"If one of our sons became a player in the MLB and was on the Yankees right now, what team would you root for?"
It was a no brainer for me, I would keep my loyalty for my team, the Red Sox, but hope for my son to go 4-4 each game. She then threw me another doozy:
"If one of our sons was drafted by the Colts or Steelers (my two least favorite NFL teams) in MSG would you wear a Colts hat to celebrate on ESPN?"
This one was much harder for me. On one hand what is the harm in just putting on the team hat during this great moment? On the other hand the Colts and Steelers are pure forms of evil to me. But in the end I said I could wear the hat during the draft, but would never wear one during an actual game.
Now it was my turn:
"If one of our sons was given a full ride to play for Notre Dame would you cheer for the Irish?"
I believe the look I got was enough of an answer...neither of our sons would ever set foot in South Bend, unless they were on the visiting team.
What say you?
Posts
4 comments:
Kyle - Well done on firing up this joint, about time someone took the reigns and messed up the place a little. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that my son could play for the most hated team out there in professional sports - Yankees, Lakers, Rockets (Sampson is a Sissy!), Colts, Steelers or any other "antithesis of New England" franchise, and I would proudly wear the hat on ESPN. That doesn't mean I wouldn't die a little on the inside, but it would be unreal to know that my kid is contributing to the rivalry. I just might be that sappy of a proud dad. I have 3 boys, so it's not outside the realm of possibilities that I could have one Patriot playing a Steeler, and then it would be a struggle...but I'd debate it from my retirement ski home in Aspen...
Full disclosure, UVM had no football team, and the UVM-RPI hockey rivalry was fun for a weekend at most. I actually could see an argument that college colors run deeper than pro sports...perhaps another blog post down the road...
It's hard for those of us that grew up in the Northeast to understand just how bitter college rivalries are in the South and Southwest (most other parts of the US for that matter). The BC v Notre Dame rivalry is as close as they come, but it's not on par with other parts of the country.
My brother went to Clemson and I had the chance to see a few games in Death Valley. It's a different world. With no professional teams to water down their allegiances, they truly do bleed orange.
Our co-authors from Austin likely have this sort of allegiance to the Horns and can speak to the topic better than this UMass/Amherst alum. Sure, we hated Syracuse when it came to lacrosse, but that was only because they pretty much always kicked our ass. We did have a nice run of basketball their in "the cage", but again, can you really have a rivalry with Temple?
Kyle - I read this when you first posted and have been mulling over my answer. My initial gut reaction was that while it would be REALLY difficult for me to get excited about my son playing for the Yankees or Colts or Lakers, I'm with Adam on this one. The thought of my child participating on a college or pro sports team would transcend anything else.
As Jim said, it's a little tricky from a collegiate standpoint for us folks original to the northeast to truly understand some of the big college rivalries (although I'm starting to get there living in Horns country). However, I did have a little bit of a chance to experience the collegiate rivalry thing when I was at Georgetown. I learned quickly to pretty much hate anyone else in the Big East... although my dislike of Duke overtook all of that in a hurry (not that it's hard to dislike Duke).
Thanks for stirring up the pot on BigP. I've had a post brewing for a little while and just haven't had the time to fully execute. Hopefully this week I'll finally "get 'er done!"
Post a Comment