'Tis the Season
So Football’s on it’s way back, and we’re gonna finally have Hockey by the beginning of October. Stanford football starts before that, and every year, it comes down to one question: Why the hell do I root for these losers? Well, lemme tell ya.
NFL: Ricky Williams is back, we drafted Ronnie Brown, Randy McMichael is on the cusp, Chambers and Boston and Booker are gonna line up on the outside and my Dolphins are still gonna stink like 12-day-old tuna that’s been left out in the Miami sun.
Now, of the teams I root for, this is the oddball of the bunch. How does a guy who’s lived in California his whole life (though I have been to 6 states: CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, and WY (for ten minutes – five before we realized we were there, another five to get back) ) end up rooting for the team all the way across the country? Simply put – I was 6 and they wore blue. That’s it. My first football memory was the Dolphins v. 49ers Super Bowl and I liked blue. They got their butts handed to them that day, but I remembered them, so when I started to follow football at age 13, I just stuck with them.
They had Dan Ma-freakin’-rino, the Marks Brothers, and a pretty dang good D and barely a sniff of another Super Bowl in over 20 years. When they were good, they could never get by the Buffalo “We Almost Won” Bills. Why haven’t the Dolphins won? Gee, I wonder….
NHL: Ah, the Kings. Now, in my defense, these guys have been losing since before I was born, so it can’t be all my fault. They started in 1967 and only one appearance in the Finals in ‘93. Funny story about that…
I started watching hockey in ’92 during the Albertville Olympics. I got hooked on it ‘cause of Ray LeBlanc – more specifically, his goalie mask. It had an eagle on it with the stars and stripes and it looked pretty cool. I caught a glimpse of him while flipping through the channels and stayed around to get a better look. The US was winning the game, and the announcers were talking about the surprising Americans, so I kept watching and got hooked. They did well in the tourney, finishing 4th I think (they were in the bronze metal game, but I was watching steadily by then, so…).
After that, I stumbled onto a few Kings games. Apparently, we had the best player in the league (who knew???). I watched every once in a while through the end of the season. When the next season started later in ‘92, I caught a few games and it was fun, but no real commitment. 1993 rolls around and one day in April, I’m at home on Saturday flipping again when I hear Al Michaels getting ready to do a hockey game on ABC! Why the heck is Al Michaels doing a hockey game? (I had yet to believe in Miracles) And then I notice he’s doing a Kings game – game 1 of the Campbell Conference Divisional Playoffs! The channel surfing ended right there and for the next few months, I grew to not only to love my Kings, but to hate Theo Fleurry, Cliff Ronning, Doug Gilmour, and half of Les Habitants. I also developed a grudging respect for Kirk McKlean, Felix Potvin, and freakin’ Patrick Roy.
So I’m all psyched for the Finals and the Kings win Game 1! This is gonna be great! Then it all starts to go downhill like Alberto Tomba (I loved that guy). McSorely’s stick. All the overtimes…. Horrible. They lost in 5 games just as I was getting hopelessly hooked on what is now my favorite sport. 13 years later and they’ve won all of 1 playoff series. I’ve watched every game I could.
Stanford: Again, this can’t be all my fault. I mean, we’re smart. Apparently that doesn’t mean much in Tennis, Swimming and Water Polo, but for some reason it can only seem to hurt you when it comes to Basketball and Football.
Why I root for Stanford is pretty obvious, and we actually had a few close run-ins with huge success while I was still a student, but for some reason, whenever I’ve tried to follow my beloved Card since graduation, it hasn’t turned out well. If I watch a basketball game, it always seems to be during our 3 minute scoreless stretch. God forbid I should think about watching during the last 5 minutes.
Oh, and remember that game against USC last season? I was out at Lake Pyramid until some time early in the evening. Someone on the radio mentioned the game while we were driving back and said USC was losing at half-time. I had forgotten all about the game up to that point. The next half we’re demolished and the game ends in a romp. Damn radio….
The moral of the story: Don't root for teams I like.
Don't ever convince me to pick your team as my team. No team in a major sport has ever won anything once I picked 'em. Dan Marino went into the Hall of Fame this weekend, and the only reason he is not the hands down best QB ever is that I saw him play in his only Super Bowl appearance. Stanford went to the Sweet 16 before I was in 6th Man. I was at the 2000 Rose Bowl. I'm a curse. I don't pick losers, I create them.
