Finally, An Explanation of My Fanhood

I've been mocked for years because my fanhood stretches from sea to shining sea and possibly beyond. I've been ridiculed, beat down, derided, pooh-poohed, jeered or any other adjective you can come up with, because the perception is that I'm fair-weather fan. Yes, the teams I root for are very well known but anybody who's met me, knows that sports is something I'm passionate about and that I'm fairly knowledgeable about the teams I root for. The reason behind the great disparity as some of you know, is that I grew up on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands and we only got the National telecast for each sport. So while most of you grew up in a certain media market where you got the Giants/Jets, Mets/Yankees, Knicks, Rangers all the time, I'd usually get whatever the best match-up was at the time. and Below is a quick snapshot of the teams by sport and then a more detailed explanation of how the teams came to be. Without further ado:

NFL: San Francisco 49'ers
MLB: Cleveland Indians
NBA: Chicago Bulls
NCAA Basketball: North Carolina Tar Heels
NCAA Football: Florida State Seminoles
NHL: New York Rangers

San Francisco 49ers

I fell in love with the 49ers back in the late 80's after watching them demolish the Denver Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV. I vaguely remember Joe Montana destroying the Broncos secondary for 5 touchdowns but that night Jerry Rice became my favorite player. That team was on course for accomplishing the first three-peat until Lawrence Taylor decided to be an asshole and ruin Joe Montana's career. For a couple years we couldn't beat the Cowboys to save our life but in 1994, we finally broke through in the NFC Championship game and went on to beat the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX 49-26. After George Seifert retired a few years later the Niners remained competitive with Steve Young behind Center and Steve Mariucci as our head coach.

Unfortunately, all the smart people who helped make San Francisco a model organization either retired or left the franchise and since 2002, we've been run by a bunch of idiots. The 49ers were known as one of, if not the classiest organization in the NFL. For years, they treated their players and coaches with the respect they deserved. The new clowns have been anything but that. For example, in 2002 we fired Mariucci after he compiled a 60-43 record and taking us to the playoffs 4 out of the 6 years he was the head coach. In the ultimate show of disrespect, Mariucci found out on the radio. They didn't even have the decency to tell him to his face. Ohhh, and we haven't made the playoffs since. Sweet. I miss the good ole days of Carmen Policy running the show. Sure he may have broken a rule here and there, but he sure knew how to put a team together and we won a bunch of games with him as the General Manager. The Niners were known as one of the great offensive franchises thanks to the genius of Bill Walsh, Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Last year, we had the worst offense in the league! Give me a break. Two years ago, we wasted the 1st overall pick in the draft on a shitty QB who looks to be a bust. I don't see us turning this around for a while, yet I remain a Niners fan. I remember the good days when we at least made the playoffs and were competitive. Moving on.

North Carolina

One of my teams that brings a lot more joy to my life these days is the North Carolina Men's Basketball team. Most people assume that I'm a Carolina fan because they've been great recently, but au contraire. I've remained a Carolina fan through the good and the bad. Ironically, I became a Carolina fan through my love for another one of my favorite teams the Chicago Bulls. My best friend Ted's family is from Chicago and I spent countless nights growing up on St. Croix watching Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the late 80's. Jordan was my favorite player and once I found out he played at Carolina, I was hooked. I don't really remember them winning the National Championship in 1993 thanks to Chris Webber but I remember exactly where I was when Arkansas upset the Heels in 1995.

As I've grown up, I've fallen in love with the Carolina tradition and not solely because of Michael Jeffrey Jordan. While he is probably the most famous Carolina basketball alum, past starts like Phil Ford, Lenny Rosenbluth, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Brad Dougherty, and on and on. More recently stars like Rasheed Wallace, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter have grabbed the limelight, but I always loved the role players like Ademola Okulaja, Makhtar Ndiaye, and Ed Cota with his patented high dribble. In fact, Ed Cota is at the heart of my favorite Carolina basketball play.



I remember watching that play live and losing my shit. I think the roof of the Dean Dome would have come off if Vince Carter threw that down. I still watch that play and hope that somehow he dunks it. I remained a Carolina fan through the Doherty years and while we did go 8-20 (and Ian Applegate gave me shit for it the entire season. Thanks Ian, I will return the favor when the Metropolitans lose 120 games in three years.) and everybody wanted to burn Doherty at the stake, he recruited the nucleus of our 2005 National Championship team and that fact can't and shouldn't ever be forgotten. I recognize that some people hate Carolina and their glorious shade of Blue but the hatred is not as vitriolic or extensive as as it is for Dook and that helps me sleep at night. Hopefully the Heels are embarking on another championship run. I'm hoping for another great March.

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are my baseball team but that has not always been the case. The first baseball game I ever saw was in the 80's at Shea Stadium. My dad and Uncle Keith took me to my first baseball game at Shea which is not far from where my grandparents used to live in East Elmhurst, NY. I'll never forget that game because Darryl Strawberry hit a home run in the 6th inning and I remember thinking how cool it was that the Giant Red Apple in right field came out of nowhere when the ball cleared the fence. I was a Mets fan for years until I met Larry Doby at a charity golf tournament on St. Croix in 1994. My dad, who was drafted as a pitcher by the San Francisco Giants out of college, explained to me the significance of "Mr. Doby." I'll never forget how big his hands seemed and how much of a presence he had. As a young kid, you really can't grasp the magnitude of a man as important to our societal progress, but I was awestruck and became an Indians fan immediately. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Doby was the first African American player to integrate the American League. Everyone knows who Jackie Robinson was for obvious reasons, but Larry Doby doesn't receive the praise and admiration he rightly deserves.

