Top Fan 2

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The Winner of Top Fan 2 is...




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"Did you know Stan Savran is one of the judges tonight?" Yep...that's when the nerves really set in. A friend of mine filled me in on that little nugget a few hours before the Top Fan 2 finals last Thursday at the Meadows. I was pleasantly surprised to get the news that I had made it into the semifinals of the competition, and incredibly excited to make it to the finals.

I knew that no matter what happened, the finals were going to be fun, but at that moment, the gravity of the opportunity hit me pretty hard. What was the worst possible scenario? I forget my own name? I accidently call Mike Logan "Lethon Flowers?" Alienate a Pittsburgh crowd by telling them that Dave Wannstedt was a backwards step from Walt Harris? Whatever happened, I was thrilled by the moment and the experience. Winning, needless to say, was a nice cherry on top.

As I was leaving the show on Thursday, ready to have a nice evening of celebrating with all of my friends and family that showed up to The Meadows to offer support, a member of the 1250 brass stopped me and let me know that, despite the stresses of the evening and the contest, that "the hard part was about to begin" for me.

That definitely got me excited. I realize that I'm a rank amateur being thrust into a world of professional writers and broadcasters. I think that's the most amazing thing about it. The title is Top Fan. Now, I've never once painted my chest and I'm not enough of a party-lines homer to dismiss Alex Ovechkin from the discussion on the best player in hockey (not saying he is, just saying he's got a pretty strong case), but I get to be a voice for all of us Pittsburgh fans who are thrilled to weasel our way into a Steelers ticket once or twice a year, and begrudgingly go to Pirates games on a nice night because we think we might actually get to see our team do something right for a change.

If you can name a sport that is conducive to fantasy games, I've played it (including fantasy Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee&.more to come). I'll watch golf or soccer pretty much any time I see it on TV, and the first two days of the NCAA Tournament are practically religious holidays for me.

Maybe I'm a good representation of the sports fans of Pittsburgh, and maybe a lot of you will disagree with everything I say. I really look forward to finding out throughout this next year.


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