NFL: Ricky Williams is back, we drafted Ronnie Brown, Randy McMichael is on the cusp, Chambers and Boston and Booker are gonna line up on the outside and my Dolphins are still gonna stink like 12-day-old tuna that’s been left out in the Miami sun.
Now, of the teams I root for, this is the oddball of the bunch. How does a guy who’s lived in California his whole life (though I have been to 6 states: CA, NV, UT, CO, AZ, and WY (for ten minutes – five before we realized we were there, another five to get back) ) end up rooting for the team all the way across the country? Simply put – I was 6 and they wore blue. That’s it. My first football memory was the Dolphins v. 49ers Super Bowl and I liked blue. They got their butts handed to them that day, but I remembered them, so when I started to follow football at age 13, I just stuck with them.
They had Dan Ma-freakin’-rino, the Marks Brothers, and a pretty dang good D and barely a sniff of another Super Bowl in over 20 years. When they were good, they could never get by the Buffalo “We Almost Won” Bills. Why haven’t the Dolphins won? Gee, I wonder….
NHL: Ah, the Kings. Now, in my defense, these guys have been losing since before I was born, so it can’t be all my fault. They started in 1967 and only one appearance in the Finals in ‘93. Funny story about that…
I started watching hockey in ’92 during the Albertville Olympics. I got hooked on it ‘cause of Ray LeBlanc – more specifically, his goalie mask. It had an eagle on it with the stars and stripes and it looked pretty cool. I caught a glimpse of him while flipping through the channels and stayed around to get a better look. The US was winning the game, and the announcers were talking about the surprising Americans, so I kept watching and got hooked. They did well in the tourney, finishing 4th I think (they were in the bronze metal game, but I was watching steadily by then, so…).
After that, I stumbled onto a few Kings games. Apparently, we had the best player in the league (who knew???). I watched every once in a while through the end of the season. When the next season started later in ‘92, I caught a few games and it was fun, but no real commitment. 1993 rolls around and one day in April, I’m at home on Saturday flipping again when I hear Al Michaels getting ready to do a hockey game on ABC! Why the heck is Al Michaels doing a hockey game? (I had yet to believe in Miracles) And then I notice he’s doing a Kings game – game 1 of the Campbell Conference Divisional Playoffs! The channel surfing ended right there and for the next few months, I grew to not only to love my Kings, but to hate Theo Fleurry, Cliff Ronning, Doug Gilmour, and half of Les Habitants. I also developed a grudging respect for Kirk McKlean, Felix Potvin, and freakin’ Patrick Roy.
So I’m all psyched for the Finals and the Kings win Game 1! This is gonna be great! Then it all starts to go downhill like Alberto Tomba (I loved that guy). McSorely’s stick. All the overtimes…. Horrible. They lost in 5 games just as I was getting hopelessly hooked on what is now my favorite sport. 13 years later and they’ve won all of 1 playoff series. I’ve watched every game I could.
Stanford: Again, this can’t be all my fault. I mean, we’re smart. Apparently that doesn’t mean much in Tennis, Swimming and Water Polo, but for some reason it can only seem to hurt you when it comes to Basketball and Football.
Why I root for Stanford is pretty obvious, and we actually had a few close run-ins with huge success while I was still a student, but for some reason, whenever I’ve tried to follow my beloved Card since graduation, it hasn’t turned out well. If I watch a basketball game, it always seems to be during our 3 minute scoreless stretch. God forbid I should think about watching during the last 5 minutes.
Oh, and remember that game against USC last season? I was out at Lake Pyramid until some time early in the evening. Someone on the radio mentioned the game while we were driving back and said USC was losing at half-time. I had forgotten all about the game up to that point. The next half we’re demolished and the game ends in a romp. Damn radio….
The moral of the story: Don't root for teams I like.
Don't ever convince me to pick your team as my team. No team in a major sport has ever won anything once I picked 'em. Dan Marino went into the Hall of Fame this weekend, and the only reason he is not the hands down best QB ever is that I saw him play in his only Super Bowl appearance. Stanford went to the Sweet 16 before I was in 6th Man. I was at the 2000 Rose Bowl. I'm a curse. I don't pick losers, I create them.
Maybe I'll start to root for the Ducks.....
Ah, screw it. With my luck, they'd win the whole damn thing.
posted by Drewby at
11:56 AM
2 Comments:
The only thing Randy McMichael is on the cusp of is jail.
The Kings will bring home the cup before the Ducks do.
And Stanford will win a national title with a couple of Hispanic dudes leading the way. Read that one again. It still doesn't make sense. :) But it's true.
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