Picking Sides: Part II

In part I, I threw out some ideas about why fans support the teams they do. Perhaps you were born in a city with a team, or perhaps your father pushed a team onto you. Maybe you might have picked a favourite team when you were young and that was that. It seems like this last reason best describes my relationship with my favourite teams.

Time to relax, lie back on the doctor’s chair and delve back into my fanatical history with sports…

Picking Sides: Why am I stuck cheering for the Buffalo Bills?

Every NFL season I find myself wondering why I continue to go through the pain of cheering for the Buffalo Bills. There are plenty of good, exciting teams out there who would be a lot more fun to support. Arizona Cardinals? They throw it up and down the field. Pittsburgh Steelers? A nice rich history of winning combined with great fans. Baltimore Ravens? How can you not love their defense? Minnesota Vikings? They’ve got some former Pac-man on their team now.

The same question is true for hockey. I pull hard for the Oilers and I also have an affinity for the Toronto Maple Leafs. What is up with that? Why can’t I get on board cheering for Pittsburgh or Washington?  Both teams are exciting with Malkin and Ovechkin.

And then I look at baseball and basketball. Why don’t I have a team that I am truly passionate about? And why can’t I find a soccer team to call my own? As hard as I try and as much as I enjoy the sport, I tend to have a few players I like but no team.

Finally I look to the individual sports of tennis and golf. What’s up with Boris Becker and Greg Norman being my all time favourites.  Heck, I’d even stand lookout for Becker should he ever need to use the washroom again and not want to be disturbed.