I admire people who cultivate favorite sports teams and stick with them through thick and thin. I used to be among them. No longer.
Growing up in Philadelphia, it was simple. I was a fan of its local professional teams. True blue, win or lose.
When I moved to upstate New York where I spent most of my adult years, I continued to be a Philadelphia Eagles fan. My Albany neighbors were pretty much split between New York or Boston teams. I had no issues with Boston, but the animosity Philly fans hold toward New York teams was impossible to overcome. I held on to Philly more out of my inborn rivalry with New York than my love for the Eagles.
I will never reconcile myself to the fact that my daughter was turned by her friends to the dark side and became a Giants fan.
Though ideally we should be guided by love, I must admit, after I abandoned Philly, my preferences of football teams, was driven more by a less flattering emotion. One that drove me sometimes even to root for the hated Giants. That was when they played Dallas who I hate the most. The hatred of Dallas was based, in my youth, on a my displeasure at President Lyndon Johnson and his disastrous actions in Viet Nam but they soon got linked to the many negatives I associate with Texas in general. To me, much of what goes on in Texas is emblematic of what is and has always been wrong with America. If you have ever read Norman Mailer’s novel, “Why Are We in Viet Nam?” you know where I’m coming from.
All logical so far, isn’t it?
I moved to the Washington DC area later in life and made the insane decision to abandon my beloved Eagles for the hapless, hopeless team then known as the Redskins. Don’t ask why. I can’t explain it. Turning the page? Incipient Alzheimers? Simply an exercise in masochism? Maybe as an habitual rooter for underdogs who found the ultimate underdogs? Who knows?
So here I am, supporting a team that will likely never deliver for me in my lifetime and otherwise having to choose sides among the genuine contenders just to keep this non-bettor interested. This year that boiled down to Philly, Buffalo, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Baltimore, Kansas City and San Francisco.
Here’s who I definitely was against:
Dallas, obviously, and Tampa Bay, sort of, thanks to Ron DeSantis, but also Kansas City. Why? For one petty reason. The sight of Patrick Mahomes makes me sick. My wife can’t understand why that’s the case, but when I look at his self-satisfied babyfaced mug, not only during games but also in the endless commercials he appears in, I just feel like it’s unbecoming, no matter how good you are, to be so openly full of yourself and self-promoting. Look at equally talented quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Even the greatest, Tom Brady. They just don’t project that conceited je ne sais quois that’s plastered all over the Mahomes face.
Sour grapes? Maybe, but that’s the way it is.
We being neighbors to Baltimore, I guess it would be logical to support the Ravens, but somehow they don’t move me. Maybe just too close to DC not to feel a neighborly rivalry. Too bad they didn’t go the distance, but otherwise my world will not be rocked by their failure to live up to expectations.
Buffalo. Well, that’s not really New York. I was pinning high hopes on them, but we all know how they blew that game against KC. As usual. Horrible.
Detroit. Ah, Detroit. My wife’s family settled there years ago and we spent a lot of time there. I somehow found myself attracted to the Lions this year. The fact they were underdogs and succeeded beyond expectations with a veteran QB who found new life made them a sentimental pick. But they didn’t come through, and now we have the final two.
Though I never visited the City by the Bay, I always liked the idea of it. Its liberal tendencies. The charm and sheer beauty of it. The flower children of my bygone times. San Fran being in the big game is fine by me. More to the point, they are the last hope against the hated Mahomes.
The kiss of death to San Francisco is that the experts favor them by 59 percent. Sure, the Forty-Niners have a good chance to beat KC if they play as well as they are capable of and force some mistakes and turnovers.
If.
And should the Chiefs emerge victorious? The great thing about sports is that the fate of empires does not rest on them. Plus, they give us a harmless (to us if not the players) and engaging outlet for the irrational, raging beast that resides at the heart of even the nicest of us.
An Author's Inner Mind 