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The Newest AFL Fan...
Authored by Andrew Perna - 26th February, 2007 - 7:50 pm
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
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I'm with you. I understand how painful the last few weeks have been. What began on Monday February 5th was perhaps the toughest stretch of the calendar year. For the next six months our worlds will have to be filled with basketball, baseball, and if we get really bored, maybe even a little hockey. For fans like myself, and countless other Americans, this September couldn't come any quicker.
The NFL has leapfrogged MLB and become, hands down, the nation's professional league of choice. Even this year's Super Bowl, a match-up between the relatively small-market Colts and the offensively challenged Bears, earned the third highest rating in America television history. Many have campaigned, legitimately, that every year the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. Not because we want to spend the day praying to Roger Goodell or Vince Lombardi, but because we partied way too much the night before.
Admittedly, I may even have been more excited for the 2006 football season than I was for the current basketball season. Don't get me wrong, basketball will always have a special place in my heart, having been my first love, but football is an entirely different beast. Nearly everyone follows the NFL. I love my Indiana Pacers more than almost anything on earth, sorry Christine, but every year from September until early February millions of Americans transform their Sundays into virtual pigskin holy days.
As fun as the five-plus month football season is, the six-or-so months we live without gridiron action is equally painful. In recent weeks I have found myself sleeping until almost noon on Sunday, with no injury news to catch up on and no dire fantasy roster moves to be decided. The last few Sundays have been consumed with family get-togethers, and I'm not talking about my boys Jimmie, Howie and Terry. And it's not just my Sunday's that have been affected; my Monday's have become equally boring. I find myself sleep-walking through the entire day. Not only is there no Monday Night Football to look forward to, but there's no gossip to discuss around the water cooler and no fantasy wins/losses to agonize over.
Again, I have to defend my hardwood roots. I follow basketball, and the NBA, even closer than I do the NFL. I even go through the same trials and tribulations in regards to fantasy play during the hoops season. The thing is, not many people do. Sure we, RealGM, started out as a holy place for hoops fans, but how many people, in your day-to-day life, can you talk basketball with in depth? The average American sports fan couldn't tell you who Leandro Barbosa is (the typical answer would be a French artist, or something much less manly than basketball). Case in point - its basketball season, baseball is opening its spring training, and I spent an entire car ride talking football with my girlfriend's father (the season is still over six months away).
This off-season I have promised myself that I would put effort into diverting my attention. The NBA season keeps a good part of my interest, but that's a year-round kind of deal. My interest in the Pacers doesn't change much at any point in the season, whether it's the off-season, or the Pacers are dropping games in Celtic-like fashion (as they as currently). The baseball season will help me cope, but only slightly. The games nearly everyday thing can tire even the most devoted sports fan, myself included. Plus, the season is 162 games long, that's nearly double the NBA schedule and almost ten times the number of games that NFL teams play. I think we can all agree that it's a bit much.
So this year, while the NFL is busy making their incoming players ran laps around Indianapolis and bench press as if they're in the WWE, I'll be busy becoming an AFL fan.
I haven’t picked a team to call my own yet, but there are several candidates. I could go with the New York Dragons based on geographical interest, but that’s not really my style. Of all the teams I root for only one is based solely on geography, and that’s the Connecticut Huskies (let’s not go there this season). There are also the Yankees, but I had the choice between them or the Mets, and well…you know the obvious choice there.
Another choice would be the Philadelphia Soul, because I’m an Eagles fan (and I’m also not afraid to admit that at twenty-one, I’ve rocked out at a Bon Jovi concert). In addition to Jon Bon Jovi’s ties with the team, and their home, Eagles legend Ron Jaworski is involved as well.
That’s basically it, as far as emotional and geographical ties go within the AFL. I could see myself rooting for the New Orleans VooDoo. Partly because I feel for the area affected by Hurricane Katrina, and partly because I’d be tempted to root for a team who’s nickname could be VD…
I could get used to this AFL thing, but some new team names might be in order…
