Why are you here? You don’t even know what sport this is.

These were the snide and sarcastic words thrown at me by a former high school classmate while I was standing on the sidelines for Missouri Southern’s last home basketball game. For the record, I am possibly the most sports illiterate person you will ever meet.

I once asked my newspaper advisor what a “pouf kick” was. I still get hell about that to this day. On a good day I can barely match each sport with the appropriate field, diamond or court.

However, though my knowledge of athletic events is, for the most part, about as functional as a baseball bat on a hockey rink, this has never stopped me from enjoying sporting events, both collegiate and professional.

While I seldom know what is going on and have to ask my sports staff ridiculous questions like why India Wood always takes the ball down the court, it doesn’t make watching her or her teammates play any less entertaining.

Just the fact that Kevin Greim can successfully continue to pronounce Fatai Hala’Api’Api is worth the price of admission.

While so many sports fans watch for the stats, the ERA’s and various other acronyms I can’t remember, equally as many fans watch for the people behind the uniforms.

I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the baseball career of Manny Ramirez, but he is my favorite player purely for one reason. He is fun to watch. The same can be said for senior guard T.J. Britton and junior forward Matt Monroe who, regardless of athletic performance, are worth the time to watch. (For the record I had to ask my sports editor what positions they played)

Even if one had no desire to actually watch the game, just the enthusiastic, (and sometimes violent) reactions from the fans can make for an afternoon well spent.

And, though I usually can’t figure out why they are cheering or booing, few things are as amusing as listening to the Pep Band sing their own hilarious, if not completely accurate, version of California Dreaming by the Mammas and the Pappas.

With the MIAA tournament coming up I, like many others, will be making the trek to Kansas City to photograph our men and women and I’m looking forward to it.

I’m looking forward to watching Tyler Ryerson weave around whoever is guarding him and seeing Wood make one more three point shot. (Even if I can’t point out the line she’d have to shoot from.)