Alex Orr

Passions

English Football/Manchester United:

I’ve always been a fan of sports ever since my dad taught me to yell “Touchdown Raiders” when I was around two. I spent countless hours lying on the ground throwing a football or baseball up in the air while watching sporting events when I was younger. This led to playing five different organized sports from the time I was five until I graduated high school. So it’s easy to say that sports have been a big part of my life. I played soccer for a few years until around the time I was five. After that I never really gave it much thought until the summer of 2006. It was during the world cup and England was going strong throughout the group stages. I have always had a fascination with the country and began to follow their matches closely. Before I knew it soccer became one of my favorite sports to the point where I only watch it and college football.

Even though the World Cup finished I still wanted to follow soccer. With the MLS being below mediocre then and with my love of England it was a no brainer that I would decide to follow the Premier League. Now the choice of which club to support is not one that should be made lightly. Usually ones birthplace determines the club but since I obviously wasn’t born there I had a harder decision. I eventually realized that most of my favorite players on the England national team were on a large club in hard-nosed Manchester. Manchester United has been my club ever since and fortunately they began their best run of the decade shortly thereafter. I’ve seen a large portion of their games since then and over the course of this season I haven’t missed a match.

What is it that I find so interesting about soccer one might ask? There is no feeling equal in sports to the euphoria that one feels when their team scores a goal. Of course there are some pretty exciting moments in other sports but no other sport guarantees such excitement in every match. Many points are scored in sports such as basketball and baseball. The only truly exciting moments occur in the last few minutes of the games and this isn’t the case with soccer. I’ve went mute, spilled drinks, and almost broken furniture all while nervously watching Manchester United play. It’s a wonderful sport that always keeps you on your toes. I love it so much that when I got the opportunity to visit England we made a special trip to Manchester just to watch them play Juventus. It was one of the live sports experiences that I’ve had and I have been to many.

Music, Concerts, and Vinyl:

Music and concerts have been one of my biggest passions. I have attended over 60 concerts around the world and have acquired over 130 gigabytes of music. I admire almost all genres of music with the exception of pop and new country which I can barely tolerate. My favorite genres of music would have to be jazz and alternative rock.  My grandfather taught me to appreciate jazz when I was growing up and nobody does alternative rock better than England. With such an eclectic collection of music it’s hard to say which bands/performers are my favorites but for certain I can say that “The Arctic Monkeys” are always up there as number one. A sample of my favorite songs can be heard using the mp3 player in the upper right and below are pictures from some of the concerts I’ve been to:

Recently I’ve become enamored with collecting and listening to vinyl records. This started after my grandparents let me borrow their Bang and Olufsen record player from the 70’s. I’ve found that collecting records is a very rewarding hobby. With mp3s I can find almost any track or album within a matter of minutes. This isn’t the case with vinyl as one must search out and find them in second hand shops, record stores, and online. Although not every new record comes out in a vinyl edition and this makes finding one at a good price an exhilarating experience.