Baseball team allegiance

[ikojo]

I am as guilty as anyone who professes an allegiance to a given baseball team, in my case the Cubs. The internal conflict I have is that much of pro sports is nothing more than corporations fighting corporations. Does anyone else feel like saying they like Team X over Team Y it's akin to saying I prefer GE over GM?

[Warpy]

1. I've always thought that way

Home teams are never home folks. They're players recruited from all over the country. It's almost a rule that nobody who grew up in a certain town will ever be on that town's team.

You're absolutely right. It actually is GE fighting GM, one corporation's gang of goons confronting another in some sort of decorated cow pasture.

Back in the good old days when the Red Sox could be counted upon to choke every September, I confess a certain affection for them. They restored my faith in an orderly universe. Since they've been winning, that's all over.

[Tarc]

4. But they've never really been "home folks" though.

Ted Williams was born and bred in San Francisco I believe, but he's the embodiment of the Red Sox and New England culture in general.

Maybe it was those old Nissen bread commercials. :)

[elocs]

2. I used to be a Red's fan and growing up in Wisconsin, a Packer's fan.

I gave up on being a sports fan of any particular team years ago. It's just a game. So many people's day or week is made good or bad based on whether their team won. That's stupid and it's better to put things into perspective. I can now watch and enjoy any game for the sport itself, appreciating the plays and the athleticism without getting caught up with being a fanatic of one team in particular.

[Johonny]

3. not really

It's more like liking one division of GM over another division of GM. MLB is one corporation in a fight with the NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA, NASCAR... for your sports dollars.

[flowomo]

5. no.... because there's a deeper dimension involved....

I wrote my weekly newspaper column about that back in '03. Sure, it's a business, but something much more:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2003/10/09/editorial/rich_lewis/lewis01.txt