Young Drachma
09-16-2007, 09:29 PM
Ok, so I'm a Blue Jays fan (insert laugh track here..) and the fact is, not only do I never get to see my team play during the year because of where they play and the fact that they're never on TV where I live, I'm thinking that it might be time to adopt a second team.
I doubt this 2nd team will be a team that I care about as much as the Jays (and partially because I don't want to be a fairweather fan, though I've been a fan since at least '91, when I was just getting into baseball), but I would like a team to follow starting next year, because by and large..I love baseball.
But I hate that I don't really have a team to follow and one I can go see.
I'm 90 minutes from Denver, so the Rockies are a logical choice to some degree. But I don't know whether I just hate them because the majority of their fans have yet to realize that the team isn't a minor league club or for some other reason.
So for that reason, let's just keep this choice at National League clubs only. That way, it'll be a team that comes to town and gives me something to root for or to go watch, because I don't have to wait for interleague play to go see them in Denver more than once a year if I want.
Here are the choices I've narrowed it down to and the reasoning behind each and I'd like some help narrowing it down.
Here goes:
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: I lived in the STL metro area when I was in the Air Force, lived in St. Louis for my last year there and started college there. I've been to probably 30 or 40 Cardinals games -- more than any other team, despite growing up in the NYC metro area -- and I appreciated the fact that the Cards let active or retired military members go to games for free using their military ID (you sit anywhere there is an open seat and if the ticketed person comes, you move.) and well..they're obviously a good team in recent years, have recognizable faces and I submit that their fans are indeed the best fans in baseball hands down.
The cons to the Cardinals are that I 1) don't live in St. Louis anymore and don't plan to move back anytime soon, if ever. 2) it's kinda a popular choice in recent years and 3) they're essentially a juggernaut, but we don't think of that way because they're not the Sox or Yankees. I don't know if I can fake hating Cubs fans and all of that Midwestern silliness is a bit much for me.
COLORADO ROCKIES: Not a popular pick by any means. I mean, is anyone outside of Denver actually a Rockies fan? I get annoyed about the fact that they are where they are more often than you'd believe. They play in a great looking ballpark. Their team is great, young and fun to watch. And management seems to be generally competent given the task of putting together a winner in the hardest place in baseball to do that. (And if you doubt that, watch one game at Coors and look what the altitude does to routine flyballs and then you'll understand...)
But..they're new. Yes, I know. In that span, the Marlins have won TWO Word Series titles. But...I just feel a little weird liking a team that doesn't have a discernable "die hard" fan base. Maybe that's selling them short. But...it seems to me that the crowds here are minor league (lots of families and couples, not a whole lot of single guys going out to the ballpark like in other cities or old dudes who you know have been going to baseball games since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn) and so, the lack of ambience to me makes uncomfortable. But...I do like the fact that it's new, there are few traditions and it's the kind of team that you can appreciate for life, especially getting in while they're still relatively new.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: They're terrible now. But someday, they'll have a new ballpark and eventually, you'd figure they'll be good right? And I used to like the Expos. And plus, the fans in D.C. are knowledgable and the team is newer (in practice) than the Rockies are. So it's all of the 'newness' of an expansion team (down to them being bad), without the newness of a city that's not quite sure about this "major league baseball" thing. So it combines a lot of what I like about the first two choices, only with the aftertaste of knowing that outside of Ryan Zimmerman I'll have nothing to cheer about for about 3-5 more years.
NEW YORK METS: I grew up in the Jersey. The only NYC area team I truly root for are the Devils. I like to see the Jets do well, but I only call myself a "fan" in the sense that people expect you to have a team to root for and well...I'll never root for the Broncos. But anyway...the Mets are a safe choice. And that NY logo hat sure does always remind me of home and it's scarce out here, since everyone associates New York with the Yankees. It helps that the Mets are good, that they spend money and are always getting new players. Carlos Delgado is on the team and that's a HUGE boon, since he came up with the Jays and we foolishly let him go for money we've since wasted on players who aren't half as productive.
They're a team I love to see do well and so, it wouldn't be a stretch to support them and it's not as if rooting for them now when they're good would make me a bandwagon fan since growing up in Central Jersey, my choices are limited to them or the Yankees anyway. (The Phillies are too far and seriously, that's just a bad idea.)
I guess the cons here are, they'll always be 2nd fiddle to the Yankees short of winning a string of titles that make them instantly more relevant. Plus, Shea is an awful place to watch a game. CitiField might be great, but airplane noise won't be going anywhere anytime soon. But a part of me would love to bring my east coast roots with me to Coors Field when they come to town, as if to say "no, I'm not from here. Thanks."
But I dunno. Something about it doesn't quite feel right.
I think that's it. I considered Milwaukee. I really love their team right now. I mean, those guys are just a bunch of awesome, scrappy kids who you just love to see play. But I have no doubt that in five years, all of them will be gone. Maybe Prince will stay. But the rest of them? No way they'll be Robin Yount/Paul Molitor types. So that's just setting myself up for disappointment and I'm not okay with that. Plus, Milwaukee isn't somewhere I particularly enjoy visiting.
