No Wagonism....

“I now consider myself the greatest player of all time.” If you do not recognize this great human being, his name is Rickey Henderson. And yes, that is his quote. This strikes me as being ironic because I’d venture to say most don’t recognize this man. Yet he considers himself the greatest professional baseball player of all time. Not only is this statement ludicrous, but it is awesome. I don’t care who you are, to literally utter those words out of your mouth for just being the all time steals leader, you have to be freakin sweet. There are a lot of great players out there, and I don’t know if I even give him top 25… top 50? Yeah. A decent lifetime hitter, but the man stole bases. He was a risk taker. Every time he got on he was looking to steal. If he got caught stealing, he was probably criticized. But at least he took that chance. (297 HR, .279 BA, 1406 SB (1st)). And this brings me to the point in writing this blog, as it is in reference to Brocks blog two weeks ago about Bandwagonism. (Please refer to this great article to find out if you are a true fan or if you are a bandwagoner).

Over the past few years I have taken a lot of criticism for the teams in which I root for. If you don’t know me, I will briefly explain my fan hood. I’m a die-hard Pittsburgh Pirates baseball fan. Yes, you heard it right. You know of any others? Please let me know so I can befriend them on facebook. To my knowledge, I have only met one in my lifetime (thank you Mr. Tuscano). I’m from Utah and don’t root for the Jazz…. Wow big shocker. I don’t willingly submit myself to that pain every year. I am a 76ers fan…(this is Philly’s year, gonna get the Villain from Ohio state!) And of course a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans (hand over the heart for the 2002 super bowl champs)! And even though I attend BYU, I’m a Ute at heart. 3 Major American sports, 3 teams. Pretty easy right? Doesn’t everyone have a team that they root for in these 3 sports (preferably college too)? The answer my friends, is surprisingly…. NO. There are people out there that don’t give a crap about some sports. Which is understandable. They don’t watch a lot sports and could honestly care less if the Houston Oilers or the Montreal Expos win the championship. (That was a test, if you, in your mind, thought hey, those aren’t even teams anymore, and then this article probably applies to you).

This topic dawned on me one day when I was driving in the car. I suddenly realized how many low blows I take constantly. Then it really hit me hard when I realized that it happens almost every single day. Year round I take criticism and then defend my teams. And then, it hit me like it hits me about 5 hours after a gigantic Beto’s burrito. I take criticism from people who don’t even have teams! They feel like they have to right to call me out when they don’t even root for/claim a team. This is absurd! That’s like me telling someone they suck at Ballet, when I know absolutely nothing about it. That’s why I don’t have a favorite ballerina. Alright, so that wasn’t the best analogy. That’s why I’m uneffective. Anyways, to the point, if you fit under one of these criterion, and don't have a favorite team, you are a no-wagoner. So just try and mock one of my teams… you will be mocked my friend, you will be mocked.

1. You are semi-athletic. Ok that is a very gray area in that statement, cuz in determining yourself whether or not you are athletic, could be scary for some haha. But if you play sports at all, even city league basketball or softball, even the occasionally back yard football game, you need to claim a team in all 3 major sports.

2. You actually played sports in high school/college. I won’t say whom, but I have actually met a human being, that lives here on this earth (hey I'm watching Avatar as I write this), that played 5 years of college basketball. Is from Portland, (big sports state). Is about 6’4”, 172 lb’s on good day, blonde hair, blue eyes. Maybe you know him. This human does not even have a favorite NBA team! This is ironic…don’t ya think? Thanks Alanis. Not even a college a team either. Maybe a baseball team? Nope. Wow guys…wow. I got an idea, maybe the Blazers? How bout the ducks or the beavers? Mariners? Nothing! That my friends is called playing it safe. And is unacceptable.

3. You are from a major spots place. New York, Boston, L.A., Philly, Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, Cleveland, Atlanta, Phoenix (yeah I’m calling out all you recent Cards/Suns fans). Almost all these sports cities have all 3 major sports and big colleges too. You have stuff to go to year round. I’m not saying you have to love that team, but it gives you opportunities to see your team if they are not from there also. You have no excuse to try and play it safe!

4. You are from absolutely nowhere! Laie, Hawaii, North/South Dakota, Montana, Iowa, New Mexico. And I’m talking like I’m from somewhere…Utah. You have absolutely nothing else to do! You should have teams. Believe me I have lived in Hawaii…March Madness and the NBA finals were like Christmas every night! You have no excuse.

5. And the final qualification is that you hang around sports oriented people. Maybe you don’t play much, live in a sports city, or in the middle of nowhere, (somewhere in the middle like Utah), but if you hang around people that are die-hards, you need to have teams too. You don’t wanna be that guy that’s talking out of his a…as I was saying, that guy that says, “You know Boston could really use a big name Pitcher…” Don’t be that guy, you have no excuse.

I hope these paragraphs have caused some serious reflection on your life. And hey, maybe they didn’t, but I better not hear a word from you criticizing another team unless you display your fan hood your own teams. Sorry for the week and half absence from posting… I know you have been checking the blog everyday in hopes of a new one haha… I hope you make the necessary changes to at least root for certain teams. I’m not saying go buy shirts and fly a banner on your car, but do something. Then maybe you can one day consider yourself, “the greatest fan of all time.”