The saying goes “It takes one to know one,” and if it weren’t for my recent eureka moment, I wouldn’t know what this meant.

I’ve said before that I didn’t mean to end up in sports and it was all by accident that this happened. From the time I was able to walk, I have been watching sports on TV with my grandfather and going to games with my dad to support underdog teams like the Mariners, an overall losing Major League Baseball team. I hadn’t realized that these moments would have an effect on what kind of person I am today.

During the Racers’ most recent heart-breaking loss in the National Invitation Tournament against Old Dominion, I was in The Murray State News newsroom watching the game as my editor was on the floor in Virgina.

Everyone in the newsroom was on their feet screaming at the TV, hoping they could hear our support.

Within moments after the final buzzer sounded and we all hung our heads, my dad texted me, “CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?”

In the day following the Racers’ loss, my grandfather called me mumbling some four-letter words about a missed shot or two and an open pass that could’ve been made.

Laughing, it was then I truly realized that it does take a sports nerd, to know a sports nerd.

While I had never meant to end up in the sports section of any news organization, I did. Now that I’ve been here for nearly an entire school year, I can’t imagine I’d be anywhere else.

My editor wrote in her column last week that she wakes up every day with a smile her face because she gets to work in a field she loves.

Well, I have to agree. After almost two semesters sitting beside her, I couldn’t think of a better place to be than in sports.

The saying “It takes one to know one” in context means it takes a sports enthusiast to know a sports enthusiast.

The subtleties of my childhood love of sports may have planted the seed long ago that this is where I was meant to be.

Maybe my dad had really meant to influence me after all. If it weren’t for going to support the underdog, I wouldn’t know what it meant to be one. If it weren’t for my grandfather “coaching” the boys from the basement, I wouldn’t know how to understand basic basketball statistics or watch a football game and understand what a pick six is.

Recently, I’ve accepted a summer internship for a local newspaper. I didn’t hesitate to tell them the sports section was where I wanted to be, eventually.

I can’t say I meant to end up here, but like all good things it came as a surprise and with no expectation of ever being what it is now.

My love for all things sports has grown immensely – including my love for volleyball as well as rifle. Without starting at The Murray State News I wouldn’t have discovered the many things that come with sports either.

Though women can be looked down upon in the sports world, I think between Mallory and I, we’ve got this University on representation lockdown.

Before I apply for my next job, I won’t be scared to take a jump into something new.

After all, I didn’t mean to end up here.

Story by Kelsey Randolph, Assistant Sports Editor