There are few decisions more important in a person’s life than choosing a Major League Baseball team. Marriage, career, and religious beliefs all have their places as the major life decisions. But do you realize that many people change those three much more than they would change their baseball team?
I am told that we have a divorce rate of 50% in this country (the math they use isn’t even close to being right but experts keep using the number) but those same people would never dream of leaving their beloved Dodgers, Red Sox or Cubs.
There was a time where a man got a job out of college and would retire with that same company nearly 40 years later after driving to the same office every day. Today, the average person will change jobs 6 or 7 times before the age of 50. (Citation needed) Would anybody respect a fan that changed teams 6 or 7 times in a 30 year stretch? They would probably celebrate a lot of World Series Championships and have a closet that closely resembled a MLB.com store.
Religious beliefs are something that sports fans can identify with when it comes to their teams. They refer to stadiums as cathedrals and spend more time praying when their team is down 3 runs in the 9th then they do over their food and as a family at night. People will take up and leave a religion because it takes too long yet have no problem going to a doubleheader and watching the highlights on sportscenter that night.
Choosing a baseball team is very, very, very, very important. You will live and die with this team for the rest of your life. They will determine which complete strangers you have a kinship with and which complete strangers you will disdain in a town which neither team has ever played. (see Red Sox vs. Yankees: Salt Lake City). Sadly, choosing your team will likely determine whether you favor a free market system (Yankee fans) or favor a regulated payroll system (both Florida Marlins fans).
So, how did I choose my team? Early on, I watched baseball on TV and didn’t care very much. My friend Tyler played little league baseball and he was on the Mets so I think I liked the Mets. When I discovered that Dale Murphy was a baseball player and a Mormon, I quickly changed my team to the Atlanta Braves. I was 9 or 10 at the time so don’t judge me too harshly. I bought braves hats, and felt a sense of pride each time they won the division and in 1995, they won the World Series. I couldn’t picture myself as anything other than a braves fan. I learned about Hank Aaron and watched the 1996 Olympics intently knowing that would be the Braves new home stadium. I felt a sense of retroactive pride with hammering hank and Smotlz, Glavine, and Maddux. Had I continued, I would have likely had a dog or son named chipper. But when I came back from my mission in 2001, my love for the braves was gone.
Being a braves fan was not as bad as being a cubs or red sox fan at the time but it wasn’t great either. The cubs and sox would be competitive every 5 – 10 years or so but would never threaten in the post season. The braves would steamroll through the division and then get crushed by a lesser team in either the divisional round or the NLCS. It was the equivalent of getting a good night kiss on the cheek each and every time you went on a date. Close to what you wanted but just a little off. It’s still better than the guy at home watching reruns of Mork and Mindy but not quite what you had in mind. Also, the braves had changed (no Dale Murphy) and I felt cheated that I didn’t know as much about baseball when I chose them. How could I be held to a team that I chose when I was 10 years old? I decided to reopen my fandom with the understanding that this would be the last time. Surely a 22 year old would be allowed a mulligan on such an important decision. I had no hometown team and my father and brothers couldn’t care less about baseball at the time. I kept the braves in as a backup but decided that any team was up for grabs.
If I chose it based on proximity, then it would have been the diamondbacks or the rockies. If I chose it based on vacation destination then it would have been the Dodgers, Angels, Marlins or the Mariners. I knew that I didn’t want to be a cubs fan because I hate it when cubs fans whine. I didn’t want to be a fan of a small market team since the chances of them succeeding on the field were remote and unless I lived there, I didn’t want to sign up for the heartache. (A big pat on the back to all Royals fans. True baseball fans indeed.) I didn’t want a team whose NFL fans annoyed me so Philly, Oakland, and Cleveland were out. And I didn’t want a team whose NBA fans annoyed me so the whole states of Texas, California, New York, Chicago (sorry white sox) and New York. Last of all, I had chosen my team before as a front runner. I didn’t want to be part of the problem of fair weather fans (Yankees) who come and go with the fortunes of the team. I was in it for better or worse this time and there was no turning back. Base on the criteria I had set forth, I was a RED SOX fan.
In 2002 when I signed up, the Red Sox were popular but no where near the Yankees. The Yankees were the evil empire and the Red Sox were a team that had good night kisses on the cheek or worse for the last 84 years. They had momentum but no real result so I wasn’t a frontrunner. They were in a big market and did not geographically get eliminated from my search. It was weird to no longer recognize the 1995 championship of the braves but I felt good about my choice. Since then I have purchased hats, shirts, key chains, jackets, golf balls and 3 jerseys. I have seen 2 world championships and gotten several “Go Sox” cheers from complete strangers. I am a Red Sox fan for the long haul and they will be my team. The only way I would ever consider opening up my fandom again is if I move to a city with a team or a major league team comes to Salt Lake City. If a team comes here, then I will be their fan but till then:
“GO RED SOX”
