Now, it was pretty special. It was a world championship, and that stadium was full. I think there was 80-some thousand and our families were there and we cared deeply for each other. And it was a pretty big, pretty big moment for all of us,

for sure. That was our guest, former U.S. women's national team star Karen Jennings-Gabera.

And this is founding football.

In November of 1991, I can vividly remember the sports world changing forever.

Or so I thought.

I was at the beginning of my eighth grade year, complicated times, of course, in the life of any adolescent.

And that's to say the least.

In addition to the standard trials and tribulations of an eighth grader, our family was embarking on a move, not a major one.

We were just looking for a new home. Moving on from the Revolutionary Era Farmhouse, I had called

home since birth, and moving into a development just a few miles away. It was an exciting time, but also

in some ways, an overwhelming one. With everything changing around me and at an age where I was

changing myself, it was nice to have some constants. Sports was one of those constants for me.

I was at the height of my baseball playing days, and the walls of my sports fandom were expanding incredibly quickly.

I was becoming a bigger basketball and football fan.

And sure, part of the beauty of sports is that every game writes new storylines in the spirit of competition and athletic prowess.

So often, the constant of sports

is actually the change, the newness. But sports was at very least always there, and always

providing a known entity, competition, athletic prowess, winners, incredible and magic moments.

Then on November 7th, Magic Johnson announced that he had

HIV, and he retired from the Lakers. I remember being stunned. I certainly wasn't a massive Magic Johnson

or even a Lakers fan. I wasn't honestly even at that point a huge fan of the National Basketball Association.

But as most kids are, I was a fan of greatness, greatness in the NFL, greatness in the NBA.

...