This may surprise some of you: A) I have a sports obsession besides the Seahawks
B) This other sports obsession is 3000 miles away
Yup, I'm a Red Sox fan, and in honor of "Truck Day," I thought I'd talk a bit about my "divided" loyalties. Let's face it: I'm sure a healthy number of you HATE the Boston nine. For the record, I've got nothing against the M's unless they are playing Boston (or if a Mariners win would hurt the Sox). I was at Western in 1995, and I've NEVER seen a crazier sports environment than the one around the M's that fall. If it makes you Mariners fans feel any better, I couldn't even see the Red Sox get swept out of the ALDS by the Indians in '95 (thanks to the stupid decision by MLB to do regional coverage of the playoffs that year).
You may be asking: Why the Red Sox, Senor Douchington? It was one part love of Roger Clemens when I was a little kid (ugh), another part desire to spite my Mets-loving grade school friends after '86, and another just total sports nerdage: I read a lot about the history of the Red Sox/Fenway Park and about their decades-long title drought, and I fell in love. As early as '86 I have pictures of me with what would become my uniform: Red Sox hat, Seahawks jersey/sweatshirt/t-shirt. I went to my first Red Sox game at the Kingdome in 1990, and since then I've been to Fenway twice, and also seen games at Safeco, the Cell, Coors Field, Great American Ballpark, Jacobs Field and Comerica Park.
My love of the Sox has never eclipsed my love of the Seahawks, but I have to admit them Red Stockings helped make the 1990s tolerable by making playoff runs in 1990, 1995, 1998 and 1999. I cherish the World Championship years of 2004 and 2007, but I'd trade them both in a second for a Lombardi Trophy at Seahawks headquarters.
To me, the Red Sox finally breaking through and winning a couple of rings is a hopeful sign for the Seahawks.. Like Kyle Reese said once: The Future is Not Set. Despite millions of folks being convinced that a Red Sox championship would NEVER happen, it finally did. To the casual NFL fan, and I'm sure to many of you, a Seahawks world championship looks pretty fucking impossible right now... but it's not.
So how many of you have another sports team you root for that is OUTSIDE the northwest? How'd you become a fan? Dish!
If anyone else has the Seahawks/Red Sox fandom combo going, drop me a line.. Maybe we should start a club or something...
1 comment:
I was born in LA. My brothers and one sister are big Lakers and Rams and USC fans (yeah, we butt heads, big time.).
We moved to St. Mary's, OH when I was 4. I started liking the Pirates and Reds.
In 1976, we moved to the Eastside. I was caught up with the Hawks. I've liked U dub and Wazzu. The M's trump all other MLB teams. Same for the Sonics (thanks for the chainsaw enima Stern. Sperm burper.)
I spent the summer of '86 in NC, I started to follow the Braves.
When I was in the Air Force, I took a lot of crap for being a Seahawks fan. I didn't care. Even having the name Jim Kelly, and being stationed in NY when the Bills were going to their Super Bowls couldn't make me betray the Hawks.
The Hawks are the end all, be all of teams. World or national championships would be great, but they'd pale next to a Super Bowl win.
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