Standing Tall, Feeling Small





I am a huge UAB sports fan. If you want to read my story of how I became the fan I am today, please click here to read my story. During and after my time working with the UAB sports department, I collected a few pieces of memorabilia. Mostly, I have collected football and basketball items and I plan to share many of them.

 

In 2004, I was on Ebay and found a UAB basketball jersey from one of my favorite players while I was with the sports department. I was able to win the auction, shortly after the purchase I received a message from the player wore the jersey. I was shocked to receive the message. He let me know that someone had mentioned to him that his jersey was being auctioned off and he should check it out. I let him know who I was and that I was fan and worked with UAB in the sports department. I also asked him if he was still in the area and if so it would be an honor to have him sign his jersey. He very kindly agreed. We both were going to attend a UAB basketball and agreed to meet at the game.

 

 

Here we are at the game in the concourse area around the area where we met and hung out. I showed him the jersey to be signed.

 

This is the signed jersey. In the lower right portion of the zero is his signature, Igor Nikolic. If you are interested in learning about Igor click here. He was a 7'1 center for our basketball team. He was a great outside shooter that could knock down a three point shot with ease. There several occasions that I can remember interviewing after a game and having to hold the recorder above my head. I have felt that I was tall among my peers at 6'2, but when you beside someone that is 7'1, you don't feel so tall any more.

 

 

I must say a thank you again to Igor for being so nice. It was great to see him again after few years since he last played at UAB to sign his jersey. He was a stand up guy and as nice as they come. 

Why I am a UAB Blazer fan

I am a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) sports fan. Our mascot is the Blazer, a dragon. How awesome is it to have a fire breathing dragon?

I attended UAB while living at home with my parents and working part-time jobs. UAB, for the most part, is an urban commuter school. Most of my first two years at UAB making friends was difficult as many of my classmates like myself would arrive for classes and leave immediately afterwards. I also struggled with some of my classes and I was very grateful for the tutoring I received. My "college experience" wasn't the experience I was hoping that college would be. My of days were spent in class or in my part-time job. I'll admit that I didn't have an active social life.

One evening I had a self-revelation, that this wasn't what I wanted from college or my life. It was at the moment I decided that I wanted finish college as soon as possible. In order to get through college as fast as possible, I needed to double up on my course load. I knew that taking more courses would be harder and more challenging; therefore, I enrolled with more tutoring. This meant that I had to cut my hours down on my part-time job. My time was mostly spent in class or tutoring. I knew that I needed my degree to advance in life so I needed my education and as fast possible.

In one of my tutoring sessions my tutor noticed that workload in class was pretty heavy and that I was frustrated with college. During our time together we began to know each other pretty well. One day we found that we both had a love for sports. I was never a great or even good athlete but I still loved sports and most all sports. She too loved all sports and had found a way to be in game without having to be an athlete in the game.

She introduced me to the UAB Sports Information Department (it is now known as the Sports Media Department). This department at UAB, creates media guides, works with news and media from all over the country, and they staffed the game with statisticians, officials, scoreboard operators, announcers, and anyone else needed to run an athlete event for the university. As soon as I was in, I was hooked. I loved every minute of being apart of the group. I loved sports and I loved these people. I spend a lot of hours and a lot of late nights with them.

I first started working men's basketball games as stats runner and a shot chart maker. We then held the conference men's basketball tournament where I was the timeout official for the television crew. I worked men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, football, baseball, women's volleyball. I was a public address announcer, scoreboard operator, statistician, timeout coordinator, TV stats coordinator, phone line score communicator. I interviewed players and coaches after the game. I made a connection with many of our coaches and players. This was how I connected with my university and found my "college experience". If it weren't for UAB sports, I would have never the connections I made and found my love for the university. This is why I strongly advise finding your passion in college and becoming as involved in it as you can. What you are most happiest in will bring you the most joy no matter if it is your job or hobby.