March Madness

The best thing about March Madness is that it means Major League Baseball Opening Day is around the corner! I am not one for basketball, professional or college. And I am not one for college sports. I went to a little state college in Oswego, New York. Our claim to fame are strong winds, harsh winters (FEET of snow) and Al Roker, Linda Cohen (ESPN), Jerry Seinfeld (Freshman Year) and that hot chick from the 2nd Star Trek Movie. We have a great hockey team and that is about it. We were located ON Lake Ontario about 60 minutes north of Syracuse. And that is the rub.

You see, I believe in rooting for your home team, as the Beach Boys said, "Be True to Your School". See, right there, YOUR SCHOOL. Not "Be True to the Cool School", or "Be True to Your Regional School" or "Be True to Georgetown". It is "Be True to Your School". It bugs me when I see people wearing College Hats from schools they never went to and go hog wild when those schools are in "March Madness". Everyone was on the SU, Go Orangeman kick in college and I was like, shit we have a college team righ there in YOUR SCHOOL. Yet people wanted part of the 'national stage' and I saw lots of orange on my campus. And it bugged the hell out of me. Now if you, your children, your parents went to said schools, then it's OK, or if you live in that small town were the college is located than that is fine too. But if you are from Albany, NY and went to Marist College, don't be wearing that UNLV shirt and painting your face. And if you didn't even bother with furthering your education try a night course before chanting "RUDY, RUDY".
What about professional sports you ask. I feel the same way, go for the home team. I am a native New Yorker, born and raised. Saw my first baseball game at Yankee Stadium at age 7. I am a Yankee fan, for the NL I would choose the NY Mets. I have lived in Cleveland, OH, Watertown and Rochester, NY and now Indianapolis, IN. I am a Cleveland Brown fan (NFL), an Ottawa Senator fan (NHL) and will cheer in the Colts when not playing the Browns. So yes the Subway Series in 2000 was awesome, I was in Watertown (20 minutes from Canada) when the Senators had their first game and loved this year in the NFL when the Colts did well.
Love the sport, embrace your team, just don't bandwagon or pick it out of a hat (no pun intended).

/rant