In college and grad school, I was sports-obsessive. All four major pro sports, both major college sports, locked in all the time. I remember one semester at Vanderbilt, I arrived at my apartment, hooked up the TV, flipped it on to ESPN, flipped to ESPN2, hit the “PREV” button, and never touched anything but the “PREV” or volume buttons again until I left at Christmas. Including the power switch.
The ongoing fiasco in Washington, coupled with the meltdowns in Nashville and Berkeley and the subsequent coaching change out on Natchez Drive, have led me to re-evaluate what teams I genuinely follow and care about. Whose news do I keep up with, who do I track in the offseason, who do I make the most effort to watch, who makes me most miserable when they suck and happiest when they break through. Right now, I would have to say the order is roughly:
1) VANDERBILT COMMODORES MEN’S BASKETBALL. Watch every game I can. Saw them twice live in the last year. I have multiple players on Twitter and they have replied and retweeted me. I’ve liveblogged along with Anchor of Gold. I’ve gone to viewing events with the San Francisco Vanderbilt Club and will probably be doing so for my birthday next spring. I have fond memories of three seasons in Memorial, I wear the caps and the jackets and the polo shirts and the ring, and I can’t pass somebody else in Vandy attire in California without a spontanoue “GO DORES” or, if they’re young enough, “WHO YA WIT” (which is probably lost on anyone who graduated before 2005). It’s wall-to-wall, November to March, and they’re usually good enough to give me something to be proud of every year at one point or another.
2) WASHINGTON REDSKINS. Gets the nod for twenty years of fandom. Watched constantly in DC – when I wasn’t riding around to listen to the radio broadcast. When I moved out here, I first insisted on DirecTV and Sunday Ticket, then got Sirius so I could hear the radio team again, then found a Redskins bar and attended regularly until they closed. I was able to fully indulge the fandom in DC, I drank with Bobby Mitchell’s son in Palo Alto, and I have an old jacket celebrating the two Super Bowl wins – because when I bought it, they hadn’t won the third yet. (My father taped it for me, as I was in Austria at the time.) They have been an unending source of embarrassment and misery ever since moving away, and yet I cannot seem to stop despite my best efforts. Switching to another NFL team will be a tough nut to crack – even though I would have the same access to any other team thanks to Sirius, I wouldn’t have the constant raving of the Junks on podcast or my friends’ shared misery on Twitter and Facebook.
2A) CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS FOOTBALL. I wonder sometimes if I’m getting ahead of my wife in Cal fandom – I’m the one who’s on California Golden Blogs all the time, who always hates to leave early (until this year), who wanted to sell the Big Game tickets because I couldn’t stand the thought of being there to lose the Axe in person. Then again, I only really paid attention in earnest once we moved out here – and the run from 2004-2006 was so good that it was easy to get used to the notion that Cal had broken through and wasn’t just going to suck out loud anymore. The back end of 2007 put paid to that notion, and 2010 made us wonder if all the gains under Tedford had been given back (5-7 record and no Axe and all that). This is the one that really made me think “you know, maybe God wants me to stop caring about football.”
2B) VANDERBILT COMMODORES FOOTBALL. This should have been 3, but it’s moved up to 2B after the hiring of James Franklin, who quite frankly needed to hit a grand slam in his hiring presser after the Malzahn debacle – and in fact hit about a 6-run homer. The fact that the chancellor of Vanderbilt University actually acknowledged that football has been given short shrift these last four decades – and pledged that it’s going to change – helps a lot. We need to change the coaching staff – done. We need to improve the facilities – that’s coming, apparently. We need to change the culture of Vanderbilt football – that’s the real trick, isn’t it?
5) ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE FOOTBALL. Even though I was raised on the Tide, they slipped when I went off to Vanderbilt and stayed behind once I left the South altogether. I still care whether they beat Auburn and Tennessee, and I was thrilled beyond belief to see them beat Texas for a national title – in Pasadena of all places – but on a day-to-day basis, they’re far behind the others, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the other Alabama fans are what makes it so tough to BE an Alabama fan.
6) SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS. This obviously came to the fore this year – I made a conscious effort to pay more attention and was rewarded with a world championship – but since my attention waned from 2004-2009, it didn’t have the same significance as if I’d been all-in from the beginning.
7) CELTIC FC. This dropped right off when Setanta went under – in the absence of that TV outlet and the end of the brief radio deal with Sirius, I was left with no way to follow them, and I honestly have no clue how they’re doing this season. It kind of sucks, but I haven’t really maintained the same caliber of emotional attachment – especially once they lost Nakamura and Venegoor of Hesselink, the two players I enjoyed watching most.
There are other teams I’ve paid attention to from time to time, but I’ve shed entire sports – mostly hockey and NBA basketball – and tuned out teams I was once notionally pledged to (Nashville’s hockey team springs to mind) while failing to foster attachments to others (I tried to latch onto the Golden State Warriors, or Fulham FC, or Newcastle United) but in the absence of that emotional hook, I’ve had a tough time making that necessary connection. As it is, when you look at how sorry the teams at #2 were this year and couple it with the horrible finish for #1 last year, you can make a very good case that I need to get the hell away from following sports at all, for my own good. I’m not saying you’d be wrong, either.