Sports in my life
I've loved sports forever. I grew up playing competitive soccer (and a bit of tennis) in the DMV area. I was a goalkeeper and I wanted to play college/professional soccer (before injuries derailed my career); I played for developmental academies for FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC as a teenager. Nowadays I still like playing pickup or casual soccer and basketball, and I follow professional and college sports pretty closely. I maintain an interest in sabermetrics/sports analytics, and I once made my own crude baseball statistic (EBR - extra bases per reach) which I studied briefly.
Pictures
Pictures from some of my youth travel soccer teams.
My favorite teams and players
Note: I was born in NYC and I grew up supporting New York teams with my dad... I am glad to have been so fortunate as a fan.
Favorite Teams
- New York Giants
- New York Yankees
- New York Knicks
- New York Rangers
- UConn Huskies basketball (men's and women's)
- Texas Longhorns football
- Croatian men's soccer
- FC Barcelona
- Chelsea FC
- AS Roma
- Borussia Dortmund
Favorite Athletes
- Roger Federer
- Lionel Messi
- Eli Manning
- Odell Beckham Jr.
- Derek Jeter
- Aaron Judge
- Jalen Brunson
- OG Anunoby
- Shabazz Napier
- Francesco Totti
- Andy Roddick
Some of my favorite moments
Helmet Catch — Super Bowl XLII
Manningham's Sideline Catch — SB XLVI
Barcelona's 2017 Comeback vs PSG
Messi vs Bayern's Defense
Jeter's Final Home Walk-Off
MLB 2011 Final Day (I was at Camden Yards!)
The Yankees 2009 World Series
OG Anunoby's Tip-in
Federer's career slam
My favorite tennis players in a classic
There are so many more moments I could put videos for, but I'll just list a few more here.
- Any/all of the UConn Huskies 11 combined basketball national championships that I watched
- Messi cementing his legacy as the greatest ever by winning the 2022 World Cup
- Croatia's runs in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups
- Barylon Mullins' game winner over Duke in the 2026 NCAA Tournament
- Odell Beckham Jr.'s over the shoulder catch versus the Cowboys
- and plenty more...