Getting to know you

Hi, I'm Emily. I'm in my second year of university studying health science, and I'm a dedicated sports masochist. I'm also the newest writer here at Bluebird Banter!

Most of you probably know me quite well already, but for those who don't, here's a little introduction to me.

I grew up hating sports, especially baseball. I can distinctly remember watching a baseball game from the Athens Olympics in 2004 and thinking to myself "this is the most boring game I can possibly imagine. Nobody is doing anything." I called myself a Leafs fan, but I would watch them for five minutes at a time at the most. As a child, I definitely had more interest in bossing my friends around on the playground than in anything to do with sports.

All that changed, though, when I moved from Burlington to Calgary in 2007. My dad became my best friend by default, and his favourite thing to do was watch baseball. While I protested at first, eventually I did grudgingly develop an interest. It was during the 2007 season (and World Series) that my now burning hatred for the Boston Red Sox began to develop--and when I first asked my dad to explain the infield fly rule.

My first favourite players were AJ Burnett and Joe Inglett. I liked AJ Burnett because Roy Halladay was everyone's favourite, and I liked Joe Inglett because he had high socks and stole bases (he actually only stole nine bases in 2008 according to Baseball Reference, but I guess that was enough for me).

My first Blue Jays related heartbreak came when AJ Burnett left for the New York Yankees after the 2008 season. I felt snubbed, and as a relatively new baseball fan I didn't see the value in compensation draft picks (or even know what they were). I vowed to hate Burnett forever, and christened Roy Halladay my new favourite player.

That is why this remains my favourite Blue Jays game of all time. Listening to the boos rain down on Burnett was like music to my ears, and of course watching Halladay shut down the Yankees is a thing I could never get tired of.

It was the trade of Favourite Player Roy Halladay that first piqued my interest in the farm system, though it wasn't til last season, when we acquired Brett Lawrie for Favourite Player Roy Halladay replacement Favourite Player Shaun Marcum, that I began to really follow the minors closely.

Today my favourite players are JP Arencibia (which I'm sure comes as a shocker to all of you) and Brandon Morrow. I'm pretty sure JP Arencibia's going to follow in the footsteps of all my other favourite players and leave the team at some point relatively soon, and I'm working on coming to terms with that before it happens.

And that's the history of my love for the Blue Jays! I'm looking forward to the day when I'll have playoff games to talk about, and to writing about them here on BBB. You can follow me on twitter, if that's your thing, at @emilyg819.