FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Prepare to swear and cuss at me. It occurs to me that it would be far easier to undertake such an endeavor as this, the BlogStorm, if I were more of a sports fan. What you say? You don't think you're a big enough sports fan? The resident Raider/Warrior/A's homer? Well, yes it's true I think. The thing is there are a lot of sports that I just don't know enough to write about. The one that actually bothers me, that I desire to learn more about, is hockey and the NHL. Now that I've conquered the understanding of soccer, hockey is next on the list. (Although, it did take me about 10 years to really understand soccer. Might be a little while before I'm arguing about who the best winger is and stuff.) Golf and Nascar might also fall in that grouping, though they would be lower priorities, of sports I'd like to know more about, but just don't have the time. Aside from that though, there are other sports, sports that many of you care much about, that are like, well, probably the same way I feel about cricket. I just don't know nothing about them, and it really doesn't bother me either. That's the funny part about this - I'm talking about college football and college basketball. The only time I care about college sports is during the lead-ups to the respective drafts. Sorry, they just don't do nothing for me.

I would have so much more to write about, there are so many college teams throughout the land. How many stories must there be out there? How many opinions could I have about the goings on? Why NOT be a fan? I'd like to preface this by saying; it's not a conscious decision to not give a flip about them. I just don't. So I look inward to try and decipher the reasons as to why. Here's what I can come up with.

First of all, I didn't go to college. I went to a technical school, and also spent several years in the School of Hard Knocks. I've done well for myself, and I find myself today among the small percentage of folks without a degree who um... do well. I'm not missing any mortgage payments, I'll put it that way. So I don't have the built in loyalty that comes from having an "Alma Mater". If I did, it would be a couple of community colleges I went to for a couple of semesters at a time, and really, my time there wasn't that good, so why would I cheer for their teams anyway?

The next thing is there are no college teams in the area where I live. There is a division I-AA school down the road 100 miles or so, but most people from that town I've met are kind of smarmy and they don't even have a football team anyway. They have a good baseball team, but that's beside the point. Its small towny stuff. There is also Southern Oregon University that is also not too far away, but as a Norcal guy I just have too many conflicting feelings rooting for anything Oregonian. So the thinking that, hey just pick a local team and root for them just isn't applicable to my situation.

In the past, I tried adopting a college team. An ex-resident of the Bay Area, the obvious choices are either Cal or Stanford. Well, Stanford is a really good hospital, I hear they have some of the best doctors in the world there, but when it comes to sports, they frankly are just a bunch of smart kids. I just don't like cheering for a player who I know is smarter than me for some reason. Plus, he's going to graduate and make a ton of money. I just can't relate to that. "So how bout them Cal Bears?" you ask. Them I really tried to adopt. After all, they had a cool mascot (A Bear, ooooo) and back in the day they had a pretty decent basketball program. It didn't work though. It just didn't catch on. I have a feeling it has to do with some of the people I've met who actually went there. Not to commit the sin of getting political in a sports blog, but I've always considered myself somewhat of a liberal democrat. Well sir, if you've ever met anyone from Baghdad by the Bay, their world views made me feel like Rush Limbaugh. (not quite that disgusting a pig, but you get where I'm going?) They are so far to the left it was scary. The ones I met who weren't complete wacko hippies were also smarmy rich kids. Again, I just cannot relate and therefore cannot root for that team.

So what about the place that I come from? Well as I've mentioned before on these pages, I am from Wyoming. Not exactly the hot bed of college sports. From time to time, I've tried to be a big backer of the University of Wyoming sport programs. But you know what? No good athletes really want to attend UW, and therefore the Cowboys continually stink at everything. Theo Ratliff aside, we really don't have much to be proud of. Don't even get me started on the football team, although there have been a few late round draft picks who became successful. As a kid, I always dug Aaron Kyle, until he went to play for the hated Broncos. Wyoming just has a history of mediocrity for the most part though, at least when it comes to sports. Plus, and this is a big plus, I did not attend UW, opting to take my chances at the old School of Hard Knocks.

So there you have it. There are the reasons why I just don't get into college sports. I wish I could join you all. Everyone seems so passionate, so involved, so entranced by the machinations of the BCS, etc. I'm sorry I'm not there with ya. Perhaps I should begin compulsive gambling. Seems like they really care about college sports too. The cheerleaders wear entirely too much clothing as well. Some of them are cute but really, its actually too much for the imagination. Oh well. I think I'm going to be too busy trying to figure out what "icing" is and whatnot, so I hope you don't mind.