Typhoid
03-28-2012, 04:17 PM
[Want to see a magic trick?]
Killing time, making food - Its simply a rant.
So I was thinking that I love my hockey team as much if not more than your average hockey-loving-Canadian. I've been following them and only them (in this sport) for 25 years. Through all the good, and the aaaallll bad - but then I started to think why do I like my team. I never made a choice, I never decided to be a Vancouver Canuck fan. I was indoctrinated. From a very young age the people around me told me what team to like, who to cheer for, which teams are full of bums, which refs to dislike, and what is expected of my Hometown Team. Then I realized like most other people I like my local sports team for no other reason than it's "The city I was born in", and if birthright was a reason for anything else, I - and most people would (probably) say "Well that's definitely a dumb reason to like something or to dislike someone, simply because of where or how they were born", but in this case that sentence seems to come out as "Have some fucking pride."
I know there are also people who move to new cities and like the original team but replace them with whatever team they happen to be near - because they want to fit in. They might wear the gear and watch the games and cheer with their friends - but if you catch them watching a game with their hometown team in it - chances are they'll be more glued to that TV than any other.
Now, my mom is a hockey fan in the sense that she's Canadian, and she tries so hard to understand and remember the rules - but being from another city she has simply watched Canucks games to have talking points with me and my brother over the years - but to tell her that there is a Winnipeg Jets game on and her eyes light up like it's Christmas and she wants to watch it, and suddenly understands how stupid the trapezoid is, and when a double-minor should be called. She's never wanted to watch hockey. The same thing with my Dad and the Calgary Flames. Both of my parents have been in this city for 40+ years. That's 40 years to attempt to like a new team. 4 decades to try and enjoy watching guys wearing different coloured uniforms - yet it never happened for them. They were unable to separate the feelings of their childhood city from their hometown sports team.
Now maybe my parents are an isolated case. Maybe there are a vast amount of people who move to new cities on the other side of a continent/world and manage to truly love the new team that's thrust in front of them, completely abandoning their hometown. I'm definitely not saying that does not happen. But I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about the people who are unable to connect with a new team, simply because it's a new city.
They feel a sense of identity in their hometown team. They feel connected with home wherever they are if they can watch a ______ ________ game, or even know the score of the last game.
Our sports teams are the ambassadors of our cities for a lot of us. If there is a player on your local team who sets a bad example, that player is usually removed for someone that fits the local identity. (You won't have an openly racist player in a multicultural city for long, but I would expect that player to be signed to a city that is all the same race as that player, or at least lenient with that type of thing. That is more Soccer [being a worldwide sport] oriented than North American-sport-oriented. We're pretty multicultural. But that was just an example - and I doubt that specific example actually happens a lot.)
But now I come to the dilemma of "How do I cope with blindly liking my team simply because I was born here, and brainwashed into liking them from a young age? Or do I like them because this is the city I live in, and I feel pride in my city? Maybe it's both."
The fact that the non-city-team sports I like (49ers, Liverpool, Blue Jays) are based on the likes of those around me that were thrown on me at a young age, I'm going to completely assume that it has less to do with city pride for me, and most other people, and more to do with simple brainwashing from a young age. Using "city pride" is simply an easy cover-up to keep the lie going and make the younger generations conform to your beliefs.
For no other reason than proximity we all gather together to cheer on a collection of people who aren't even from our own city. (But if you have one from your own city, he's usually the favourite player) We get excited when they score, and we get angry when they get scored on. We get even angrier when they lose, or have strings of losses in a row. As if they have done us some great disservice - fuck how that loss effects their egos, how can they do that to us - those untalented dicks. They come to our cities and compete for us - and if they're not good enough we start to collectively think "Well fuck you then buddy, get the hell out of my city. We can replace you with some well-mannered Swede."
But for the un-explainable reason when my city got it's own MLS Soccer team last year, I pooped 'em with excitement (Or ex-crite-ment), simply because I live here. I bought the scarves, and went to the very first game - like every other fan who simply lives here. Through the miracle of generations of happenstance birth I get to become a fan of the Vancouver Whitecaps. I feel connected to the team. It's "my" team. Through my 25 years of existence I earned my right to be a fan of this team through the fact I haven't moved to another city. Even in knowing how ridiculous that really is - I couldn't imagine cheering for any other team even if given the choice in the matter [And realistically I am given the choice in the matter]. I don't feel invested in any of the other teams, because none of them are from "my" city. When I watch a Liverpool game, I'm watching for a good game. But when I watch the Whitecaps, I watch because I care. I give a shit. Only because they play a sport I like in the city I was raised in.
But then I think down the road. The future fan in me wonders what future fan Typhoid will think if his son(s) or daughter(s) ever decides to cheer for another team. The father in me thinks "Big fucking deal. Good for them, let them make up their own mind", but the fan in me thinks "Fuck those little cunts. I hope my team destroys theirs when they play."
