Eagles, 76ers, Phillies, Nittany Lions or Bears, Bulls, Cubs, Jayhawks, Huskers

Monday night while flipping through the TV channels to see what we can get in Philly, I came across the Steelers vs. Eagles preseason game. As I was watching the game Rachel comes in and asks out of nowhere whether or not we are going to start rooting for the Philly sports teams. I really did not know what to say. We want to be apart of the community as much as we can but does that mean that we have to take on a love for Philly sports?

I am not sure and haven't really come up with an answer yet. A good friend of mine has a beautiful way of describing his reasons for supporting the teams that he does. I haven't formulated that much yet but am eager to work through my situation. Here is a little of my background history of sports teams that I pull for (if you have any advice on the issue, I am open).

Let me start off with the team that I allign myself with the most. The Kansas Jayhawks are my team in college basketball. I am not from Kansas but my mom is and all my life I have travelled to Kansas for holidays and such and a lot of my cousins/uncles pull for KU. It was easy to begin following because they are a likeable basketball tradition who normally have pretty good success(well, at least until March Madness). Next comes college football. KU has a football program but most people don't know that it exists or at least they don't like to admit it, so KU football was out of the question. I guess I pulled a little for Penn St. because that was who my dad liked and I was born in PA but I didn't really have any ties to the university or their football program. Last year a good friend of mine got me excited about the Badgers and filled me in on possibly everything that I needed to know in order to become a fan. Because of that I will pull for UW but I don't think I can become a fan. I married a girl from Nebraska so I guess you can say that I am unofficially a Husker fan now. This was hard for me because I remember years ago when PSU had Kerry Collins and Kijana Carter and went undefeated through the regular season and had to split the National Title with the Huskers, who I am convinced would've been drummed by PSU had they played eachother in the Bowl game. I think PSU had Oregon or somebody like that in the Rose Bowl and Nebraska played somebody for the National Championship game. (this was all before the BCS stuff) But I am over that now, and can pull for the Huskers, especially when they play USC on Sept. 15 in Lincoln. Anyway, I digress...so now to the NFL. If there is one team in Philly that I won't root for it is going to be the Eagles. For some reason they just get under my skin and I cannot pull for them. The Bears will have to win out for this league. MLB --Growing up most of my life in IL it was easy to become a Cubs fan. I was accustomed to watching the games on WGN and really followed them even during the cellar years of the 90's. Once 2000 rolled around and it became cool to be a Cubs fan and people flocked to Wrigley more for the atmosphere and the beer than the team, I started to lose my allegiance to the loveable losers. I still pull for them but I think that I can follow a team like the Phillies. They don't really have a superstar player, just a bunch of guys that are scrappy and play hard. I like that in a baseball team, which is why it is easy for me to also root for the Brewers, Indians, Twins...NBA -- Well, I don't know if I can really have a favorite NBA team because I am so disgusted with how things are in the NBA...but, because I am immersed in the African American culture I need to at least know a little bit about it. Da Bulls would be my team because of their philosophy of team ball and defense. The Sixers, however, are in the process of getting rid of their stars and focusing on the young guys. I think I can at least root for them for that fact, but they won't be any good. NHL -- well, go Ducks coached by Emilio Estevez. That was as much as I ever got into hockey, (they should have left it at 2nd movie. The 3rd movie was horrible). Well, I think that is all as far as sports teams go. Oh yeah, the Barrage is Philly's pro lacrosse team but I know absolutely nothing about lacrosse, except that it is a east coast ivy league sport.

Anyway, as was mentioned earlier, I could use all the help as far as advising me for which teams I should root for. The hard thing about Philadelphia is that the city has the longest drought without seeing or experiencing a Championship in any major sport. Regardless of which team I pull for in Philly, it doesn't bode well for rooting for a winner.