Allegiance Has Been Pledged

While waiting for the Orange County (FL) Commission to vote on the venue plan, a quick update on my last post, wherein I asked for the best stories on "how I became a fan":

My friend and fellow blogger Reid wrote:

Growing up in Texas, my entire family were fans of the Dallas Cowboys, which made me a Houston Oilers fan during the regular season, and a Pittsburgh Steelers fans in Super Bowls. I became a Buffalo Bills fan after seeing OJ run in my youth. In the late '80s, when Jim Kelly came over and they began the early days of the Run-and-Shoot and no huddle, I was hooked for life.

Unfortunately.

And after Super Bowls 25-28, I can't climb off the wagon. Even after a season where we gave away our best running back and linebacker for a bag of dirt and some old gauze, I still have to have hope.

Anonymous reader "James" wrote:

I stick with my geographical (Chicago teams except Cubs) or alma mater (Iowa) for teams but I'm a soccer fan so I gotta go off the board here.

In the EPL my squad is Arsenal Football Club, of North London. Gunners (or Gooners, as the fans are called) in America get a lot of stick for being fair-weather, as AFC is always good, and usually very good, especially in the last 10 years under Arsene Wenger, who brought a pretty sweet style of football to the club as well as a lot of trophies.

Anyway, I became a fan in '94-'95, pre-Wenger, because of the little known movie "Lamb" starring Liam Neeson. It's a touching tale of a young Irish priest who loses and rediscovers his faith through a relationship with an epileptic 10-year old boy. So, in one scene, the two head to London, as the boy has always wanted to catch an Arsenal match at Highbury, which they do.

Later that year I took a trip to London and saw the ground, and the rest, as they say, is history. A cheesy story, to be sure, but it has to be better than anything Brady Ackerman has to say about being a Phoenix Suns or St. Louis Cardinals fan.

My father-in-law, a good and faithful reader, submitted this:

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1947, the year of the beginning of the Robinson Era, I became a...Yankee fan. Why? Because I grew up in Norfolk, VA, home of the Norfolk Tars, the Triple-A farm team of the New York Yankees.

Moving to Boston in 1981 I did the unthinkable; switched total allegiance to the Sawx. Again, why? Because I loved the collective suffering of the perennial underdog. That decision made 2004 the most glorious victory of my lifetime sports universe; except when Zach's "Yankees" won their first game ever.

(Editor's note: Jeff's grandson, Zachary, played Little League Baseball for one tumultuous season on a team known, ironically in our household, as the Yankees. They were our local version of the Bad News Bears; Zach played some decent left-handed second base. They did, in fact, win a game. The Miracle on Ice was a blowout by comparison. Wish you all could have seen it.)

Yet, though I was begging for any fan story that had nothing to do with geography, I received several e-mails like this one from my old ESPN golf partner Coop, who was born and raised in the Williamsburg, Virginia area and now lives there with his beautiful wife and children:

I wish I had something other than geography for you! Redskins, Orioles and Bullets; now Wiz. Who cares about the hockey anyway?

And this, from the man who I will always call Uncle Dave:

Favorite team(s)? That's easy.

At age ten my father took me to my first and only Baltimore Colts game -- Baltimore vs. Green Bay. Johnny Unitas vs. Bart Starr. I was born in Baltimore. My family on both sides go back to the mid-1800's in Baltimore. Therefore, I hate the Indianapolis Colts and couldn't care less about pro football.

The Ravens? Can't emotionally get there.

Baseball? When "The Birds" are winning, I'm interested. Otherwise, I'd rather watch grass grow.

Pro basketball? I'm still trying to become a Magic fan again. When Shaq left, my enthusiasm and season tickets left with him.

College football? UF, class of '75. I'm a Gator -- not just a Gator fan.

Consider this sociological experiment over. Nurture beats nature once again. We are what we see -- and we root for what we see.

Thanks for the help. Stay tuned.