If it weren't for sports, we'd have to talk about politics.

That's what a sign in the window of the ESPN zone on 11th and F in downtown DC states proudly. You can't fully appreciate that particular sentiment until you've spent a serious amount of time in "the District". People talk about their small town childhoods and college experiences as "bubbles", where everyone knows everyone else's business, people care a ridiculous amount about unimportant things, and the environment itself affects people's demeanors. At the risk of sounding like I hate the city I'm currently calling home, DC has to be one of the most pretentious bubbles in the world. People move here after college because they either think they're going to be President, that working on the Hill means they are special, or they just didn't quite have the balls to move somewhere more intimidating. DC is a manageable city. Small enough to find your bearings quickly, large enough to provide adequate entertainment. However, be prepared to overhear nerdy and mindnumbing bar conversations; they are likely to include the latest house vote, who blew it in last night's debate, and (if you're LUCKY) a new Dick Cheney joke.

I absolutely love DC. I love the history, the monuments. I love being somewhere where things are happening. I love the layout- small patches of green abound, rather than relying on Central Park for your nature-space. There's a strange mix of pompous and naivety in DC, those who think their Ivy league educations entitle them to everything mingle with those who came here with the dellusion that they might save the world from their K Street office. But honestly I'm getting ahead of myself, because for one, I technically live in Maryland and two, I really wanted to talk about sports.

Sports fans connect themselves to the lives of players and teams that they love and teams that they create and players they idolize. It is something that allows you to forget about a disastrous war, credit card bills, and the fact that you actually loathe going to work every day. Sports bring people together, create rivalries among friends, and provide entertainment vastly more entertaining than 90% of the movies and tv shows hollywoods is throwing at us. I happen to be in the middle of the most blissful time in recent history for Boston fans and I have pledged to myself not to take it for granted. When I think about how I became a sports fan, it was baseball first. The Braves were always on TV because Ted Turner owns the part of the world that's not owned by Google or Donald Trump. I remember when Andruw Jones got into the league at age 18. And when Greg Maddux was lights out. In 9th grade French class, I sat in the middle of four seriously hardcore Sox fans. I learned absolutely no French that year, but I learned almost everything I know about baseball. It was around that time that the Sox started to be televised regularly and then Manny arrived and soon I had a favorite team, player, and a reason to watch SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight all summer long. Football was always there but it was my Junior year when I raced home from a school trip to Quebec to see Adam Vinatieri's 44-yard field goal with three minutes left after listening to the whole game on the bus radio. Then the Pats won the Superbowl. A lot. Then I went to Maryland, where school spirit is undeinably contagious and I became an insane Terps fan. I have a group of friends who love Maryland just as much as I do. I got to see bowl games and an ACC basketball championship, and all those times we beat Duke. As an alumna, I'm still into it. It's what keeps me and my college friends together. Tradition. I think 40 years from now, if I happen to be walking down the street and see a person wearing a Duke hat, I'll still have to hold back the urge to trash talk them in the street.

As of right now, the morning after the Sox dropped a must-win game 4 to Cleveland, I'm relying on an extremely anxiety-filled games 5-7 to get back to the World Series. The Terps play UVA for Homecoming this Saturday and if we win out, we could play a top 5 BC at the end of the season. The Pats are unbeatable. We'll see. Regardless of whether my teams keep winning, I'll keep watching, following, and talking about sports. Because it's still less depressing to watch the Sox lose than to watch the news.