[*Poof* I just turned words into a waste of time.]
Killing time, making food - Its simply a rant.
So I was thinking that I love my hockey team as much if not more than your average hockey-loving-Canadian. I've been following them and only them (in this sport) for 25 years. Through all the good, and the aaaallll bad - but then I started to think why do I like my team. I never made a choice, I never decided to be a Vancouver Canuck fan. I was indoctrinated. From a very young age the people around me told me what team to like, who to cheer for, which teams are full of bums, which refs to dislike, and what is expected of my Hometown Team. Then I realized like most other people I like my local sports team for no other reason than it's "The city I was born in", and if birthright was a reason for anything else, I - and most people would (probably) say "Well that's definitely a dumb reason to like something or to dislike someone, simply because of where or how they were born", but in this case that sentence seems to come out as "Have some fucking pride."
I know there are also people who move to new cities and like the original team but replace them with whatever team they happen to be near - because they want to fit in. They might wear the gear and watch the games and cheer with their friends - but if you catch them watching a game with their hometown team in it - chances are they'll be more glued to that TV than any other.
Now, my mom is a hockey fan in the sense that she's Canadian, and she tries so hard to understand and remember the rules - but being from another city she has simply watched Canucks games to have talking points with me and my brother over the years - but to tell her that there is a Winnipeg Jets game on and her eyes light up like it's Christmas and she wants to watch it, and suddenly understands how stupid the trapezoid is, and when a double-minor should be called. She's never wanted to watch hockey. The same thing with my Dad and the Calgary Flames. Both of my parents have been in this city for 40+ years. That's 40 years to attempt to like a new team. 4 decades to try and enjoy watching guys wearing different coloured uniforms - yet it never happened for them. They were unable to separate the feelings of their childhood city from their hometown sports team.
Now maybe my parents are an isolated case. Maybe there are a vast amount of people who move to new cities on the other side of a continent/world and manage to truly love the new team that's thrust in front of them, completely abandoning their hometown. I'm definitely not saying that does not happen. But I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about the people who are unable to connect with a new team, simply because it's a new city.
They feel a sense of identity in their hometown team. They feel connected with home wherever they are if they can watch a ______ ________ game, or even know the score of the last game.
Our sports teams are the ambassadors of our cities for a lot of us. If there is a player on your local team who sets a bad example, that player is usually removed for someone that fits the local identity. (You won't have an openly racist player in a multicultural city for long, but I would expect that player to be signed to a city that is all the same race as that player, or at least lenient with that type of thing. That is more Soccer [being a worldwide sport] oriented than North American-sport-oriented. We're pretty multicultural. But that was just an example - and I doubt that specific example actually happens a lot.)
But now I come to the dilemma of "How do I cope with blindly liking my team simply because I was born here, and brainwashed into liking them from a young age? Or do I like them because this is the city I live in, and I feel pride in my city? Maybe it's both."
The fact that the non-city-team sports I like (49ers, Liverpool, Blue Jays) are based on the likes of those around me that were thrown on me at a young age, I'm going to completely assume that it has less to do with city pride for me, and most other people, and more to do with simple brainwashing from a young age. Using "city pride" is simply an easy cover-up to keep the lie going and make the younger generations conform to your beliefs.
For no other reason than proximity we all gather together to cheer on a collection of people who aren't even from our own city. (But if you have one from your own city, he's usually the favourite player) We get excited when they score, and we get angry when they get scored on. We get even angrier when they lose, or have strings of losses in a row. As if they have done us some great disservice - fuck how that loss effects their egos, how can they do that to us - those untalented dicks. They come to our cities and compete for us - and if they're not good enough we start to collectively think "Well fuck you then buddy, get the hell out of my city. We can replace you with some well-mannered Swede."
But for the un-explainable reason when my city got it's own MLS Soccer team last year, I pooped 'em with excitement (Or ex-crite-ment), simply because I live here. I bought the scarves, and went to the very first game - like every other fan who simply lives here. Through the miracle of generations of happenstance birth I get to become a fan of the Vancouver Whitecaps. I feel connected to the team. It's "my" team. Through my 25 years of existence I earned my right to be a fan of this team through the fact I haven't moved to another city. Even in knowing how ridiculous that really is - I couldn't imagine cheering for any other team even if given the choice in the matter [And realistically I am given the choice in the matter]. I don't feel invested in any of the other teams, because none of them are from "my" city. When I watch a Liverpool game, I'm watching for a good game. But when I watch the Whitecaps, I watch because I care. I give a shit. Only because they play a sport I like in the city I was raised in.
But then I think down the road. The future fan in me wonders what future fan Typhoid will think if his son(s) or daughter(s) ever decides to cheer for another team. The father in me thinks "Big fucking deal. Good for them, let them make up their own mind", but the fan in me thinks "Fuck those little cunts. I hope my team destroys theirs when they play."
[*Poof* I just turned words into a waste of time.]