When Did it All Begin?

With the school semester coming to a close, I feel nothing but relief. This allows me to put my focus on my blog here and finish some write-ups I have going, but because of school, have yet been able to accomplish. As I was laying around in my room and watching ESPN, I started to think all about how far I had come. It's crazy to think that had gone from not having any clue what I was going to do with the rest of my life or if I had any bright future all, to suddenly knowing exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

So did this all begin for me? How did I become enticed in wanting to become a sportswriter? Well, I guess I would have to say I've enjoyed sports since I was a little kid. Of course, I did not become a devoted passion of mine that I enjoyed watching and learning about until I had gotten to high school. It probably starts with it being in my blood. You see my father, Juan Valentin, was an athlete back in the day. My dad was a pitcher for Waller High school (known today as Lincoln Park High School) where he sounds like he was something after telling about how he would see guys from colleges and even the MLB coming to his games. Unfortunately (and I know how it'll sound), my dad says that he got cocky or something and suddenly realized he had hurt himself badly while throwing in a game. Needless to say, my dad's playing days were over. My dad then had my [step] brother, John Valentin, who followed in my dad's footsteps by playing baseball while also had a year of football. My brother attended Rolling Meadows High School and was actually good enough to attend North Park University and play on their team. From knowing just that, I should have known that sports would somehow be connected in my life.

I played baseball till I was about 11 or 12, and then made the decision to stop because I just wasn't really into sports then. I was more intertwined in video games, TV, and skateboarding [at the time] along with just hanging around and about the town with some of the local guys from my neighborhood in the suburbs of Glendale Heights. Also, I had started playing the trumpet around 5th grade and was starting to become pretty good at it so I put a lot of my focuses there. In middle school, I had a lot of people that I had pretty much grown up with since the pre-school days that had played baseball with or against me and were still playing and/or taking up another one. There were a bunch of times when I would get speeches from these guys to go and try out for whatever it was they were doing. Mostly, I was getting it from guys to join the middle school wrestling team, the village football team, and the middle school/summer league baseball teams. and while I appreciated the offer, I simply gave my usual,, "Nah I'm good" and just went about my life.

Then came 2006. That was the year that changed it for me. I remember sitting around on a Sunday night with nowhere to go or do, and I saw the Chicago Bears playing against... well I don't remember who, but I knew it was the Bears because I had watched them many times before with my dad and family friends of ours while trying to understand what the game was about and why it was so enjoyable. I sat there from kickoff till the end, and realized that this might be something that I should consider giving a try if I get the opportunity. Although I did not start watching it with my dad every Sunday then, I watched then whenever I had nothing to do on a weekend. Then came my moment of infamy when I tried to pull off a really stupid stunt and broke both of my arms at the same time. For a good couple of months, I was getting home school experience and living the life at home. And it was because of this injury that I could not do much of anything except watch TV or go anywhere to do something, so my weekends then would be filled with watching the Bears play Sundays (and I think they had a Monday night as well) on there way to a chance to get to the Super Bowl.

I remember sitting down at the lunch table with a few people that I used to hang out with on a daily basis and feeling good that I could (by some dumb luck) keep myself in the conversation about sports by just talking about the Bears' amazing season that year. We had a pre-Cutler quarterback named Rex Grossman (and he was Gross, Man), running backs Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson (mostly Jones), receivers Bernard Berrian and Mushin Muhammad, tight end Desmond Clark, core offensive linemen Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza, defensive end duo of Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye, nose guards Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson, solid linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, corners Charles "Peanut" Tillman and Nathan Vasher, powerful safeties Mike Brown and Chris Harris, automatic kicker Robbie Gould, and a very special cornerback that was drafted for his ability to return kick offs and punts named Devin Hester. Yeah, I remember them all like it was yesterday. All while watching the calm demeanor on the face of the head coach Lovie Smith. Man, that sure was a season for the ages I'll tell you that.

The Super Bowl was such a big buzz that it had me all excited, even though I still did not have a proper understanding of the game. I had a couple friends over at the time, and we sat there and watched as the game was about to begin. Cannot describe the feelings I felt or ecstasy and pure joy as I laid witness to Chicago Bears' returner Devin Hester receiving the starting kickoff of the game and take that sucker all the way back for a touchdown. Oh god, I don't think I have ever screamed louder in my life then that very moment. I thought that this was going to be the absolute pinnacle moment for this city to explode and cheer out and about on the streets. But like history will always remember it, we were bested by the talented skills of Peyton Manning and his onslaught of weapons, both offensively and defensively. Meanwhile, our quarterback seemed to have had too much grease on his fingers to simply just hold onto the ball. It was a hard one to take in, but eventually, you learn to let though things slide over. However, I just could not get that game out of my mind. I kept replaying the hits and big plays made by both teams and soon found myself saying, "I'm gonna need to give this thing a shot!" which shocked myself and then eventually my parents when I told them. But that didn't happen until high school, when my love of sports would absolutely sky rocket out of the atmosphere out of the galaxy.