It was September 10, 1998, and the MTV Video Music Awards were going to be the talk of the hallways the next day. Unless she wanted to be severely left out of conversations the next day, no sixth-grader in her right mind would miss this show. Social reasons aside, I didn't have a particular artist I was rooting for. That is, until I saw the Backstreet Boys perform their song "Everybody."

That was the day I fell in love with Nick Carter.

Save your energy, hold back that eye roll and spare me the snark. It's silly, I know. But with days until New Kids on the Block fans across the Valley get a chance to see the objects of their teenage affection perform at Dodge Arena, I've recently found myself reflecting on my own boy band past - and present.

I'll do this AA style in case you haven't deduced this already. Hi, my name is Sandra, and I'm STILL a Backstreet Boys fan and a part of me will always love Nick Carter.

It's not like I haven't moved on. I've had many fantasy boyfriends since Nick, like bald and beautiful Wentworth Miller of Prison Break and recently I've adopted the moniker Mrs. Dean Winchester. But any girl - and sometimes boy, for that matter - will tell you that there's nothing like your first major celebrity crush. There's something about them that sends familiar butterflies of excitement fluttering through you even after years pass and you've "grow up."

Speaking with pop culture expert Elayne Rapping this week gave me much insight into this love, but I had a feeling that Rapping was a strong enough lady to resist the urges of celebrity crushes because she was able to speak so analytically about them.

The entire time I spoke with Rapping, who had some very interesting theories about why boy band fans hang on to the past, I kept thinking to myself that I was the exception. That my reasons for loving Nick Carter back then - and now - were totally different, and that I was now an adult woman who would not cry and shriek if I met or spoke to him.

But when I started discussing with my colleagues Amy and Zackover who was the best boy band, I found myself getting riled up like I did when I used to have the same conversation over lunch with ‘N Sync fans when I was 10. To my surprise, I hadn't left my Backstreet devotion behind as much as I had led myself to believe.

Of course, my arguments defending the boys were a little more mature now, and I would cite the band's musical ability instead of their dreaminess and the fact that they're still making music even years after the boy band dust has settled. I did, however, surprise my ostensibly mature self when the only comeback I could think of to Amy's charge that "New Kids on the Block were better" was "Yeah, better at sucking." I had myself convinced those days were gone.

Sure, I still have a box - er, two - of BSB merchandise under my bed. I also can't get myself to toss the over 50 videos of Backstreet TV appearances gathering dust in a drawer underneath my TV, some dating back to the band's early days overseas, which were acquired via eBay and other top-secret connections.

The return of these thought-to-be-extinct feelings made me accept the fact that stuffing these items under my bed or stuffing giant Burger King banners bearing the boys' faces between my mattresses doesn't equate to moving on. It just means I've learned to hide it better.

So when New Kids fans come out of the dark depths of fan dormancy on Saturday, complete with faded, I-once-wore-this-to-bed NKOTB T-shirts, I'm not going to say a word. They should be allowed to have their youth come back for one day judgment free. In 10 years, when BorderFest books the Backstreet Boys, that could be me. Of course, I'll probably be the girl passed out from excitement in the front row.

Sandra Gonzalez covers features, entertainment and the Backstreet Boys for The Monitor. You and Nick Carter can reach her at (956) 683-4427.