My name is Brandon Worley and I was born and raised in Dallas. Growing up, sports was a huge part of my life. Not a day went by that I wasn’t outside playing football, baseball or street hockey. To be honest, my biggest dream was to one day be a starting cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately genetics had a different plan in place and I found that everyone I played football with was getting bigger while I stopped growing in eighth grade. So I turned to the other sport I loved, hockey.
When the Stars franchise moved to Dallas in 1993 not many people in North Texas had a clue about how the game was played. Yet my brother and I, with urging from our mother, had grown up loving and playing the sport. When an NHL franchise moved to our town we thought somehow we had ended up Utopia. My parents had some friends that worked at Reunion Arena and our family started working the home game, handing out programs and fliers at the entrances to the arena. In return we received free upper level tickets, so essentially we had free season tickets. We immediately became enamored with the game and the players and it’s a love I have yet to find has wavered one bit.
I played hockey throughout high school; my brother was a forward and I was a goalie so we were constantly practicing against each other. He was a much better forward than I was at goalie so he only made me better over the years. I loved playing more than anything else in the world. I don’t think I can accurately describe the incredible feeling and pride that goes through you when you make that incredible save that leaves everyone in the crowd cheering and chanting your name.
I graduated high school and joined the Navy, and have spent the past eight years living in Connecticut. The toughest part about living so far away from home (besides being separated from family) was the lack of camaraderie with fellow Dallas fans. That’s when I found online forums and blogs and instantly became a part of these communities, feeling back at home interacting with my peers. I follow all of the Dallas teams; the Cowboys, Stars, Rangers and Mavericks, but it’s always been the Stars and Cowboys that I have always lived with week in and week out.
In February of 2008 I started writing for Blogging The Boys, the Dallas Cowboys blog on SB Nation. I want to thank Dave Halprin for giving me the opportunity to help him out on the best Dallas Cowboys website on the web, a job that has opened up an infinite amount of doors for me.
I’ve worked hard to build Defending Big D into a credible, informative and entertaining Dallas Stars blog for fans from all over the world. Yet I would not have even made it this long without the help of the guys on this team; Art Middleton, Brandon Bibb, Derek Bell and Brad G. Their hard work and dedication to this site has been invaluable.
I am proud of what we’ve accomplished, but there is still a ways to go. My vision for this blog is to establish a friendly and knowledgeable community where Dallas Stars and fellow hockey fans can come together from all over the world. This is a place where someone’s opinion is theirs to express without fear of personal attacks or backlash. Here at DBD we want to promote a friendly environment and encourage others to speak their mind and join in on the conversation.
Have fun, laugh a lot and for the love of all that is holy….
Go Stars!!!