In the third and final section of the "My Life as a Fan" series, I look at my favorite players and, well, animals from more individualized sports such as tennis, boxing and horse racing.

Tennis

Favorite Players: Roger Federer

Why I'm a Fan: Surprisingly, the first tennis match I watched from start to finish was last year's Wimbledon final between Federer and Rafael Nadal. My wife and I turned it on because it was mid-morning on Sunday and we were looking for something to watch, and left it on because the duel between the players was intense but respectful.

It was this match and Federer's epic battle against Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open later on in the summer that made me a fan of the Swiss great. I had previously scoffed at the suggestion that he was the greatest player in tennis history, certain that it was too soon to judge; in those matches, however, Federer displayed an ability to bide his time before taking his game up a notch or two and destroying his opponent, something only the truly great players in any sport can do. I'm still not sold on him as the best all-time, but he's improving his position in the discussion with every match he plays.

Horse Racing

Favorite Horse: Secretariat

Why I'm a Fan: Can't say I'm a fan of horse racing in general - it strikes me as a sport that needlessly endangers the lives of both the humans and horses involved - but Secretariat was such an unbelievable specimen that I'm not sure it would be possible to do a list of my favorite athletes without including him.

Most fans still remember his epic performance at the 1973 Belmont Stakes, when he set an American record for the 1