For my first time in three years working for The Daily Eastern News, I will not be covering sports.

Coming to school at Eastern, I never considered myself a fan of the athletic teams. Like most students I came in with a fandom of a major conference school (in my case Ohio State. Do not get me wrong I am still a huge fan. I think they will win the BCS National title this year, but that is for another time).

I had never really cared much about Eastern accomplishments and really did not know much about the teams on campus.

I knew working for the newspaper I would be covering the Eastern teams, but thought it would be a job and it was something I would have to do.

Early on, it felt like a chore to waste my afternoon at the athletic fields and not hanging out with my friends.

But something changed.

I went from, “Man, I have an early Saturday game.” to “Yes, I have a game Saturday! What time do they start at?”

My attitude towards Eastern sports did not stop with only the teams I covered. Even when I was doing men’s basketball, I cared about what the women’s team was doing.

When I was covering men’s soccer, I would make sure I knew what the women’s soccer team did that day, too.

I found myself lingering at events all around Lantz Arena and even Lantz Fieldhouse just to see how out teams were doing.

I found myself knowing more than I ever imagined about Ohio Valley Conference sports teams than I ever thought I would and even running around my house yelling when Murray State ended the conferences drought of losses in the NCAA Tournament.

Surprisingly, the team’s sports programs entered my fandom.

When one of my friends from another school

would talk down Eastern, I would bring up a woman’s soccer win against his or her school or a win in something they probably didn’t know their school had on campus.

They would look at me like I had five heads, but it was still a sense of pride for my school and me.

Eastern athletics has become apart of my college experience. Football games and soccer matches are going to be remembered with my positive thoughts about this University.

Many students are indifferent about the athletic teams on campus because Eastern is hardly ever on ESPN and the Panthers do not even get the same coverage as the University of Illinois.

Sure, Eastern is not the school most of us grew up watching. And sure, I do not expect your thoughts about Eastern athletics to change with this one column.

But if you want to enrich your college experience, give athletics a chance.