As a kid growing up in Peru we had a television (black and white) but the programming back then was rather sparse. When my family moved to the US I discovered color television and just glued myself to the television. I'd watch the same shows over and over -- I must have seen every episode of Gilligan's Island, Star Trek, Looney Tunes, and a bunch of other shows several times.

During this time, until I was in tenth grade, I hated spectator sports. (PE wasn't one my favorite subjects either). Monday Night Football was annoying because it preempted McGyver. The baseball games on the local stations preempted my favorite programs at seemingly random times. That all changed with the 1986 MLB playoffs.

I suppose my PE teachers were really into one of the teams, because instead of PE, they wheeled out a big screen tv and the whole class watched the National League Championship Series -- the New York Mets against the Houston Astros. I don't know what it was, but I remember several games going to extra innings, such that when I got home from school, the game was still on so I continued watching them.

You don't realize what a great game baseball is until you see an extra inning game. *Everything* counts, every hit, sacrifice, heck every pitch counts more because it only takes one run to win the game. The broadcasters explained in detail what the strategy was as players got onbase, pitchers were replaced, pinch hitters came in. It made me realize the kind of strategy that goes into the game.

I just kept watching as the Mets got to the World Series. (Strangely, I don't remember watching the Red Sox ALCS series, I don't even remember what team Boston was playing against). By then I was really rooting for the Mets, and I was heartbroken as they lost the first two games.

Game three. Lenny Dykstra leading off in the first inning. Home run. That's the play that I remember best in the whole series. At that point I knew that New York wasn't out of it, that they could come back. And they did, to win it in seven, I think. But by the end of the World Series I was hooked on baseball.

After baseball season ended, football season started. I thought that this year, I'm going to watch football and see if it is as good as baseball. And it was. I don't really remember the 1986 NFL season much -- I think the Giants beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship, but that doesn't matter.

The next year, I remember watching every baseball game I could. I would listen to the San Francisco Giants games on KNBR 680. I'd also listen to KNBR's various sport shows. Back then Leo Laporte had his morning show and KNBR wasn't as totally sports oriented as today, but they had the Giants, the Warriors, and a couple of sport shows.

Although I'm not as fervent a sports fan as I used to be before I went to college, I still do pay attention and I can watch most any team sport without complaint. Individual sports still don't hold much of an appeal to me.

So why do I like sports? I like the strategy, especially when you have a team of disparate temperaments and skills. Who plays where, when do you play this player versus that player, what is the team overall strategy and specific strategy in various situations. All those aspects are fascinating to me.

You don't know what's going to happen. Nobody truly knows, which is another attraction. That sort of uncertainty, the expectation that the team that executes better usually wins. The positioning that goes on as the season progresses -- you have to beat this team, you hope for that team to win. It's a whole complex universe unto itself, and it is enchanting to watch it unfold.

And that's why I still watch sports.