It’s almost the end of August, which means one thing…the return of football, my favorite sport. The calendar inching closer and closer to September signifies incoming cooler weather, hours upon hours of college and NFL football games, and even days spent outside at the soccer field. To put it lightly, it’s my favorite time of the year.

The sport of women’s basketball has come so far since its inception. It’s seen the rise of dominant college teams like LSU and South Carolina and the master strategy of head coaches like Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma. It has also seen the growth of different professional leagues, including the WNBA. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on Cheryl Miller, one of the keystone women who helped bring women’s basketball into the national conversation.

Over the last four years or so, baseball has rapidly become one of my favorite sports. It’s really entertaining to watch the battle between pitchers and hitters. Black Americans didn’t always have the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the big leagues. It took courage from outstanding people to break barriers and change the norm. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on the legendary Jackie Robinson and the impact he had on baseball.

Black Americans have participated in and made numerous contributions to sports throughout history. Oftentimes, athletic progress and achievement for Black Americans has come from “breaking the color barrier” in professional leagues to force widespread cultural change. However, there’s a long history of racism, segregation, and discrimination that most Black athletes have had to endure. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on one of the greatest running backs of all time, James Nathaniel Brown.

Unofficially, Kris and I are on a tour to see as many NCAA stadiums and college towns as we can. We love seeing different schools when Georgia is playing a game, within reason of course. If it’s something short notice, anything under two hours of travel is doable; however, if we plan in advance, realistically any distance is feasible. We consider ourselves part of the Road Dawg community and have traveled for soccer and football games so far.

However, you can’t describe the feeling of being in a packed stadium with loud, obnoxious fans during a huge moment in a game. The feeling of being on the edge of your seat when you play an equally matched opponent. The pure joy of getting a stop on defense and then scoring on offense. The chants, the cheers, the band, the music all combine to make game day its very own special experience.

I, on the other hand, never enjoyed watching the sport. I always thought it was too slow paced and I didn’t understand the rules. I was confused why the pitcher would throw so many pitches during a sequence and only a few in another sequence. Balls and strikes looked too similar to each other for me to tell the difference. At times the game whizzed by and at others it dragged on slower than a snail.