BY JOSE FAUS
The football season winds down in two weeks. After that no more football at least not meaningful football. The double dose this weekend reinforced the finality for me as a fan. Glory awaits either the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots, as does soul crushing, ignominious sorrow. The betting parlors are going to fly good odds. My hopes ride on the Seahawks. And I’m a bit conflicted. It goes back to the way it used to be.
I recall there was something about the hometown team personifying so much of the spirit of the city. It seemed that way to the folk that introduced me to the game. They were Latinos, people from the church or the community center. I saw the team through their biases and loyalty. This team represented us.
Then there was the bias against a team playing in a renegade league. The American Football League was an impostor, a slouch, a tomato can. It was not worthy of the rival and established National Football League. The one with the real football teams, you know the Bears, Giants, Browns, Packers, Vikings and the 49rs, oh yeah and the Cowboys. Those names sounded fierce, though I didn’t know what 49rs meant. Could’ve been a car for all I knew.
The people that showed me the game taught me to hate the other league. They believed Kansas City was as good as any other team. The NFL was just afraid to play us. Worse yet, their championship was touted as the world champion. That gets on your craw, or whatever term for the uncomfortable place you use.
And then they played us. And then they beat us. And it hurt until it didn’t when we finally won three years later. I won’t say the dislike of the other league was healthy. I could not bring myself to root for teams from the other league even when they merged and became two competing conferences under one banner.
It’s absurd when you think about it. Makes no sense. It’s fans becoming fanatics. I have a dislike for certain teams ingrained into me. It’s the bitter rival all your life. And to root for a team from the other conference to win the Super Bowl? Well, hell’s bells and burnt tortillas, it’s treasonous. My loyalty was so bad I even rooted for the Raiders to win.
The 50 years the Chiefs did not make the big show, I cheered for the AFC representative most of the time except for the indifferent years. You know, the years the Broncos backed into the big game. I can’t say I rooted for Denver, though I did not root for the other team. I was indifferent those years, but strangely enough I was not saddened when the Broncos lost. I can’t explain that.
I don’t know how it came about but I developed a dislike for the Patriots, and I must qualify that. If the Patriots are not representing in the Super Bowl I can root for them, but if they are playing the Cowboys I can certainly root like a maniac for the Pats. I dislike the Cowboys. Again, fan becomes a fanatic. But the Patriots hate? It may have to do with the number of times the Patriots went to the game. This will be the 12th time they will play in the big game. I get why other fans dislike the Chiefs. Too much winning does that.
It’s a given I will watch the big game but who to cheer for? The commercials? Frankly most of the time I can’t remember what they were selling. The half time show? Yeah, I’m looking forward to that, and the pre-and-post-show commentary from the social warriors that have declared this the end of Western Civilization. Frankly, if Laura Trump sings in the alternative half time show, it will be the end of civilization or at least the cause of severe ear problems.
I’ve come up with a work around. I will be rooting for the Seattle Seahawks because one, a real good friend lives there and she bleeds Hawks, and I want nothing more than for her to celebrate a win. Secondly, the Seattle Seahawks are technically western division rivals. We played them many times until the realignment Gods took them and shipped them off to the NFC.
The thing about the Seahawks that resonates is they have been kicked around the league. They were originally an NFC team when they joined the NFL. They played in the NFC west and then a couple years after formation shipped off to the AFC west for a few years till they returned to the NFC. They are also easy to root for. Seattle is a nice city, nice folk and great food.
And besides they are legacy AFC western division foes. Rooting for them is like rooting for a good friend. Rooting for the Patriots is like rooting for the friend that comes to the Super Bowl party and spikes the already spiked punch, and double dips the queso. Uncouth would be an understatement. That man is a barbarian. Come on Hawks, restore my faith in loyalty, or at least what goes for loyalty in a twisted fanatics mind, or a team owner.
