Up for the Challenge

February has always been the worst time of the year for me when it came to being a sports fan. The Super Bowl has come and gone and brought an end to another NFL season. Spring Training is near the beginning, but nothing big in baseball will start until March. College Basketball is wrapping up, but the excitement really doesn't start until we near the conference tournaments. And I have no vested interest in the NBA, the NHL, the Olympics, or Nascar.

But, the times they are a changing. I took it upon myself to do a little experiment with this little break in my typical sports action. I didn't want to invest more time into the NBA or NHL as both those season are nearing their completion. And the Winter Olympics will probably receive very limited viewership in our household. So, that leaves me with Nascar.

Now, I can honestly say that I know very little about Nascar and the drivers that race week after week. I could tell you Jimmie Johnson has won four straight titles, but couldn't tell you how he got the points to do it. I could tell you I know of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., but I would have told you he drives the Number 8 Budweiser Car (now he drives 88, which my brother-in-law says was done so that tattoos could be easily adjusted with just another 8.)

So now, I'm taking it upon myself to develop into a Nascar fan. Last week, before the Super Bowl, I had 15 drivers put into different envelopes and drew one driver to preach my fanhood to. The result of this random draw brought me to being a fan of Denny Hamlin. And after reading up on Denny, I realize he would probably be a guy I would pick to be a fan of. He's a partier but also takes his work very seriously. He's a young gun in Nascar (having won Rookie of the Year honors four years ago) and, he's a favorite to de-throne Jimmie Johnson's four-year run. He's the perfect guy for a young, new fan like myself to begin my quest to becoming a Nascar fan.

So, as the year goes on, I will let you know how my venture into Nascar fanhood is going. Learning how the point system is, communicating with more people at work who follow the sport, and becoming accustomed to the lingo of Nascar. My first test will be Sunday, with the tape delayed viewing of the Daytona 500. (My wife is supporting this new project, but I didn't want the first thing to be watching a race live on Valentine's Day.) So, let's see how this goes.

And.....Go Denny!