Watching Mich St vs Gonzaga last night and I started thinking about how you decide who you will root for. I'm very curious about this. Tom Izzo has long been one of my favorites. Why? Just another yankee coach. Something about him I like and I always pull for them. Very strange.
I will be so nervous Saturday watching Allen/Southlake. I've adopted Allen because I live here. But I hate Southlake. Why? Allen has done everything they can to be another Southlake. The same things that impress me about Allen rub me wrong about Southlake. Arrogance I guess. Those kids over there holding up signs about "your Dads work for our Dads". Class arrogance has always burned me more than just about anything else.
We loved Gooden and Strawberry; 2 thugs, but we loved the physical freakish talent. I think typically I root for talent. I want Josh Hamilton to succeed. Why? Because I just love to see ridiculous talent. Somehow makes me feel good about the world. I think that's why I root for Tiger as well. Just prodigous talent. The world seems right when A-Rod is hitting. When Pedro is dominating. When Lebron puts up a triple double. When Adrian Peterson goes 70 breaking 5 tackles along the way. If they fail the world seems broken.
But one of the earliest favorite players I had was Gail Goodrich. Still one of my all-time favorites was Mark Price. Why them? Did I somehow see myself being able to be like them? Like if they could succeed, we're all close ourselves. Seeing those less talented success stories also makes the world seem a better place.
Why did I love Seaver in my childhood instead of Ryan or Palmer? Seaver seemed to be the ideal athlete. Talented, good looking, poised, confident; he put it all together and seemed to represent the very best of athletics rolled into one package. Similar to Staubach, who was another all-time favorite.
I think at the end of the day I love sports because I can see physical greatness on display and it makes me feel better about the world. Isn't that strange? That's why I don't watch Div 2 football or Monday night games between Cleveland & Baltimore. I don't like the games so much as I like the people. Coaches who do things the right way and also win, players with unnatural abilities on display, players with average talent who maximize it.
Of course I still have to root for the home team. No one suffers like me when LSU is losing, because they're like home to me; like Allen is becoming home to me as well and therefore their winning or losing matters.
Enough self discovery for today.
s
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2 comments:
I am curious to how my interest will flow with Allen/SL. I remember following SL when they were playing in 2 and 3A. That is actually the reason we looked at apartments and houses in Southlake 20 years ago. j
I never did understand your feelings with Seaver. Great yes, and its ashame his era when to 3 those last 2 years. I had a similar feeling and it wasn't until Maddox went Walter Johnson that I compared Seaver and Palmer.
The injuries kept Palmer from being considered his equal.
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