Tis the season, so for your enjoyment, here is what each THI staffer picks as our favorite sports gifts at Christmas as children, though the publisher chose something from when he was a tad older.

Happy Holidays!

Clint Jackson

Around the time that I was eight or nine, I was a big NFL fan. I liked the Philadelphia Eagles at that point and got an Eagles Nerf football.

Deana King

My favorite Christmas present was when I was 8 years old. It was my very first basketball goal that I later decorated with UNC stickers!!

Rob Jones

When I was 11, my parents got us tickets to go see the Harlem Globetrotters at Freedom Hall in Louisville as a Christmas gift. For my dad (who is not a sports fan) to do that for me knowing how much I would like it was pretty cool.

John Gwaltney

On Christmas Day in 1982, I woke up to find a basketball backboard complete with Carolina blue rim and a picture of Ramases and the words "1982 National Champions" above the Carolina blue square on the backboard. I hadn't seen one prior to the day so the Big Guy really pulled one over on a thrilled little six year-old Tar Heel!

Jarrod Hardy

I remember like it was yesterday I got tickets to my first Carolina basketball game at the age of 6. I got to see UNC play Georgia Tech and met Rocky Mount native Phil Ford following the game.

Andrew Jones

I was a little older than a kid, so here it goes: This isn’t UNC related, but in 1987 my father went to a Baltimore Orioles game and sat behind home plate. He took a bunch of photos, but sent one of them of Eddie Murray in the on-deck circle to the Orioles, told them what it was for, so the team sent it to Murray at his offseason home in California. Murray autographed it for me and sent it to my dad, who framed it and gave it to me for Christmas. It’s still prominently displayed in my office at home.

We’d love to know what your favorite sports gift was.