JANE LEE
Sports Editor
It’s been 19 years and 23 days, and I think I may have finally figured out why I was born 10 weeks premature.
Much to my mom’s dismay, I needed to see the world a little bit sooner than was planned. I needed to see the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1987 World Series. I needed to watch the Aug. 16 Chicago versus Miami game as part of the NFL’s debut on ESPN. Apparently I just needed to become a sports fan sooner than later.
I was born to bleed green and gold as an Oakland A’s fan, and to follow my dad’s Buffalo loyalty with the Bills and Sabres. He also taught me to love the voice of Dick Vitale, hate the voice of Chris Berman and cheer on Coach K and his Duke Blue Devils.
Just like the good daughter I am, I cheered on these teams. When I came home from my first year of college in April, however, my family noticed a change in my habits as a sports fan.
You see, something had happened to me during that span of eight months as a freshman. I had become a fan of yet another sports team.
No, I had not let my neighbor across the street in the silver and black house coax me into the insanely fanatical cult that is Raiders Nation. Nor had I hit my head on a brick wall and wake up from unconsciousness to find myself a fan of that “other” team across the bay — the Giants, the team I most love to hate (yes, just as much as the Yankees).
The team that officially and, most likely, forever earned part of my sports loyalty and dedication was none other than our beloved Pepperdine Waves. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Becoming a Pepperdine fan means that I just added not one, but 15 teams to my list of favorite sports squads. That’s 15 more teams to check up on every day for any breaking news, 15 teams to defend in any “my college is better than yours” discussions, and 15 more teams to support and share my energy with.
I won’t lie to you. I follow some Pepperdine teams more closely than others. There’s nothing quite like the excitement of college basketball in Firestone Fieldhouse or the spring weekends that consist of nothing but sleeping, eating and watching Waves baseball.
You’d think my enthusiasm for Pepperdine athletic teams would die down a bit when I drive five hours north to my hometown of Modesto. Nope.
During spring break I had to make time for a Pepperdine-St. Mary’s basketball game. I stood there cheering loudly after a slam dunk by Tashaan Forehan-Kelly only to be surrounded by glaring eyes. But for the record, Waves fans could blow Gaels fans out of the water any day of the week.
Then came summer. Just a month after school had ended, I made the two-hour drive from my home with a couple of fellow Pepperdiners to San Francisco two days in a row to watch our baseball team grab consecutive victories over the Dons and claim the WCC Championship title.
That same night, I explored airfare prices to Omaha, Neb., home to the College World Series. Go ahead and call me crazy, but I was dead serious about making the 2,000-mile trip in the event that our Waves made the storied journey to Rosenblatt Stadium. After all, I had attended 28 out of the 33 home games and had ventured to three of the regular-season away games, so I was not about to miss this. But unfortunately for the Waves (and fortunately for my bank account), it wasn’t meant to be.
My growing love for the Waves proved contagious, as I successfully turned two of my suitemates into big-time baseball fans. At first they only came with me to the games because they figured the players would be nice looking, but in two weeks’ time I had taught them everything they needed to know about the game.
One of my friends, however, had trouble catching on to the signs that Coach Rodriguez was giving to his players from third base.
“Why does that guy keep itching so much?” she asked me.
I looked over to third base, only to find Rodriguez giving his usual signs to the batter.
“What are you talking about?” I replied.
“That guy keeps on touching his nose and his ears … look, there he goes again!”
And there was Rodriguez, hand moving from nose to ear, ear to nose and, again, nose to ear. Yes, that’s right. My friend had mistaken the hitting signals for some kind of silly reaction to a fly or mosquito. True story.
I’ll never forget that moment, just as I’ll never forget how some of my most memorable experiences at Pepperdine have come from sporting events.
Whether I’m watching Mike Gerrity swiftly maneuver around a tough Gonzaga defense or jumping up and down after a game-winning hit by Luke Salas in the bottom of the ninth inning, I love every minute of being a full-time fan of the blue and orange.
So if you’ve yet to do so, please get over the fact that Pepperdine doesn’t have a football team. Cheering on the Waves’ 15 other teams is a heckuvalota fun. You should try it sometime.
08-28-2006
