You Just Have To Be There
I've always found the relation between people and their sports teams to be fascinating. I, for one, am a Mets / Giants / Islanders fan. Basketball is stupid, but I digress. I just realized, while watching the sissy slapfight that is the Giants vs. Vikings game, that I have no idea why I like the teams that I do. I just do and I always have. It must be the same as picking a political party; whatever your parents were, more often than not you become it too. I was raised with the Mets, Giants, and Islanders, so even the thought of watching a Yankees, Jets, or Rangers game feels kind of wrong. My sister ended up being a Yankees fan, so there must be a hole in my reasoning somewhere, but for now I'll just blame Derek Jeter for screwing up the formula.
There is another aggravating factor though. TV sports commentary is terrible. There's no two ways about it. It's as if there is no sporting event exciting enough to hold a viewer's attention for more than 10 seconds and if we're not talked to constantly, we're going to completely forget what we were doing and wander off. OK, I do that all the time, but I'm talking about normal people. It also serves to decrease your fondness of whichever teams are playing, even yours. Therefore, you have to really really like the team you're watching just to endure the punishment of watching it on TV. It's also why a person can only like one team per sport. There just isn't enough like to go around. Case in point: When I was working at CSHL, my friend Naoki got 2 tickets for the Yankee game that afternoon. Right on the third base line. Awesome seats. Versus the Rockies. He insisted I come, since I had got the call earlier that day that I got the job I currently hold and wanted to give me a gift. I figured, even though I'm a Mets fan, it was as good an opportunity as any to skip out on work and hang out with my friend. When we sat down, I wondered why I bothered, with not the Mets playing and the threat of rain looming overhead. By the third inning, I was cheering for Jeter, Matsui, and A-Rod as hard as everyone else. I was cheating on my team and I didn't care. By the end of the game, which the Yankees easily won, I couldn't believe I hadn't done this sooner. I liked it, and I'd go again if given the chance. And that's the key, without these smacktards on TV to run their mouth, you can always find a team to root for. Except the Red Sox, simply as a matter of principle.