My name is Andrew Karr and I am a Junior Sport Management major with a specialization in marketing. I am from Parma Heights, Ohio outside of Cleveland. I am taking this course not only because it is a requirement of my major but because I am also very interested in the subject of history and philosophy of sports. All my life I have been a fan of and participated in sports and still do both today. I am a huge Cleveland sports fan and Ohio State Buckeyes fan even though I go to BG. I like to believe I know a lot already about the history of sports and different sports stars and icons. I am actually hoping that I don’t know as much as I think I know and that this class can teach me a lot more.
As for my own history playing and watching sports I started when I was five with soccer. I never really got into soccer and stopped playing at age 8. At the age of six I got into tee-ball. I gradually moved my way up and kept with it. I played many years of travel baseball and started four years on my high school’s varsity baseball team where I hold two school records. To this day I still play in an adult wood bat league in the summer. I realized while growing up my passion was for football. I never played organized until I was in 7th grade but I started playing pick-up games around six years old. I went on to be very successful playing football in high school being named 1st team all conference and all district three times as well as honorable mention for the all-state team three times setting my schools’ rushing record. I decided to play football after high school but because of my small size was not given any scholarship offers. I played for a year at a small division III school called Baldwin-Wallace. After a year I realized college football wasn’t for me though I still had a lot of passion for the game. I still like to stay active and play other sports like basketball and golf, but nothing ever compared to playing football.
That was my playing career. As for my experience as a fan, being from Cleveland, it wasn’t very exciting. I remember watching the Browns before they left when Bernie just didn’t seem to have it anymore. I remember how heartbroken I was in 1995 and ’97 when the Indians just fell short. Until recently I remember how dismal the Cavs always were. And I will never forget in 1995 when the undefeated Buckeyes and Eddie George got ran over by Tim Biakabatuka and the Wolverines. I’d have to say I really started paying attention to sports at age six or seven which would have been 1993 or 1994. Since then the Buckeyes have been pretty consistently good and it’s not painful to watch them. The Indians are inconsistent now, the Cavs are looking great and who knows about the Browns. All I want is a championship for Cleveland really. I think we deserve it.
I hope this class gives me a chance to learn new things and gain more respect for different aspects of sport. I am excited about the things I may be able to learn in this class.
Thanks for reading!
