cheering for the other guys

[Wrote this on May 25th....way to go about forgetting to post it >_>]

No, not the movie with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell...though, I must admit, that WAS an entertaining movie. The last scene in that movie where you see The Rock and Samuel L. Jackson, I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my seat. But, what I AM talking about is when you/people in general cheer for the other team. When I say the 'other team', I really just mean ANY other team. For example, with the Vancouver Canucks going to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 17 years, many people have already hopped on the bandwagon, and I'm sure it's getting heavier by the day. There is a difference, however, between cheering for a team and hoping they do well. I *hoped* the Sharks would do well, but they lost, and I don't really care. Similarly, the Canucks have moved on, and I don't really care either? Why don't I care? Well, because MY team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, are not in the playoffs. I don't cheer for another team! How can you do that? It's a bit shameful, honestly.

I am a fan of the Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Argonauts, the Toronto Blue Jays...can you tell I live in Toronto yet? I am also a fan of the New England Patriots, but I'll explain that one in a bit. Anyway, to go back to the hockey example, I don't understand cheering for teams that are not your own. How can you truly be a fan of 'your team' if, when they get eliminated for whatever reason, you're suddenly cheering for ANOTHER team? That smacks of cheap-ness to me, as you clearly don't have the interest in your OWN team to stand by them even when they're collectively playing golf for the summer. Yes, I understand wanting certain teams to win over other teams, when neither of them are YOUR team, but actively cheering for them? Disgraceful. For example, whenever anyone plays against the Montreal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators, I fervently hope that the team playing against them wins...because I dislike seeing those two teams do well. As a result, I found myself hoping that the Boston Bruins would win the series in the first round of the playoffs this year. After the Canadiens were eliminated in 7, I was pleased. I generally just enjoy hockey, so I don't see the need to cheer for a team, especially when you would be cheering artificially for said team.

The whole Winnipeg Jets-Atlanta Thrashers thing is another issue that bothers me a little bit. To start, the team may not even be CALLED the 'Winnipeg Jets' when the sale is finalized (apparently they're waiting on the official announcement for a day where there is no action in the NHL playoffs, as to not draw attention from the games that are happening, which is a legit point). Let's be honest here, however; if the team were to go back there under a different name, they would still be the Winnipeg Jets in everything BUT name, and so people who claim 'well, its a new team, it's legit for me to cheer for them!' would be completely and utterly wrong. They would essentially be abandoning their team (their regional team, which is the hometown team) to jump on a bandwagon, and that is just as disgraceful as cheering for another team during the playoffs. Cheering for a team during the playoffs that isn't your own is a LITTLE excusable, if only because that cheering will stop when the regular season begins again in September. This is bandwagon-ism of the worst kind, considering you're abandoning an entire team to cheer (both during the reg. season and the playoffs) for a new one. The only people who have a legitimate claim to being fans of the Winnipeg Jets would be, you know, people who live in Winnipeg (or at least live closer to Winnipeg than Calgary/Vancouver/Edmonton/Toronto/whatever American hockey city is closest south of the border).

To revisit my New England Patriots fandom for a sec, however. I was a fan of the team long before Tom Brady became one of the best players to ever walk on a NFL field; in fact, Drew Bledsoe was the QB, and while he was not terrible, let's not forget he threw FOUR interceptions in the Super Bowl. Four?! ugh. Nevertheless, the Patriots were mired in a world of mediocrity, if not downright awfulness, and yet I was still a fan. True, I do not live in New England (which is a region, not a state or city), yet Canada has no NFL team anywhere in it. Regardless, I somehow became a fan of the Patriots when I was old enough to understand football (the first SB I ever saw was watching a young Brett Favre tear apart the Drew Bledsoe-led Patriots, the Green Bay defense intercepting him 4 times as I previously mentioned), and I was rewarded with watching them win three Super Bowl titles, as well as an undefeated season (and when THAT was brought to a bitter end, I felt like crying. So sad). I don't cheer for any OTHER teams (and though it's nice to see the Detroit Lions doing better as a team, if it came down to another game between them and the Patriots such as it did this past year, I would love to see the Patriots absolutely destroy and demoralize them), and I never will. In fact, I actively cheer against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, considering they are both division rivals of the Patriots (yes, the Bills are too, but I can't bring myself to wish them bad luck, they're just SO BAD), and I doubt that'll change any time soon. If, however, there was suddenly a Toronto NFL team....well, let me tell you, that would be a conundrum for me =P

If, for example, you were born in Toronto, and you cheer for the LA Lakers in the NBA? Then that's not cool, because Toronto HAS an NBA team. If you were born somewhere like Halifax and you cheer for the Lakers? That's a little better, if only because your city doesn't have a team. Essentially, if you have a hometown team, and you don't cheer for them, well, that smacks of bandwagonism. If you have no team in your hometown, but you live in one of those communities that are JUST outside of a major city...then who are we kidding, that major city's team is your team. But, if you live in a major/minor city, where the nearest sports teams is hundreds of kms away, then that's acceptable to cheer for another team.

Of course, this is all my opinion. None of you guys probably care what I think, but still, that's my opinion on the whole cheering for other teams. It's funny, originally I meant this to be about Canadians cheering for the Canucks, but I guess it's expanded a bit. Ah well. woo sports!