Not A Second Too Soon
August 16th, 2010 by slangon

Well, after yet another season of disappointment, frustration and embarrassment from the boys in blue and orange, I’m actually excited that football is starting up. Tonight the Giants will face off against the Jets in their fancy new stadium in the Meadowlands.

I actually have a bit of a quandary this season. You see, I’ve always been pretty strictly a baseball fan and never payed much attention to anything that happened in the sporting world between October and March. Last year, however, due mostly to yet another futile Mets season, I made a concerted effort to get into football. I like the game. I just never really watched it aside from the Super Bowl. After the way the Mets ended up last year, I really needed a distraction by around August or September.

Since I couldn’t very well watch a season of football (or any sport for that matter) without actually rooting for a team, I threw my support towards the Giants. My dad is a huge Giants fan from way back, so I guess if I ever had a favorite team it would be them. Most of my in-laws though, are Jets fans, so last season I ended up watching a lot of games of both New York teams. I have to admit I tended to have more fun watching the Jets. I don’t think it had to do with them actually making the playoff, either. They just seemed more like a team that I’d like to root for. They’re kind of gritty and down and dirty. They just seem to have more personality than the Giants. Sanchez seems like a likable fellow, and I like how wacky Rex Ryan is.

So my quandary is this: Do I continue to root for the Giants just because I basically declared myself a Giants fan last year, or do I officially call myself a Jets fan and risk being called a fair-weather fan? Is it okay to switch teams like that? Is it okay to root for 2 teams? Am I being crazy even worrying about this?

This whole internal struggle very much reminds me of the World Series last year when the Phillies were facing the Yankees. Coming into the series, I kept telling myself that as much as I hated to do it, I was going to root for the Yankees because no way in hell was I, as a Mets fan, going to root for the Phils. Once the games started, though, I didn’t find myself getting excited when the Yankees scored. As a matter of fact, and I’m really loathe to admit this, I would find myself getting a little built up whenever the Phillies would start to get a few guys on base and silently hoping that Utley or Howard or Werth would get that big hit. I don’t know if had to do with being an unabashed National League fan, or if it was just that my relatively recent hatred for teh Phillies was now match for my deeply ingrained hatred for the Yankees. Either way, it made me start to think that you can’t choose your team. You team chooses you.

I guess the answer to the question of Giants vs. Jets will be answered tonight, and not necessarily by who wins the game.

Oh, and by the way, since I’ve been a little distracted and haven’t finished the SlangKo Heroes of the Diamond set quite yet, I’ve decided to extend the entry period of the Offical Condition: Poor First Anniversary Giveaway Contest a few more days. I’ll give it until the 20th. That’s 4 days from now. Get moving.

2 Responses to “Not A Second Too Soon”

  1. Cheer for neither and become a Browns fan. We need some more haha.

  2. It might be ok to root for two teams, but you’re not allowed to choose the Giants and Jets any more than you could pick the Mets and Yankees in baseball.

    I’m disappointed that I’m already thinking about football season.

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