"We," Because I Play...

Sports allegiance is a big deal with me. Sticking with your team, bandwagon jumping, "wannabe" fans- all things I have strong opinions on (to hear them, just tell me you're a fan of a team from a city or region you've never lived in or of a school you've never attended). And I'm positive that this fervor comes from growing up in a city with professional sports teams. Yeah, crappy professional sports teams, but pro teams none the less. So why do I bring this up?

In some recent podcasts, Bill Simmons has mentioned a couple of things that have made me think about my own sports allegiances, both professional and college. First, the pros. Simmons says in his podcast with Mike O'Malley that he fears his kids will grow up fans of L.A. teams if they continue to live in Southern California instead of fans of his beloved Boston teams. And this got me to thinking about my own dad (what with this being so close to Father's Day and all). My dad's not from Cincinnati, and while he enjoys sports, he never forced any team allegiance on me as a kid (well, maybe college, but that's for later in the post). I was free to choose whatever teams I wanted to cheer for, so naturally, I gravitated to the Cincinnati teams. Looking back, I'm thankful my dad gave me the freedom to choose because I came to a shocking revelation just a few years ago:

My dad's a Steelers fan.

One could argue that this should have been obvious (he immigrated and grew up in central Pennsylvania, went to Penn State, lived outside Pittsburgh in the late 70's, had Steelers pennants on the wall in our basement, etc.), but because he never forced them on me, it wasn't. He left it open for me to choose the teams from where I was from, which was pretty cool.

[Sidebar: I wasn't born in Cincinnati, but we moved here when I was 3, and it's the only home I have any memories of. I was born in Connecticut (Bridgeport to be exact), which got me thinking- what if my family hadn't moved? Where would my sport allegiance lie? I would have definitely been a Whaler fan, them being the only pro team in the state at the time, which means I would now be a bitter, resentful hockey fan instead of a mildly disinterested one. Now all that's left in Connecticut is a WNBA team- the horror! What about the other sports? It would have to be either New York or Boston, right? Boston has a hold over the New England, but New York is closer. This is horrible! Either way, I'd be that "wannabe" fan that I despise so much. Thank God we moved! It allowed me to be a real fan. And I'll take being a real fan of a crappy team over being a fake fan of a good team any day of the week.]

Anyway, so what happens when I have kids? If I'm no longer in Cincinnati, do I give them the same freedom my dad gave me? I don't know if I could handle that. It'd be tough, but if we were living in another professional sports town, I guess I could understand it. But if I'm still in Cincinnati, and my kid chooses another team- that, I don't think I could live with. Just have to cross the bridge when I get there.

So what does it all mean? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm glad I'm not a Steelers fan. Thanks, Dad!

Now, the second point Simmons brought up was with his college friend, Jack-O. They were talking about how, knowing what they know about college and one's allegiance to their alma mater, specifically to their athletics, they might have chosen their colleges differently. Sounds silly at first, choosing a college based in part on their athletics, but I have to admit, it played a role in my college selection.

I'm not saying that I chose a school entirely because they were good in sports (afterall, I went to Virginia), but sports was important to me. I saw how my dad was about his alma mater, and while I didn't end up following him there (and nor did my brother, Brother of GiantAsianMan, which I think, deep down, still cheeses my dad a bit), I wanted to be able to feel the same way about the school I graduated from. That meant that the school had to play Division I sports in a major athletic conference. I knew that this was a school that I was going to cheer for the rest of my life, so I wanted to be sure that there was a team I could cheer for the rest of my life. I also had to want to cheer for said school, otherwise, why bother? Case in point: Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is a great academic school. I visited South Bend when I was touring colleges and was very impressed with the campus. There's a good chance I would have gone to school there if it weren't for one thing: I hate Notre Dame. Hated Notre Dame for as long as I can remember. Spend two minutes around me in the fall and this becomes readily apparent. I can't stand Notre Dame, or its "fans"(sometimes called "Catholics," but I digress), and there was no way in Hell I was going to go there. I could never cheer for Notre Dame, so I could never attend Notre Dame.

Silly? Perhaps. Childish? Maybe. Important? Absolutely. Go Hoos! Wahoowa!