's the agony of defeat.

it's a feeling that, after all these examples, is still hard to put into words.

It's just plain fun.