IT'S TOUGH TO BE A FAN IN THIS AREA

by Davey, Blown Coverage

I have mentioned a few times on my own site that I'm not an American and that I don't live in the States. The reason that I'm bringing it up now over here is because it's important for this particular post.

I live on a tropical island in the Caribbean and I have a Dutch passport. I do have plenty of American family that live in Orlando and New York and my father also owns a house in Orlando, but my Dutch ass lives in a place where sun, sand, beach and more sun are basically taken for granted.

The people I have met through the "blogosphere" usually react somewhat envious and call me lucky and all that. The Big Lead came down here on vacation once and we e-mailed back and forth about it and it sounds like he loved his stay here. So, where am I going with this you ask? Well, it might be all nice and tropical here but it couldn't be worse if you are basically obsessed with sports like I am.

There are no pro sports here. No fancy stadiums and if you would ask me to name you some local guys that are competing professionally somewhere right now, I could probably only come up with about 20 or so.

Being close to South America and being a part of Holland, it means that soccer is the biggest sport down here. South America and Europe are dominated by soccer, so obviously that filtered through here. Now don't get me wrong, I follow soccer along with everyone else down here but I don't really have anyone to share my love of the other sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA) with.

I know some people that are really into baseball, I know some that are really into the NBA, I know some that follow the NFL probably more than I do...but I have yet to find another tortured soul like myself who lives for all of it.

This was never more evident when I went to work for one of the sportsbooks here. Yes, gambling is legal here and there are a bunch of sportsbooks located here and I knew that I had to be in that environment. I had to surround myself with people who were just like me.

So, I went to apply and when I got my interview, the senior consultant asked me if I also followed college sports. I told him that I could name coaches, team names, stadium names, conferences etc etc....you know, the stuff we all know.

He was intrigued and asked me to tell him as much as I knew about Marshall. I told him what knew at the time, which was basically about the plane crash, the name of the current coach, the stadium name, their last Bowl victory and I named some notable players like Pennington, Leftwich, Moss and Rogers Beckett.

It wasn't anything out of the ordinary in my opinion but the man's mouth fell open and he hired me on the spot. The guy sharing his office with him started to laugh at him and there was an exchange that went something like this..

Consultant : "No one has ever been able to answer that question like that for me"
Dude sharing the office : "HAAHAHAH...he f*cked you up. Finally someone that shut you up".

The man was so used to getting people in his office that didn't really know much about sports, that he basically crapped his pants when he met someone with the knowledge that you and me have.

So, I was hired on the spot and immediately was known as the new guy that "knows everything". Before you know it, I was explaining football terms and strategies to my supervisor and getting paid by people to fill in their office pools. I was promoted after 3 months and I suddenly found myself sitting with the lines makers and getting to see first hand how these men lived. Their tricks, their strategies..their reasons to move lines in certain directions and the making of prop bets just to name a few things.

While most people that worked there were only interested in getting a paycheck, I genuinely enjoyed it and often I had to explain why I love sports so much. There were big sports fans in there as well, don't get me wrong. There was the guy that loved the Yankees and the woman that loved the Red Sox. Someone else loved the Braves...someone loved the Falcons, another one followed USC football but no one followed everything and that's why I got the strange looks.

Either way, it's been something that I always have had to deal with and I have adapted. I know that with some people I can only talk baseball and that with others I can only talk soccer or the NBA and at least it's better than nothing. I will admit that.

But what really gets on my nerves is that I encounter plenty of front runners over here. Yankees, Bulls (Jordan era), Cobwoys (Triplets era), Dodgers (80's), Brazil (soccer), Knicks (Ewing era), Red Sox (now), Lakers (Shaq and Kobe) and Braves (after 95) are the teams that you'll see get the attention.

The good teams, the champs, the perennial contenders. When they start to lose, they find another one and move over there. Now, I try not to judge because everyone is entitled to their own tastes and opinions, but I find myself getting into the weirdest arguments sometimes with folk like this.

See, my I got my rooting interest from my close family members since I was about 4 or 5 years old. My grandpa was telling my about Dale Murphy and those bad Braves teams of the 80's. My uncle introduced me to the Dolphins and a guy that was on his way to breaking plenty of records at the time (Marino). My best friend growing up got me into the Orlando Magic, a team that only existed about 3 years at the time and had just brought in some guy called Shaquille O'Neal. The Miami Hurricanes and Ajax, a Dutch soccer team also found a permanent spot in my life around that time and that's basically how I became a fan in a very small nutshell.

Now, all of these teams tasted success in one way or another and I got to experience 3 of these teams even winning championships. I was younger at the time so I probably didn't appreciate them as much as I should have but the memories are there.

The funny thing is that they're all going through their tough stretches right now and championships look really far away for all of them and even though it might be tough, I root just as hard now as I did back then.

And that brings me to last Sunday. I was watching my Dolphins play the Giants in London and I was having a convo with someone at the time. The converstation went something like this.

Person : "So, which one are you rooting for?"
Me : "Miami"
Person : "Are they any good?"
Me : "No, they suck donkey testicles."
Person : "Seriously?"
Me : "They might not win a game this year"
Person : "And why are you still rooting for them then?"
Me : "Sigh....."

Later that night, the Red Sox were getting ready to win their 2nd title in 4 years and this convo happened...

Person : "Who do you like in baseball again?"
Me : "The Braves"
Person : "They didn't make the play-offs did they?"
Me : "No."
Person : "Are they really bad?"
Me : "No, they were just unlucky with some injuries this year. Pitching sucked as a result."
Person : "When is the last time they won a championship?"
Me : "1995"
Person : "Why do you still like 'em then?"
Me : "...end me please"

So, as the Colts and the Pats get ready for the game that will decide the balance of power in the universe and while Boston area fans are going through a stretch that many of us can only dream of, I sit here watching my Dolphins flirt with 0-16 while my Braves don't have the budget anymore to make a run at marquee players.

And while it would be somewhat comforting to look around and see someone "suffer" along with me, I just have to sit here and watch as the Bulls and Lakers jerseys get traded for the Mavs and the Suns. Good times...