I love sports! Let me repeat that (think of Saturday Night Live�s Joe Biden) I LOVE SPORTS! I love ALL sports! I believe it goes back to my childhood in Greece, where one of my favorite early memories was of my dad reading the sports newspaper. Although Greece is a small country, it has 15 newspapers that deal exclusively with sports. That�s right, no news, politics, entertainment or business. All sports all the time�the country is crazy about sports!

My dad was from the old country and very "old school" — he even looked like the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding (minus the Windex)! He was tough from the outside � but I didn't realize until I was much older that his toughness hid a very sensitive heart. A man of few words and certainly no "I love you son," comments. The best part of my day was after he would finish reading his paper, and he would hand it to me. The newspaper was so big that I couldn�t even hold it in my little hands, so I would lay it down on the floor. Once unfolding its magical pages, I would begin reading. Actually this is how I learned to read, and it became a lifelong daily habit. I have always read the newspaper from cover to cover and thereby learned about the world.

Read the full column at MormonTimes.com