Under the assumption that we move to Colorado at some point, I've been thinking about what it means to be a sports fan.
First off, my only true loyalties are to the Chiefs, and the Illini for both college basketball and football.
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In the NBA, the only team that I slightly care about is Deron William's team, which is currently the Utah Jazz.
In MLB, it would be the Royals.
And in the NHL, I guess it would be the Blackhawks.
I've at least been to both Royals and Blackhawks games, although I went more for the experience. I ended up rooting harder for the Big Mac minute than the Blackhawks.
And for all three of those teams, would I actually care if those teams won anything? No. Perhaps a decent litmus test is, would I buy a t-shirt or commemorative DVD? An obvious yes for the Chiefs or Illini, and a solid no for any of the other three.
To sum up, I have a vacancy for a solid rooting interest in hockey, baseball and basketball. There are two ways to look at this.
The first is that this is perfectly fine. It allows me to watch the playoffs just interested in good games. I can enjoy watching LeBron and Durant and Deron and not worry about what teams they're on. Also, since I don't really care about any of those sports anyways, why do I need a team?
On the other hand, Denver has the Nuggets, Rockies, and Avalanche. And none of them are particularly obnoxious. One would assume I will be taking my kids to games occasionally, and why not follow the local team if I don't have a team in those leagues.
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As for what I'll do, I'll just do what comes naturally. I don't think I'll ever care enough to follow a team religiously in any of those sports, but if they make a playoff run, I'll gladly become a bandwagon fan. Who cares?
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On a related subject, I've always thought that it would be great to raise my kids to root for the Chiefs. Take them to games, get some Gates, and show them how great it is to be at Arrowhead. But just today, thinking about that seems false. If my kids want to be Bronco fans, I'm okay with that. I mean, that's what they're going to be surrounded by and if that's what they want, so be it.
I won't promise to not buy a kid's size Chiefs t-shirt. And at the very least we can always root against the Raiders.
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Even though my favorite team is the Chiefs, the truest fandom, the most pure, has to be the Illini. I say that because really, why am I a Chiefs fan? I was born in Kansas City. I went to some games there. And sure it helped that they had a great run in 2003, just when we moved into those apartments and really got into fantasy and weekly football traditions.
But the Illini. I applied there, I chose there. And they accepted me. I went there and I became an Illini myself. That's being a fan.
And if you think about the Chiefs-Broncos through that lens, I wouldn't expect my children to root for the Illini. I'd want them to root for whatever school they end up going. And yes, I'll tell them to go some place warm.
What about fútbol? Are you just a fan of the sport, or are there any teams you root for?
ReplyDeleteI think team loyalties for a kid could be both location-based as well as based on their parent's loyalties, unless of course, there's a huge rivalry between the two. I think it's hard for a kid not to get swept up in rooting for the team their parent is so passionate about.
Yeah, I'm happy I was raised to root for the same teams as my dad. It was a great bonding experience, but at the same time, we lived two hours away from a city with no NBA and NFL team and the local university wasn't much of a factor in the national scene. I was always a Cardinals fan instead of a Tigers fan, but justified it by saying they were my NL team. My dad was okay with that, until the Cardinals beat the Tigers in the World Series. And he was okay with me switching from wearing tons of maize and blue to orange and blue when I went to Illinois. After all, you can't tell a kid that he should continue rooting for a school that is now his university's biggest conference rival.
ReplyDeleteIn short, raise your kid to root for the Chiefs and Illini (until the kid goes to college). As for the rest of the sports, that can come natural. I always had fun rooting for the Red Wings when they came to St. Louis.
Oh, and I'm with you on rooting for Deron Williams and the Jazz. I root for all the Illini who made it to the pros from our days on campus. Especially now that the Pistons are terrible, I root even more for the Jazz.