This combined with the fact that the Indians in the mid 90's had a great team and emerged from the dark history of their franchise. They were finally good, but still had the underdog label because the Franchise hadn't won a World Series since 1948. With players like Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Baerga, Jim Thome and Oral "The Bulldog" Hershiser, the Indians finally had a shot but lost to the Braves in the 1995 World Series. Two years later, the Tribe were back in the Fall Classic against the Marlins and lost in one of the most heart-wrenching finales I've ever seen. We had no business losing to the Florida Marlins in that game. Jose Mesa, if I ever see you, I'm going to beat you down with the most dull object in sight. I hate you. I hate you. We got rid of most of those players and despite the losing seasons, we're good again! Again we have a great crop of young Talent mixed with some veterans who really could help bring a title to Cleveland. I love this team, I love the players, I really like our Manager and GM. This year might be the year. It just might be the year....

Florida State Football

In full disclosure I really have no great reason or story behind my passion for Florida State football other than they were on TV a ton growing up on St. Croix. Their style of play fascinated me as a kid and the whole opening to a home game with Chief Osceola and Renegade throwing the flaming spear into the ground really gets you ready for a great game. The rivalry with Miami and Florida keep it interesting every year and historically they've played great football. I'd like to forget that Wide Right I, II, III, and Wide Left I ever happened, but there have been some memorable victories as well. The 1999 National Championship team was something special but it's hard to believe it's been nearly a decade since then and we really haven't been relevant on the national scene. It's really hard to say but it might be time for Bobby Bowden to step aside. He's been great for Florida State and the football program but more importantly, he's done a phenomenal job as a father figure for a lot of kids who grow up without that in their life. He's won more games than anybody else in D-1 and I hope he's got one more run in him, maybe starting this year but it may be time to move on. Something's gotta give. We've recruited far too much talent to be mediocre at best. I love the Noles. I start looking forward to the next season as soon as the last snap is played because I honestly feel that they're close to being great again. They will be good again, I'm just not sure if Bobby Bowden is the right captain for the ship. We shall see.

Yes, I am a Hockey fan. We still exist despite the fact that the league has been relegated to Versus. It may be the worst run league in America, but at least they have the New York Rangers. My first memory of the Rangers was sitting on the couch in St. Croix when Mark Messier dropped a Hat Trick on the New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Championship after guaranteeing victory the day before. It is the greatest guarantee/ follow through in sports history, hands down. To seek out the media and guarantee a win against your arch rival and then deliver a hat trick in the third period to win the game is the definition of testicular fortitude. They went on to win the Stanley Cup that year, beating the Vancouver Canucks after Messier scored the go ahead goal. They were up and very down for a decade after winning the cup while trying to buy a championship. Perfect example...drastically overpaying Eric "concussion" Lindros to shit the bed and giving away all the young talent they drafted.

The last couple years have been much more successful and this year we might be able to make a run if we get the right match ups in the Playoffs. I like the nucleus of younger players surrounded by Veterans and a real Asshole named Sean Avery. I know, it's strange that a guy growing up in the Virgin Islands would come to follow Hockey, but I think it's an amazing game. The things some guys can do with a puck skating on ice is just incredible. I know the sport hasn't had the best couple of years, but very few things beat the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Watch it in HD or in person and you might be surprised.

Chicago Bulls

As I mentioned above, my love for the Chicago Bulls has it's roots with my buddy Ted and watching games in the late 80's with his family. I actually can recall them losing to the Pistons back-to-back and then finally breaking through in 1991. Obviously, Michael Jordan being on the team had a huge role and he's my favorite basketball player ever, the teams were so entertaining. Plus, my distant relative Craig Hodges* was on the team so how could I not root for them. Through the first leg of the dynasty with players like Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxon and Bill Cartwirght, they truly dominated during arguably the greatest stretch of basketball in NBA history.

I wish I could have been a little older to truly appreciate how great those teams and players were. Sure I liked them, but I couldn't really appreciate Jordon dropping 63 on the Celtics in the playoffs, or the 37 point game with the Flu in Game 5 of the 1998 series. Recently, they had been improving but I think that was just a blip on the radar and we're heading back to ineptitude. We had a chance to land a couple of the true superstars in the league like Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett and gave a washed up Ben Wallace $60 Million and drafted a bunch of 6'9" athletic big men because John Paxon was bored. The Baby Bulls of last year were so fun to watch. They played great defense and had a good nucleus of players but ultimately threw away all the progress made by floating a deal for Kobe that sabotaged this season. So now we've given away Ben Wallace but for Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes? Are you f'ing blowing me? So is our goal to tank for the rest of the season and then draft another 6'9" swing man to crowd the court with Ty Thomas, Joakin Noah? That strategy may have worked when we had Michael Jordan, because he'd just punch someone in the face and tell them to get out of the way. Remember Bill Wennington and Luc Longley? WE WON TITLES WITH THOSE JOKERS! News flash, Jordan retired and Scottie Pippen is not walking back through the door. It pisses me off the most because they were close. We should have been the #2 seed in the playoffs last year and taken a run at the title. But no, let's blow it all up for a trade that will never happen. DAMNIT. The only thing that keeps me going these days is knowing I can watch the following two clips over and over again on You Tube. Thank Jesus for inventing the Internet every day boys and girls.



And even better:



So there you have it. A detailed description of my fanhood. I doubt this will stop all of you from giving me shit, but at least you know it's not because I'm a fair-weather fan but that like most of you, I've had to go through the good and the bad. Now Go Tar Heels, Indians, Seminoles, 49ers, Rangers and Bulls. Let's win some Championships or at least be respectable.