Thursday, September 13, 2007

blog time and other dilemmas

I've been having some difficulty carving out blog time over the past couple of weeks. I'm hoping that's not a trend.

Football season- For me it's the best time of the year. The first week was filled with highlights and lowlights. The biggest thing for me was that my USF Bulls beat Auburn!!! And even bigger, I was able to see it since it was on ESPN2. I'm hoping they can keep the momentum for the rest of the year. They've got a killer schedule, but they're off to a great start. My Bucs were a big lowlight. I didn't get to see the game, but there weren't very many highlights available either. Is it going to be another down year for them? My fantasy football team was also a big lowlight. I have to quit talking so much smack if my team is going to continue to be that bad. The final highlight of the weekend was the viewing party that I hosted at my house with some of the guys for the Cowboys opening game. But that has created another dilemma for me...

One of the most asked questions by people in Tampa as I was moving to Frisco was, "Are you still going to be a Bucs fan?" "Of course I'll still be a Bucs fan," I said. Truth is, the Bucs are MY team. When my family first moved to Clearwater Florida in 1980 from Colorado, I adopted them immediately. Even though I had loved the Broncos (more on that later), I now felt that I lived in a city with a team. And since I lived in a city with a team, I should root for them. Since then, I have always rooted for the Bucs. There were plenty of lean years, but when a lot of others were jumping on the bandwagon during the championship year in 2002, I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had rooted for them all along. There was a time, when I lived in Tennessee, that I adopted the Titans. The Bucs were still MY team, but I liked rooting for the home team, and it never interfered with the fact that I was a Bucs fan first. Fast forward...Living near Dallas makes the local team the Cowboys. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have always had a strong dislike for them. I think it might have started because they killed the dream of my first favorite team. In 1977, I was just a kid growing up in Colorado, and starting to love football. It turned out to be a big year for the Broncos. There was the Orange Crush defense with Lyle Alzado. There was Craig Morton at quarterback. It was their year. They made it all the way to Super Bowl XII. I remember that day vividly. My mom woke me up in the morning singing 'This is the day, This is the day that the Broncos play' to the tune of 'This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made.' Probably sac religious, but I thought God wanted the Broncos to win too. My parents had to be at church that evening, so we brought a portable tv from home for me to watch the game in the basement while they got ready for the evening service. And the Broncos got creamed. By you know who...the Cowboys. America's team. So smug and arrogant. Well, from that point on until now, I have maintained my dislike for the Cowboys. So now I have a dilemma, do I stick with my normal philosophy of rooting for my local team, even if it's the Cowboys (at least Bill Parcells and Keyshawn are gone), or do I keep holding my grudge? These are big, serious issues. :) Let me know what you think.

8 comments:

Tim McDaniel said...

I ended my total hatred for the Cowboys the day they signed Emmitt Smith. Then I only hated most of the Cowboys. (Jimmie Johnson and Michael Irvin made that easy.)

Don't feel any shame in rooting for the hometeam - at least on the days they don't play against your Bucs.

Anonymous said...

Hey, bro. I know I gave you a lot of grief about becoming a Cowboy fan, but I'm all about rooting for the home team.

So, I release you to be the best Cowboy homer there is. Seriously, there's not much left to root for here anyway.

Adam

Anonymous said...

I hate to tell you this but if you don't become a Cowboys fan where you are living...your life may be in danger! They can be a "tad" extreme when it comes to football! :-)

Thomas Clay said...

Mark, don't give in to the spirit of the Anti-Christ and start rooting for the Cowboys! :-)

Hey, you can imagine the sorrow here in AL (at least for Auburn fans) and the jubilation in Crimson Tide Nation for the same reason! I think Tide fans enjoy an Auburn loss more than a Tide win! I don't have a dog in that hunt so I enjoy watching them tear each other to shreds.

I just beg to get a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game down here in Braves country (although there is no other real sport here other than college football--not even the NFL is really followed that closely).

God bless!

Anonymous said...

Of course you should maintain your philosophy of rooting for the “home team” – if you like your job… :)

Anonymous said...

im a diehard RAIDER FAN. WE WON SUPERBOWLS. we loved lyle alzado and
detest the broncos and cowboys. tampa bay is ok unless we play them,
enough said. sharon

Anonymous said...

Hold the grudge! Nobody really likes the Cowboys anyway! Ha Ha Ha....Steph

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! Don’t ever root for the Cowboys! I can’t believe you would ever even ponder such a ridiculous question! They are my least favorite NFL team…always have been. They are the Yankees of the NFL.



Stick with the team that has stuck by you…hence the fact that I am still a true blue New England Patriot and will be forever!



Last night was a New England fan’s dream night of television…the Pats playing the Chargers and that mouthy LaDainian Tomlinson and the Sox playing the Evil Empire…even though the king of the Evil Empire hit a three run homer to defeat my beloved Red Sox, it was still an incredible nail biter of a game. Schilling and Clemens…come on now…that’s what baseball is all about!



Anyway, I hope this answers your question…I’ll always be a Patriots and Red Sox fan, it’s all I know, it’s what is familiar, it’s what I love.