So okay. That's it. Thoughts? This year's standings and results don't really have much bearing on my choices, but it just came to mind when the Yankees v. Red Sox game was on and I thought, "I need a team to root for. This sucks." So that's what brought this all on tonight.
I doubt this 2nd team will be a team that I care about as much as the Jays (and partially because I don't want to be a fairweather fan, though I've been a fan since at least '91, when I was just getting into baseball), but I would like a team to follow starting next year, because by and large..I love baseball.
But I hate that I don't really have a team to follow and one I can go see.
I'm 90 minutes from Denver, so the Rockies are a logical choice to some degree. But I don't know whether I just hate them because the majority of their fans have yet to realize that the team isn't a minor league club or for some other reason.
So for that reason, let's just keep this choice at National League clubs only. That way, it'll be a team that comes to town and gives me something to root for or to go watch, because I don't have to wait for interleague play to go see them in Denver more than once a year if I want.
Here are the choices I've narrowed it down to and the reasoning behind each and I'd like some help narrowing it down.
Here goes:
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS: I lived in the STL metro area when I was in the Air Force, lived in St. Louis for my last year there and started college there. I've been to probably 30 or 40 Cardinals games -- more than any other team, despite growing up in the NYC metro area -- and I appreciated the fact that the Cards let active or retired military members go to games for free using their military ID (you sit anywhere there is an open seat and if the ticketed person comes, you move.) and well..they're obviously a good team in recent years, have recognizable faces and I submit that their fans are indeed the best fans in baseball hands down.
The cons to the Cardinals are that I 1) don't live in St. Louis anymore and don't plan to move back anytime soon, if ever. 2) it's kinda a popular choice in recent years and 3) they're essentially a juggernaut, but we don't think of that way because they're not the Sox or Yankees. I don't know if I can fake hating Cubs fans and all of that Midwestern silliness is a bit much for me.
COLORADO ROCKIES: Not a popular pick by any means. I mean, is anyone outside of Denver actually a Rockies fan? I get annoyed about the fact that they are where they are more often than you'd believe. They play in a great looking ballpark. Their team is great, young and fun to watch. And management seems to be generally competent given the task of putting together a winner in the hardest place in baseball to do that. (And if you doubt that, watch one game at Coors and look what the altitude does to routine flyballs and then you'll understand...)
But..they're new. Yes, I know. In that span, the Marlins have won TWO Word Series titles. But...I just feel a little weird liking a team that doesn't have a discernable "die hard" fan base. Maybe that's selling them short. But...it seems to me that the crowds here are minor league (lots of families and couples, not a whole lot of single guys going out to the ballpark like in other cities or old dudes who you know have been going to baseball games since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn) and so, the lack of ambience to me makes uncomfortable. But...I do like the fact that it's new, there are few traditions and it's the kind of team that you can appreciate for life, especially getting in while they're still relatively new.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS: They're terrible now. But someday, they'll have a new ballpark and eventually, you'd figure they'll be good right? And I used to like the Expos. And plus, the fans in D.C. are knowledgable and the team is newer (in practice) than the Rockies are. So it's all of the 'newness' of an expansion team (down to them being bad), without the newness of a city that's not quite sure about this "major league baseball" thing. So it combines a lot of what I like about the first two choices, only with the aftertaste of knowing that outside of Ryan Zimmerman I'll have nothing to cheer about for about 3-5 more years.
NEW YORK METS: I grew up in the Jersey. The only NYC area team I truly root for are the Devils. I like to see the Jets do well, but I only call myself a "fan" in the sense that people expect you to have a team to root for and well...I'll never root for the Broncos. But anyway...the Mets are a safe choice. And that NY logo hat sure does always remind me of home and it's scarce out here, since everyone associates New York with the Yankees. It helps that the Mets are good, that they spend money and are always getting new players. Carlos Delgado is on the team and that's a HUGE boon, since he came up with the Jays and we foolishly let him go for money we've since wasted on players who aren't half as productive.
They're a team I love to see do well and so, it wouldn't be a stretch to support them and it's not as if rooting for them now when they're good would make me a bandwagon fan since growing up in Central Jersey, my choices are limited to them or the Yankees anyway. (The Phillies are too far and seriously, that's just a bad idea.)
I guess the cons here are, they'll always be 2nd fiddle to the Yankees short of winning a string of titles that make them instantly more relevant. Plus, Shea is an awful place to watch a game. CitiField might be great, but airplane noise won't be going anywhere anytime soon. But a part of me would love to bring my east coast roots with me to Coors Field when they come to town, as if to say "no, I'm not from here. Thanks."
But I dunno. Something about it doesn't quite feel right.
I think that's it. I considered Milwaukee. I really love their team right now. I mean, those guys are just a bunch of awesome, scrappy kids who you just love to see play. But I have no doubt that in five years, all of them will be gone. Maybe Prince will stay. But the rest of them? No way they'll be Robin Yount/Paul Molitor types. So that's just setting myself up for disappointment and I'm not okay with that. Plus, Milwaukee isn't somewhere I particularly enjoy visiting.
So okay. That's it. Thoughts? This year's standings and results don't really have much bearing on my choices, but it just came to mind when the Yankees v. Red Sox game was on and I thought, "I need a team to root for. This sucks." So that's what brought this all on tonight.