https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3 en-us 2021-03-22 00:56:01 UTC 2026-01-09 20:42:56 UTC hello@padlet.com benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335674697 Being a sports fan has taken me to all kinds of places around the country. On most family vacations, there is some sports component to it. Whether that be taking a tour of a stadium or going to a game, I usually come home with some memorabilia of one of the local teams. I have jerseys from Lisbon, Costa Rica, London, Atlanta, San Diego, and a few more places. As well as vacations where sports play a part, I have taken a trip with the intention of solely going to games. For example, in 2019, my family went down to Florida to go to MLB Spring Training. We were in Florida for three days and went to four games, three baseball and one hockey. My dad, my brother, and I would get to the stadium about two hours before the game started and would get autographs from the players. We got to play catch on one of the fields and walk around the facilities on the outside of the stadium.]]> 2021-03-22 00:56:59 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335674697 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335677685 The first team I fell in love with was the New York Yankees. Even though my dad is a Mets fan, my cousin who is the same age as me thankfully convinced me to be a Yankees fan. My fandom started off well as the Yankees won the World Series the first year I was a fan. The next year, on Opening Day, I woke up to a poster outside with pictures from the prior World Series on it.  From there, my fandom just kept growing as I went to multiple games every year. I was able to name every player on the team and the number they wore for four years until the roster started to be shuffled around. On my walks to shul with my dad, we would play a game we called Yankees math where my dad would give me a math equation out of Yankees players that could be solved with another player (For example: Derek Jeter (2) + Billy Martin (1) = Babe Ruth (3)). The craziest thing I have done was a few years ago, before a trip to Boston, I got the Yankees logo shaved into the back of my head. I got a few looks from the Red Sox fans sitting behind me, but I was not worried about anything happening because I was only thirteen. One of my favorite parts about being a Yankees fan is Yankees Twitter. Yankee fans are known to scrutinize every move and every mistake and it is hilarious. If I ever need a laugh, I know I can go to Twitter to make myself better and is one of my favorite parts of being a Yankees' fan.

]]> 2021-03-22 00:58:06 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335677685 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335684928 The next team I started following was the New England Patriots. Because of their success relative to the local teams, I often get called a bandwagon fan but to me, that’s not the case. The reason I am a Patriots fan is because I was born in England, so as a 6 year old, I just assumed that was the same thing. The Pats were considerably better than the Giants and the Jets so I decided to be a fan of them and have stuck with them. Over the years, I have collected Patriots jerseys, t-shirts, signed memorabilia, and Fatheads (wall stickers) of some of my favorite players. Despite the Patriots success, being a fan is not easy. It’s unbelievably annoying to get called a bandwagon fan every year just because my team is much better than everyone else’s. Although, it is nice that the Patriots are better than the Jets and Giants every year because no matter how much people call me a bandwagon, their team is worse than mine. 

]]> 2021-03-22 01:00:57 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335684928 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335686507 Over the last few years, I have gotten interested in soccer, particularly New York City FC and Manchester City. I became interested in soccer because the Yankees decided to create a soccer team (NYCFC) so I figured I’d try it out. In NYCFC’s first season I went to a game and the interest just grew from there. I would go to multiple games a season and follow every move the team made. While learning about the club, I figured out that NYCFC are part of something called City Football Group, whose main team is Manchester City. By being a Manchester City fan, I have woken up at seven in the morning on a Sunday just to watch their games because of the time difference. When Man City came to America a few summers ago, I was so excited to go to a game, despite it being an exhibition. I did not care that the starters would not play. I was just excited to see my team play in-person for the first time. ]]> 2021-03-22 01:01:31 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335686507 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335696392 By being a sports fan, I have gotten invested in the video games for each sport, particularly the FIFA franchise. I have played the game since FIFA 15 but have spent significantly more time on the game in recent years. Whenever I have free time, I spend it playing FIFA either with friends online or by myself. While that seems like a waste of time, there are some things I have learned from playing FIFA, including world geography. Players link together and are better in-game if they have chemistry, which is obtained through being from the same country. From years of doing this, my geography and knowledge of different country's flags is significantly better than most people’s. FIFA also has been a way for me to play with friends over COVID. Nobody was able to hang out in person so we would play FIFA online together instead.

]]> 2021-03-22 01:05:34 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335696392 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335709978 2021-03-22 01:11:25 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335709978 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335712758 2021-03-22 01:12:41 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335712758 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335715992 2021-03-22 01:14:05 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335715992 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335719581 One of my favorite parts of being a sports fan is going to games. Every year, I look forward to going to games either with my dad and brother or with friends. During the sports’ season, my texts with dad are usually filled with something like “Can we go to the Yankee game tonight?” and on some occasions, the plans actually happen. Sometimes, this comes at the expense of family time as one year, we left the family’s Purim seudah to go to a Nets and two years ago we spent the day of Purim at Spring Training. I love visiting different stadiums and seeing how different the experiences are. In Boston, there are people who get so drunk they go to the bathroom and trade shirts with each other. In New York, fans come up with creative ways to heckle the players. 

]]> 2021-03-22 01:15:38 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335719581 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335721779 2021-03-22 01:16:33 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335721779 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335729301 2021-03-22 01:19:47 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1335729301 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341004823 2021-03-23 03:00:34 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341004823 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341018759 2021-03-23 03:07:34 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341018759 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341024330 2021-03-23 03:10:18 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341024330 benwechsler https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341025884 2021-03-23 03:11:04 UTC https://padlet.com/benwechsler/p657wua5ua0gh0v3/wish/1341025884