Everyone has something special to their family that is shared between them and gets passed down to them. For some people it’s a particular recipe, for some people it’s a vacation tradition, and for some people, it’s a special activity that the family does together. For me, it’s a love of sports, particularly the sports of Washington, D.C., the area I call home.

For as long as I can remember, sports have been a big part of my household. There was always a game of some kind on TV, my dad played a number of sports in high school and still plays some tennis and golf to this day, and my siblings and I have all played one sport or another at some time (I figured out a long time ago that actually participating in sports wasn’t my strong suit, but my sister still plays softball, pitching for both her high school team and her travel team). But most of all, we’re all fans. As kids, my parents would love to bring us out to the ballpark for a night out as a family. To this day, that’s one of our favorite things to go and do together. When I went home this past fall break, we all went to Nationals Park together to squeeze a game in. During winter break and spring break, we went to both Capitals and Wizards games at the Verizon Center. There aren’t a lot of things we can agree on or enjoy together, but going to games as a family remains one of the few exceptions.

Being fans of the same teams is something that bonds my family and I together. I could never get into football, and though my mom and dad have tried to vouch for their respective teams of the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders, football just never stuck with me. Neither did basketball. But I picked up baseball and hockey and kept them close to my heart. My family and I are all big followers of the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals, and I’ve gotten to the point where their results sometimes stress me out more than finals. I may care too much, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being a fan of my hometown teams, and the same teams that my family likes, is important to me.

This year was my first year away from home. I was living on my own without my family around me, and my whole life around me was turbulent and changing. The only things that stayed the same were the teams from Washington. They kept me grounded and were a constant, there for me before I made any friends. And I knew that it would be the same everywhere. I knew that if I was watching a game at school, I could text my family at home and they’d be watching the same thing. It was still something I could connect with my family about.

Most importantly, watching the Capitals and Nationals reminds me of home when I’m not able to be there. They’re mine, and I take pride in my teams, especially when they win. The teams have come to mean probably way too much to me, and I want nothing more for them to bring home championships. Unfortunately, the city of DC hasn’t won a championship since I’ve been alive (its last being in 1991), and I’ve never known the feeling of my team going all the way. In its history of hosting its four major sports teams, DC has had a grand total of three Super Bowl rings and one NBA championship (way back when the Wizards were still the Bullets), with no Stanley Cups or World Series rings to speak of. DC has been notorious for its failures, and as a girl who calls the DC area her home, it would mean nothing more to me than for a team from my city to hoist a trophy over their heads. I’ve never had that feeling, but hopefully, someday soon that can change.

Not everyone’s a sports fan. We all have things that we hold close to our hearts and that we feel passionately about. Whether we’re waiting for that new Star Wars movie to come out, perfecting that portfolio, or doing whatever it is we enjoy doing, everyone cares about different things. For me, I have the luxury of that thing being something that connects me to my family and my home. And though my sports teams might disappoint me and put me through hell, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.