Becoming a professional sports fan

In the south, college football is king.  In Alabama, the biggest question for sports fans is:  Alabama or Auburn?

Many southern states do not have professional sports teams, so therefore, many of us are not very concerned with keeping up with them until the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, the NBA Championships, etc.  There is only one MLB team around, and most of the south claims them as "their" team-- the Atlanta Braves.  I loved road tripping to Atlanta as a kid and in college to see the Braves play, but I never really considered myself a die hard fan.  Depending on where you are from, you might have a stronger attachment to the Braves and the other Atlanta professional teams.

As for the NFL, depending on where you live, many people cheer for the Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons or the New Orleans Saints.  In Alabama, I know a few friends from Mobile who are die hard Saints fans and some Titans fans in Northern Alabama, but most people are not especially attached to an NFL team like people are in DC and other parts of the country.  It's very interesting to see so many people walk around here in their Redskins, Steelers, Cowboys, Giants and Packers jerseys.  Many times I'll see fans throw on a Caps or Redskins jersey over their business suit on gameday.

Being a professional sports fan is definitely new to me.  When people would ask what my favorite NFL team was, they would look at me like I'm crazy when I told them I didn't have one.  Slowly, I've started to become more of a DC professional sports fan.  I've been to a few Washington Nationals baseball games and had an amazing time.  Granted, they are not the best team, but the Bull Pen is a great place to party-- frozen vodka Redbulls anyone?

I also had the privilege to attend my first Washington Redskins football game after passing out pink breast cancer ribbons during their "Think Pink" game.  I'm really enjoying adding watching the NFL on Sundays to my weekend ritual of watching college football on Saturdays.

One sporting event that I'm dying to attend is a Washington Capitals NHL game.  Until last weekend, I had never even been to a hockey game in my life, let alone an NHL game.  I got to see a Philadelphia Flyers game and I fell in love with hockey!  The greatest part was when two players took off their gloves and helmets and had what looked like a boxing match in the middle of the rink while the refs just stood there and watched.  It wasn't until the two players fell to the ice that the refs decided to step in and break up the fight.  I know, it was awesome!!  

I've also never been to a MLS or NBA game.  I am really looking forward to watching a DC United game.  I'm not the biggest fan of basketball, but it would really be nice to cross going to an NBA game off my list and check out a Washington Wizards game.

It's really exciting to live in a place with so many professional sports teams.  Cheering for the Redskins and other teams around here really gives me a sense of belonging, as well as an attachment to my new home.  Hopefully I'll get to check out the other professional sports teams here in Washington, and start following some new sports-- not just college football.              

Annapolis & Blue Crabs

I had heard a lot about Annapolis, MD and it's famous blue crabs.  Being from the south, I've always loved seafood and really wanted to see what this crab was all about.  We planned a trip up to Annapolis, which is only a short drive from DC, in order to see the sights, do a little shopping and find a good crab place for lunch.  

When we drove into town, I immediately fell in love with it.  Annapolis is a gorgeous place with a historical small town feel.  We walked around the downtown shops and did some window shopping, then we made our way down to the harbor.  We ended up taking a boat tour around the harbor that told us the history of the area and some fun historical facts about the U.S. Naval Academy.   If you ever visit Annapolis, I suggest taking the boat tour.  It's short, but very interesting. After the boat tour we went to check out the Naval Academy, whose campus was beautiful.  

After doing a little sightseeing, we checked out Yelp for some ideas for a great crab place.  I don't recall the name of the place we ended up going to, but it was a little bit of a drive and it was sort of in a neighborhood on the water.  I had never ordered these crabs before, but luckily I was with a pro who ordered a bunch for the table to share:

As you can see, the crabs come with a ton of Old Bays seasoning on them.  Old Bay isn't as huge in the south as it is up here.  We might use it on seafood from time to time, but up here it's a seafood staple.  A friend of mine from Maryland even introduced me to "crab crackers" and crab chips-- yum!    The crabs also come with melted butter and vinegar for dipping.  

Here comes the hard part...  They give each person a little hammer and a special knife to eat the crabs.  Man, I thought eating snow crabs was tedious!  You have to go through a bunch of different steps in order to open the crabs, remove their lungs and start finding the meat.  It was a lot of work, but they tasted great!  

Kickball leagues

Kickball leagues are gaining popularity in bigger southern cities, but they have been huge in DC for a while.  The games are usually played on the Mall, or other areas around the city.  After the games are over, each division of teams are assigned a bar in DC where they continue the competition on the flip cup table.  Team are ranked by how well they play on the field and in the bar.  My friends usually play in the spring and summer leagues, but I moved here after the spring sign-up was over and only got to play the summer league this year.  We made it to the semi-finals.  Looks like my elementary school kickball skills paid off in the long run.


DC has a ton of other adult sports leagues, not just kickball.  There is always some kind of team to join here, any time of year.  Kickball, softball, dodge ball, flag football, soccer, basketball- you name it.  There are even leagues for bar games such as indoor bocce ball, skee ball, cornhole and shuffleboard.   
       


Here are a couple of pics from kickball.  It is such an amazing feeling to play kickball on the Mall, under the Washington Monument.  

Exploring the city

I made the move to the area a little over six months ago, so I've done my fair share of "touristy" things in the city.  Of course I had to walk around the Mall and see the Washington Monument (thankfully, I have not fallen victim to the "act like you are leaning on the monument" picture.)   I also had to check out the WWII  Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Memorial.  Here are a few pictures I took while being a tourist:  

I know what you are thinking...and no, I'm not artsy.  I took those pictures on my iPhone.  :)