On the Road Part III: My Dilemma

(Note: The latest in our Section 423 column on the Knicks follows this post from Sip.)

We all root for certain teams for certain reasons. As a kid I rooted for the Mets, Rangers, Giants and Knicks because my brother liked those teams and I followed him around and did whatever he did. Very simple. I'll bet most of your stories are quite similar.

I have been a fan of those teams for my entire life. What can I say I'm a New Yorker.

Over the last couple of years you have all seen me turn on the Knicks. It has nothing to do with them being bad, I love depression. I hated the Knicks because I hated the way they were run. As I have grown older and as I look towards a career in operations I treat with much greater seriousness the people that run the teams that I love and hate.

Over the last year another thing changed. My roommate in San Francisco was best friends with a kid who played professional basketball for the Warriors. When I moved out there a year ago this player became a friend and I went to all of the games, learned all the inside stuff and was immediately hooked. I rooted for the Warriors like I rooted for my boy Jawn's high school basketball team in the day. I was simply rooting for a friend.

Yesterday, my friend was traded to the Indiana Pacers.

And now I find myself with a dilemma. Does this make me a Pacers fan now? I guess the answer to that is an obvious yes. But the more difficult question for me is whether or not I still root for the Warriors.

I started rooting for the Warriors because I was connected to the team. Now I no longer have that connection.

It's a little different but in a way similar with the Mets. I started rooting for the Mets because of my brother, but my brother gave up baseball for economics about 10 years ago.

So where do our loyalties come from?

The other day my buddy KFC questioned how someone with my personality, someone who is so easily swayed, stuck with the Mets through all these years. I didn't take it personally. Over the course of this road trip I said to myself that I would move to about 9 different cities that I visited. I just like a lot of different things for a lot of different reasons.

So why stick with the Mets? Why stick with any team? Why even be a sports fan for that matter?

I think the answer is personal for everyone. My cousin is the biggest Rutgers football fan I know. He's been to every game since he was a freshman in '98 and finally he is seeing some rewards. The other day he told me that if it weren't for his friends who joined him at the games, he may never have gone.

I think friendship and family are the perfect reasons to like sports or to like a certain team.

For me, it is something a little more selfish. For me it is as cliched as it gets. It's just an inner peace thing.

I think better and happier when I am watching a baseball game. That is just the way I am. I know what is right and what is wrong better when I am watching the Mets play because I am the happiest with myself.

Over the next couple of months I will figure out the basketball thing.

As I grow up my childhood attachments to sports are starting to disappear and I find myself watching sports as more of an adult. I don't get as happy and I don't get as upset about games. I spend less time arguing or stressing and more time just enjoying the games that I am watching.

I'll know who to root for in basketball. I'm sure it will be the Pacers, I bet it is the Warriors and of course the Knicks still really hold my heart.

And for me, that is ok.

It used to be that when other people were fans like this in baseball, that I would berate them and then get really pissed off. I don't really do that any more.

People watch sports because it makes them happy. I might not agree with the teams they root for and they might not agree with the ones I root for. But in the end, if we are all cool with ourselves, we are enjoying sports for the right reasons.

Stay low.

Vaya con dios,

Sip

(Images courtesy of nba.com and mlb.com)