On Allegiances

In several recent posts, I've alluded to several of my allegiances and rooting interests, especially as the Baltimore Ravens were en route to the Super Bowl. While one could probably construct a pretty solid idea of my teams by my posts and tags, I realize I don't believe I've ever laid it all out in one place. So here it goes:

NFL: My Wilmington, DE upbringing makes me solidly a Philadelphia Eagles fan. Having gone to school in Baltimore and married a woman from there, I tend to root for the Baltimore Ravens as well, as is well documented these past few days.

NBA: Philadelphia 76ers, near exclusively.

NHL: While I don't follow hockey much, my Philly area kneejerk makes me a Philadelphia Flyers fan. I'm never mad to see the Carolina Hurricanes succeed, since they're the current home team.

MLB: I probably reached my peak of baseball fandom in elementary school, which is why, to the degree I care, I am a Boston Red Sox fan, having been born in Boston. As much as I'd like to, the Philly kneejerk just doesn't make me care about the Philadelphia Phillies; the fact that my wife cares about the Baltimore Orioles makes me pay a bit more attention to them.

MLL: Now that we have a home team here in North Carolina, I pull for the Charlotte Hounds, though before that one of my few extraregional rooting interests was the Denver Outlaws, because of their tendency to field UMBC alumni.

DCI: Carolina Crown is the home team, though I became a fan, mostly for their brass sound, before I ever live in NC. Extraregionally, I've also been a Santa Clara Vanguard fan for as long as I've followed DCI, both because I got to see them during a teach-in and because of their cymbals.

MLS: Don't care. Kneejerk Philadelphia Union.

NASCAR: REALLY don't care. but Jeff Gordon's car says Dupont on it, and I'm from Delaware.

College: Here's where it gets interesting. I first, foremost and always follow my alma maters, UMBC and USF, in that order, in the few occasions that call for it. I work at UNCG, so I follow their programs ex officio. And though it's a love-hate relationship, I tend to pull for the University of Maryland, College Park, especially in men's basketball.

Marching: While there's not a particular program to which I hitch my wagon, I have a strong bias towards traditional and show-style marching, which often aligns me with the Big Ten and HBCUs. I also lean in the direction of pretty much anyone with a Sudler Trophy.

There you have it. All biases on the table.

Comments