A Professional Team
This story begins back in the late 1970's. My father had introduced me to sports very early, and I was hooked from the get-go. I eagerly devoured magazines with titles like Football Digest, Baseball Digest, Pro Football Weekly, and even Sports Illustrated. Incidentally, my parents never forbade me from the Swimsuit Issue, although I did take much teasing from my older sisters about it. Anyway, a sports fan I became, and I was everything a young sports fan is. Like any sports fan that age, I daydreamed about what it would be like if my hometown had a professional sports team. Unfortunately, I lived in a place called Casper, Wyoming, where, even during the height of the late 70's oil boom, the population always hovered around 50,000 people. Hardly big enough to support an NFL, MLB, or even NBA franchise.
All of us have to come from someplace. Where we come from is not a choice. It is decided by our parents and our families. Sometimes these places are good places, some people choose to live out their lives in that exact same place. More often than not, however, as we grow and become individuals, these places prove too limiting, too ordinary, for one not to at least venture out and explore the world of possibilities around us. Once this step is taken, we either decide we prefer where we come from and return, or we decide we like better where we are going to. When you come from Casper, Wyoming, however, the decision at this step is a no-brainer. Freedom and escape are only as far away as your 18th birthday and a high school diploma. To stay is to die, and let your soul wither on the vine.
Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo Days
