Finding Your Sports Team

Ever since I've been a true sports fanatic, I’ve received criticism for having the Atlanta Braves and Sacramento Kings as my favorite sports teams. The main complaint I hear is that I, nor my family, have ever lived in the Atlanta or Sacramento area. Instead, I’ve spent my whole life in south Texas, and therefore people think I should root for Texas teams. One of the problems with that is that none of the professional sports team in Texas are close to my hometown. The San Antonio Spurs are the closest, and they are a four hour drive away. The second problem is that no one in my family follows American sports to influence my preference in teams.

Personally, I don’t mind that people think it’s weird that I like these random teams because it is odd. What I don’t like is people questioning how good a fan I am. I’ve followed the Braves since ’96 and the Kings fan since ’00. I’ve never wavered in my loyalty and passion for these teams. I fell in love with both these teams after randomly watching them on TV. Is that wrong? Is that an unacceptable way of picking a team to follow? I don’t think it is. However, as I’ve grown up I’ve had trouble picking teams to follow for other sports. Part of me doesn’t want to pick a random team that is doing well and be considered a fair weather fan, or someone who is just a fan of winning teams. Would it be wrong for me to claim the Chicago Bears as my favorite football team now that I go to Northwestern? I’m sure some people would attribute me liking the Bears to the recent success they’ve had instead of the fact that I now live in the Chicago area. Is that fair? I know it’s stupid to worry about what others may think of you, but for once I would like to be a fan of a team and not be questioned about it.