A long time ago, kids were supposed to have a favorite football team. Now, I’ve never been into sports of any kind except for some mild enthusiasm for basketball and soccer (playing it, not watching it as it’s one of the most boring games in the world to watch) consequently, I was in big trouble in grade school. I got really tired of other kids pestering me about my lack of a favorite team, so figured I better pick one. As a kind of protest vote I decided to choose the lamest one I could find. Knowing nothing about Football at all, I asked around and got a few names from some the other kids. I studied the logos and decided that the design I liked the best was from some team called the Patriots.
Well, that choice was inspired because when I proudly told the other sports mongers that my favorite team was the Patriots; people looked at me like I was crazy and left me alone. But years later, a funny thing happened, the Patriots started wining games, and became quite popular. Instead of the usual “you’re crazy" look I’d get from folks, I started getting animated responses and engagement for long winded conversations about a team I knew nothing about and games I cared little for. When I couldn’t name any of the players, they would get suspicious and I’d end up having to explain why the patriots were my favorite team, because they “used to suck.” At that point of the conversation, I’d finally get the familiar “you’re Crazy” look.
Now all this sounds like a lot of work, so why don’t I just switch to a new team that sucks? There are two reasons: one, I’m old enough that folks can talk about other things besides Football, so I can steer the conversion to something else; and two, I’ve hardly ever stuck with something and seen it through, so why not stay with the Patriots.
So the Patriots are my favorite NFL team but not because they are any good. I don’t know the members, I don’t know any of their statistics and I don’t really give a rat's ass if they win today. They are my team because they were losers a long time ago and they had a dude in revolutionary costume on their helmets.
-Swinebread
