Who am I?

I figured I would start this off simple. My name is Justin Lafferty. At the time I am writing this, I am 19 years old and a Journalism junior at San Diego State University. I write for the Daily Aztec, covering the school's cross country team. I know what you're thinking - boring. I can't argue you there, but it's something you really have to be a part of to appreciate.

My goal is to become an actual journalist. I plan on becoming a beat writer for a Major League Baseball team and then working my way up to sports editor of a major newspaper. San Francisco Chronicle, watch out.

Right now, I'm just your average baseball junkie. I live and die with the Oakland Athletics, and my favorite players are Barry Zito and Marco Scutaro.

But that's not why I made this blog.

I have a weird disease; a frame of mind I can't seem to turn off.

My inner journalist. My advisors warned me about this. Everything can be made into a story.

For instance, tonight I went to SDSU's Midnight Madness. Well, they called it "Midnight Madness," at least. They were just off by a good five hours, kicking it off at the late hour of seven.

But that's neither here nor there.

When I walked in and found my seat, I also noticed these guys totally decked out in Aztec basketball gear. If you are from my (Bay) area, think De La Salle's lancer crew.

That's a story.

They all seemed to worship some player who graduated a couple years ago - a "Mankey." He was a 7-foot-tall dude who had a good perimeter game.

That's a story.

Some SDSU men's basketball players came out in red warmup jerseys, some in black. I found no particular order to them. I was thinking maybe those in red are the starters, but more than five were wearing them.

That's a story.

The guy announcing the whole thing - "The Voice of the Aztecs."

That's a story.

Our men's team seemed to miss a lot of jump shots during warmups.

That's a story.

A guy dressed in a banana suit was one of the judges for the slam dunk competition.

That's a story.

Men's basketball head coach Steve Fisher went around shaking hands, thanking fans for coming to the event. I was pretty taken aback. My experiences with coaches who have had success (and Fisher is pretty much the one whistle-blower on campus who has had success) tend to be jerks. I loved this gesture and I will be attending men's basketball games even if it isn't my beat.

That's a story.

The dance team was looking pretty hot.

You better believe that's a story.

You get the idea. It's this weird thing that I can't describe. The closest thing I can compare it to is John Nash's character in A Beautiful Mind. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no genius, just the oldest 19 year old in California. The scene where in his mind, star constellations would just magically illuminate... that's how I feel. Certain things just scream - "WRITE ME!"

I have to admit though, it's a curse I love having.

This blog will cover all the stuff that won't exactly go into my articles and various other aspects of San Diego State sports life.

This may be a story worth following.