Greatest Sports Year Ever

For father's day, I got the best gifts. I usually don't ask for anything, because I'm usually satisfied with the things I already have, but the ol' wifey hit the nail on the head this year. I got the following:

Maverick Championship T-Shirt - Nice my 3rd favorite sports team
Maverick Championship Hat
Rangers World Series T-Shirt - Nice my 2nd favorite sports team
Rangers World Series Hat
Auburn National Championship T-Shirt - Nice my favorite sports team
Auburn National Championship Hat

Three T-Shirts/three hats, three teams that were in the final game of the year. Unfortunately, the Rangers came up short, but Rangers in the world series for the first time ever has to be considered a successful year. Both Auburn football and Mavericks basketball were crowned as the best. So many horrible years of Lakers, Yankees and Alabama titles have made me triple appreciate the year that I had. The sports gods have smiled on me. I like the Cowboys, but I would sacrifice a 0-16 Cowboy season if I could duplicate the Rangers, Auburn, and Mavs years.

This got me to thinking....

I root for Auburn because I am a proud alum. My dad is a proud alum, and my sister is proud alum. I root for the Rangers and Mavericks because I have almost my entire live in the DFW area, and you should root for your home team. This got me to thinking. I'm am going to put together some rules for who you can root for:

1. My Yankees/Lakers rules - You are never allowed to root for a team just because they win a lot. You must have some tie to the team. People always claim that they are from New York or LA....then root for the Mets and the Clippers!

2. My Alabama Rule - If you align yourself with team, you are never allowed to root for their rival. If Alabama suited up against the Taliban football team, I would don my headdress and pray toward Mecca! I heard someone say I root for both Georgia and Auburn. Not possible, at least not week in and week out. Possible exception - When the Bulldogs play the tide, Go Dawgs!

3. My Barkley Rule - When I was 16, Matt, Todd, and I got a chance to meet Charles Barkley on a random encounter at a sporting goods store in Alabama. We saw him and he was the greatest guy ever to us. He was friendly and took the time to chat and joke with us. That said, after that I always rooted for Barkley - Philly, Arizona, Houston, etc. Now I root for the TNT broadcast. He's not without his flaws, but I love the guy. If you have a friend, buddy, etc. you are allowed to switch allegiances to follow him.

3a. My Lebron Corollary - You are not allowed to root for Lebron and Miami. You don't know him. Unless you are rich and famous, he doesn't care about you, a point he made clear after game 6. All of the "regular" folks who have to wake up in our own miserable non rich worlds are never allowed to root for him!

4. My UTA/UAB Rule - If you went to small college and don't specifically root for any team, you are not allowed to celebrate the losses of others. Any time that Auburn loses, I can count on about 5 phone calls from some idiots that don't have a team. Unless you feel the joy/pain of a particular team, you are not allowed to dance on the graves of other people's teams. A die hard Bama fan is allowed to say, "Auburn Sucks" because they know that college sports are a huge boomerang and it will come back next year, but that is how it works. If you don't really care who wins or loses a game, then continue to not care when my team loses.

5. My Persistance Rule - Once you declare a team, you are stuck with them. You can't root for them and support them when they are good and ignore them when they are bad. There are a few exceptions. Dad jumped ship on the Cowboys when they fired Landry...I kinda understand.

Fact is, the most popular teams and players are those that win, because people are stupid. I can't stand the Yankee fans, Laker fans, Red Sox fans, Kobe fans, Lebron fans (wait he doesn't win, ignore that one), Tiger Woods fans, etc. These fans sure do get quiet when their teams are losing. I bet you don't see too many Tiger Woods fans right now. That bandwagon lost a wheel. The Lebron fans have been quiet for a couple weeks. Quick shout out to the Cubs fans...what a loyal fan base for such a miserable team.

You can put this on the record. I never liked Michael Jordan. I never liked Tiger Woods. I never liked Shaq. As a kid I rooted for the Lakers, but I grew up. Teams that I have always rooted against: Miami Hurricanes, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, the Yankees, The Celtics, Ohio State, USC.

I tend to root against the "popular" teams. I stick with DFW teams and Auburn. Everyone else can lose for all I care.