Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

The Penalty Killer: Team allegiances

Chris’ post (and Da Chief’s commentary thereon) struck me as interesting, mostly because with two exceptions I’ve stuck with the same teams my whole life.

I already talked about my childhood love of the Oilers (according to some bitter smacktard in Buffalo, this apparently means that I’m insane–puck ‘em).

All my other teams, though, were from Los Angeles (where I was born and lived until I moved to North Dakota at age 10). Except the Rams. I was an NFL fan without a team after Carroll Rosenbloom died in ‘78, because I flat didn’t like Georgia (his widow)–and for a kid who thought Vince Ferragamo was the MAN, that says a lot. I really didn’t like the woman. Still don’t like her, never trusted her, just the mention of her makes my skin crawl and my hair stand on end even after 28 years. So I forsook the Rams and went teamless until I was 12, when Fourth of Four (my dad’s fourth wife) got me hooked on the Redskins. So I’ve been a Redskins fan ever since, and despite their current idiot of an owner–the Redskins are why I tend to get along so well with most Capitals fans, even though I loathe the Capitals.

But beisbol and basketbol (when I bother to watch the NBA, anyway)? Still the Dodgers and Lakers. I barracked for the Twins in 91, because they were playing the hated Braves (who are second only to the Giants on my list of hated MLB teams). I even barracked for those damn Yankees when they played the Braves in the WS–and I loathe the Yankees.

I’ve been a Lakers fan since before Showtime, I was a Lakers fan after Showtime, and I’m still a Lakers fan despite Kobe Bryant (who I hate, frickin’ primadonna) and despite Mitch Kupchak’s foolishness in not getting rid of Kobe to keep Shaq. I hate the Pistons almost as much as I hate the Red Wings. If I were as much an NBA fan as I am a hockey fan, I’d probably hate the Pistons even more. I have nightmares about a Dodgers-Tigers World Series (unlikely as that might be), because the Dodgers getting pwned would be so me (and because I am thoroughly convinced that Detroit hates me, even though I’ve done nothing to that damn city).

But then, the Hurricanes won the Cup (I no longer feel wierd saying that), Shaq beat the crap outta the Pistons, and my beloved Azurri won the World Cup (despite a huge scandal involving half the players on the team) in the same year, so maybe my luck’s changed for the better.

Or it could be the Tramadol talking. Who knows?

Anyway: There is nothing that bugs me worse than revisionism. If you forsake one team for another, be honest with your reason. Don’t act like you’ve been a fan of a team your whole life, when you’re a recent convert. Be honest about why you converted, even if it’s “because they’re on top”.

I may be a raving nutter in the eyes of some Buffalo Bittermen, but at least I’m an honest nutter.

That’s why, back in May, I fired a broadside at 850 The Buzz program director Adam Gold, who bashed the Hurricanes every chance he got for the first five years of their existence in North Carolina (and would hang up on and then proceed to insult anyone who called in to his radio show to take issue with him). Adam denies it on a regular basis–but I trust my memory and the memory of every O.G. Caniac that had to put up with The Buzz and their shabby treatment of the ‘Canes at the start far more than I’d trust the ego of some arrogant little nebbish who can’t handle the truth.

There’s a reason why 850 The Blog doesn’t have me on the ‘Canes blogroll–and it’s not because of the salty talk I use every now and then.
And finally….

Perhaps somebody with a WordPress blog (especially one hosted on DreamHost) can help me out here. For some reason that I haven’t been able to figure out, when the blog first gets loaded in Firefox, it loads a blank page–but when you reload, everything comes up properly. Not only that, but for reasons I can’t divine some feedreaders can’t parse the RSS feed (and I know damn well that I have it set up right).

I’m stumped. If anyone has insight that doesn’t amount to “setting up an RSS feed isn’t that hard”, drop me a line.