Or maybe it’s his sons, Xander and Tristan. Or his wife, ?Audrey.
It tends to be some combination of these options, but Carl James is always there.
James, 39, was never particularly devoted to sports in his younger days. He essentially stopped paying attention during 13 years of working demanding hours managing retail stores.
But now he works for IU, in the town he always considered home, with a family.
He has become a sort of super fan for IU women’s basketball and baseball. He rarely misses a home game. His father taught him sports despite James never being any good. Now, James passes his love of sports to his daughter, who joins him most game days.
In the beginning, Madison hardly understood basketball. But she started picking things up from observations her grandfather and father made. She gets autographs from women’s basketball players after games and knows the walk-up songs of just about every starter on the ?baseball team.
Sports have become a way for James and his daughter to connect. Just like he did with his father.
***
James’ father, George, was in the Navy. The family moved to California, Hawaii and Virginia twice, but they came back to Bloomington when he was 16. His parents were from Martinsville, so the area was always home.
George played baseball through much of his life and played softball in the Navy. He wanted his son to be an athlete, but sports were never really James’ thing.
“I just never had the physical skills to be a tremendous athlete,” James said.
He played tennis growing up and some basketball, but he liked theater and technology. He jokes about his experiences playing basketball as a kid, arguing with the coach about going in.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to play me,” James remembers saying. “I can just equipment manage and stuff.
“Occasionally they would put me in the game, and I would have my one moment where I manage to stop a guy who was like a foot taller than me.”
Just like when he was a kid, James moved across the country after being promoted by Circuit City, first to Georgia, then from Georgia to Kentucky and then from Kentucky back to Bloomington to manage an Office Depot. Thirteen years on the retail trail, working 70 hours a week and spending nights and weekends at the store, James didn’t have the time to concentrate on sports.
“My interaction with sports was typically just what you would see on the TV’s that were on in Circuit City,” James said.
He remembers on some less busy days at Circuit City hearing a commotion from his employees huddled around one of the TVs watching a lower level NASCAR race. James made his way over to break it up. But they told him he had to see this.
“The Circuit City car just took out the Best Buy car!”
***
James’ father instilled the love of baseball in him. He said his father’s knowledge about the game inspired James’ enjoyment of baseball — knowing all the scenarios and the intricacies of a complicated game.
Now, his father lives next door to him, and James imparts similar knowledge to his ?daughter, Madison.
James’ two sons don’t really enjoy sports. When he brings them to games, they aren’t amused.
Hey Dad, can we go get food? Can we play with the iPad?
But Madison loves the ?experience.
James rediscovered a love for sports about two years ago when he took a job working in IT for IU’s Maurer School of Law. He got free tickets to sporting events, and IU women’s basketball then-assistant coach Brandi Poole lived in the house next door to his parents. Poole’s then-fiancé talked James’ father into coming to a game, and James came with.
It sucked him in pretty ?quickly.
“The in-game experience, they pretty much replicate most of the in-game experiences pieces from men’s basketball in women’s basketball,” James said.
James says he is the kind of person who wants to become truly knowledgeable when he gets involved in something. His mentality was there are tons of people who are educated on IU football and men’s basketball, but there was not too many people with similar knowledge of women’s basketball.
“I had an opportunity with women’s basketball to be an ?expert,” James said.
He can tweet with sports writers and become part of the conversation. He enjoys following the arc of a season and learning to know the individual stories of the players.
Oh, and his daughter can receive autographs from the players after games.
Basketball is Madison’s favorite sport. She loves being able to scream her head off when going to games with her father and grandparents.
“I just enjoy watching the games, it’s really fun,” Madison said. “I also enjoy the food.”
She loves getting to know the stories of the players on the team. Taylor Agler, who recently transferred to Texas Tech, was her favorite player. Junior forward Alexis Gassion is James’ favorite.
Madison finds herself in the same place her father is in the summer, without something to watch. She said she is sad and added it is nerve-wracking waiting for women’s basketball season to start.
“I think they are going to be amazing, but I don’t know.”
Women’s basketball and baseball games have become something he can share with her, like his father shared baseball with him.
