My Fandom

There are so many reasons to choose whom you root for and they are all valid. Whether it is bandwagon or the team of your parents, the school you went to or where you grew up. I root for both the teams where I was born (Minnesota) and the teams where I grew up (South Florida) and my college (University of Florida). And while I would never root for another college my professional fan allegiances have worked out well. The teams in Miami and the teams in Minneapolis all fall into different conferences and rarely have I had to choose one side over the other. If I had to I would take Minnesota because those were the teams I loved first. I will never forget my trips to the Metro Dome to see the Twins as a little kid or my Mom taping me the final innings of the 1991 World Series for me. I still have my Homerun Hanky. My rooting interest in Florida sports came somewhat later and has never held the passion that the Minnesota teams get. But, when Florida got a baseball team I was a fan, same with the Heat and the Panthers. So, the majority of my sports attendance took place in South Florida and while I do not live and die with those teams I do care about how they do. Of course, none of the pro teams even come close to how I feel about the Gators.

 

I have an unhealthy obsession with University of Florida sports. I remember times in college when instead of going out on a Saturday night or afternoon after a loss I would just go to sleep. In 2001 when we lost to Tennessee at home and subsequently lost our chance at SEC and National titles, I sat in the stadium until we were forced to leave. I was physically unable to get up and believe it was over. Of course, a month or so later I would be in Charlotte when a Vol told me that Steve Spurrier was quitting. The following three years have made the losses easier to handle. And the past two years have made winning almost routine. And when I look back on all the losses and all the wins, not just for the Gators but for all the teams I follow, it adds up to one pretty special life of fandom.

 

In my nearly 27 years I have celebrated 9 Championships. That is quite a lot and even if you take away my secondary allegiances in South Florida I have still enjoyed 6 championship seasons. And it’s the Championships that is why the Minnesota Twins are my first love, how could they not be, I was 6 when Kirby Pucket and Kent Hrbek were beating Ozzie Smith in the World Series. I was 10 when they won their second and even though it has been a long time since they have won another  I still root for them and watch them every chance I get. Even through the down years I found something to get excited about. But, this isn’t about being a fan through the downtimes, every real fan goes through those times. This is about how fortunate I have been in my fandom and really I have done nothing to earn it. I was born into a small market that overachieved in baseball but has been disappointing in hockey, football and basketball. I moved to an area where the favorite team, the Dolphins, have not done anything my entire life, but the upstarts basketball and baseball franchises have won championships. The only fan allegiance I actually had to choose or try to get into was UF and even there all I did was apply, get in and go to class. Not that being an alum is even necessary to being a college athletics fan. But, I did apply to one school and one school only, I got into that school and joined the thousands of other students in becoming a member of that community. So, I had the time of my life there for five years and in return I have cheered on 2 basketball championships and went to one BCS title game. Even in a season where the Vikings are not looking great outside of AD, the Dolphins are terrible, the Timberwolves are playing for ping pong balls and the Heat look like they are slipping, how can I complain about a down year? The Gators are rebuilding and reigning Champs and since I am averaging a Championship every 3 years I am fairly certain that the down times will be outweighed heavily by the good ones.

Pack, unpack and repeat

It seems that’s all I have been doing lately. I pack my bags, leave town, return, unpack them and then a few days later I am packing again. Of course, I also get to do laundry in between. At this point, after 6 weeks of this I am really ready to have an extended period of time where I don’t have to pack a suitcase. I doubt that will be possible for more than two weeks though. Anyway, last weekend I drove up to Atlantic City for a good friend, they were having a memorial of sorts for her Grandfather who passed away earlier this year. And since I am such a good friend and I got to spend a lot of time with her grandpa during my trips to Florida I felt like it was the right thing to do. I also had never been to AC, so I had to see what all the fuss was about.

 

I left last Friday around 1pm and arrived close to 5 pm. The drive was not bad but the hotel was an absolute dump. As you would expect of a summer weekend in the Northeast most hotels rooms were booked as people leave the cities for the beach. On Friday night we headed out to dinner and checked out the Casinos with my friend and her sister. The casinos were alright, though a big disappointment compared to Vegas. But, what really compares to Vegas? That is actually a pretty unfair comparison so I will overlook it, both Friday and Saturday night we did manage to have a good time at the places we went and I even won some money. Granted it wasn’t a lot but winning is always a lot better than losing. That and getting absolutely wasted on Saturday night after the memorial service Saturday afternoon. My friend and I basically drank all day, so I was a mess when I finally sat down at the tables around 10 to play; I am a bit shocked that I won at all. And after a long day of drinking that did not end until at least 4 am I decided it would be a good idea to leave AC to head back home at 8 am.

 

I made it back home around noon on Sunday and was able to settle into my house for a few days before having to pack up again. And that is where I sit now, getting ready to leave town tomorrow for Minnesota. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it, which is what happens with the bittersweet times I go to Minnesota.  This time we are going for my Grandmas unveiling, last summer it was for her funeral, before that it was my Grandpas unveiling and before that his funeral. So, on the one hand the occasion is somber but on the other I enjoy seeing my family and spending time with them. After this weekend I hope the next occasion we get together will be for a strictly happy one. I have actually spent this entire week in a bit of a funk because of the prospects of this weekend with this nagging feeling of regret that I never got to know my grandparents well enough. I have found myself looking for books to answer all the questions I never asked about their holocaust experiences that they never volunteered to me. I am sure I could have had 100 years with them and still felt there was more I wanted to know and that is something that the living will always have to harbor about the dead. So, we move on and live our lives, we try to honor their memory and I can not help but feeling that somewhere, somehow they really do watch over us. Unfortunately, all they get to see me doing lately is packing or unpacking my suitcase.

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

Yesterday during rush hour a bridge collapsed in Minnesota. It was the 35W that crosses the Mississippi river and it has been all over the news since last night when it collapsed during rush hour. It also happens to be the bridge, that as my mom so quickly reminded me, where I learned how to spell Mississippi. The bridge goes through downtown Minneapolis and is the main path to St. Paul. As a kid we took that bridge a lot and even though I have not lived in Minnesota in over 20 years now I was horrified when I started hearing about this bridges collapse. As of now there are 7 dead and searching the river continues as I type this. I called my mom of course to make sure all of our family was ok and thankfully they are. Most of my family members live and work in Minneapolis and do not use 35W regularly. My thoughts go out to the people of Minnesota and the families of those who were on the bridge. For as long as I have been away and as little time as I spend there now Minnesota still holds a very powerful place in my life.

 

To this day when people ask me where I am from (no one is actually from DC) I usually answer with Minnesota. I do follow up the Minnesota comment with a story about Florida as most of my life was spent in Florida. Still, when I go to family things outside of my immediate family, it is always Minnesota where I go. That is where we celebrated 40 years of liberation (it has been over 50 now), where my cousins weddings were held and where my grandparents are buried. It is where I will be in 8 days, seeing my mom and sisters for the first time in 5 months and many of my other family members for the first time in almost a year. So, while I was lamenting the poor state of my favorite sports teams from the Twin Cities over the past couple of days this bridge collapse reminded me that there is so much more to worry about than whether or not your favorite team can afford to keep the star player. I was sad to see two former Minnesota stars hugging in Boston last night but it has been much worse knowing that for the next few years as I go to visit there will be a looming reminder of the tragedy that occurred last night.