Team Fandom: Can It Be Both? - Turbojugend's Blog

Turbojugend's Blog

Team Fandom: Can It Be Both?

Posted on May 16, 2014 at 09:52 AM.

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As mentioned in a previous blog, I grew up in Northern California as a San Francisco Giants fan. For the longest time there was nothing better than rooting on my baseball club against their hated foes to the south, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ask anyone who's lived on the best coast and they will tell you that there is no fiercer rivalry in sports, it's a century-old tradition that - like all great sports rivalries - inspires white-hot passion on both sides. Unfortunately it has also been indirectly responsible for countless arguments, senseless injuries, even death.

As a kid growing up within proximity of The City, cheering on the Giants was the most natural thing in the world. It was a part of my identity, and the concept of relocating to Los Angeles and embracing the Dodgers seemed about as plausible as relocating to Cuba and embracing Communism. Then, at the age of 20, something unexpected happened: I relocated to Los Angeles. It was a move prompted by necessity, not choice, and where I went, my loyalty to the Giants followed. After all, I wasn't about to switch baseball teams just because I'd moved smack dab into the middle of enemy territory. Since that time I've made numerous visits to Dodger Stadium, wearing my Giants jersey, rooting on my team and dealing with whatever jaw-jacking happened to come my way. If the Dodgers weren't playing the Giants, I'd pray for L.A. to lose against whoever they were playing.

Flash forward to the present, two decades later. I've turned a corner, spending more of my life in SoCal than NorCal, and it looks as though I'm here to stay. And while my love for the Giants hasn't diminished one bit, I do have to admit that I am softening my stance on the once-despised Dodgers. In fact, over the last two decades I've found plenty to respect -- maybe even admire -- about the franchise.

Crazy, I know.

For starters, there is the history. Ebbets Field. Brooklyn. There's Dodger Stadium. Like Fenway and Wrigley, setting in foot in Dodger Stadium is setting foot in one of baseball's greatest cathedrals. Even the bitterest Dodger detractor cannot dispute the amazing sense of history one feels when taking in a game, the venue simply demands your respect. There's Jackie Robinson, perhaps the single most important athlete in history, the social advancements he represented and still represents to this day. There's Tommy Lasorda, the man I always secretly wished would pull a Benedict Arnold and captain the Giants. And then there's Vin Scully. Oh man... Vin Scully.

Also, I've aged. When you get older, life becomes less black and white, more shades of gray. There are new priorities that overshadow the importance of being a loyal sports fan. I'm raising a family. And so I ask myself: Is it fair to bring a child into this world and tell them to root against their local team? To cheer instead for another team that plays 400 miles away in a city they will rarely visit? Should loyalty be an undying pact, an unbreakable blood oath between fan and club? And to a greater point, is it acceptable to root for two bitter rivals at the same time? Yankees and Red Sox? Rangers and Islanders? Lakers and Celtics? On one hand, it seems there should be an unwritten rule that absolutely forbids this, that you're not being a "true fan" unless you remain completely bonded to your chosen team and detest everything their rival stands for. On the other hand, we've reached a new age of social tolerance and understanding, an age where the unquantified hatred of a team based on the uniforms they wear seems a bit� dated.

I'll never stop cheering on the Giants. They are still my team -- the club of my youth -- and when the Giants play the Dodgers I do feel those old emotions returning, that feeling of desperately wanting your team to win with every ounce of your being. But at the same time I'm finding more and more reasons to appreciate the boys in blue. My last trip to Dodger Stadium was my first as a "fan" (I still have a hard time using that word in this context), and as you might expect it was one of my best experiences yet. I guess it goes without saying that a trip to the ballpark is a much better experience rooting along with 50,000+ fans as opposed to against them.

It's a strange place for a sports fan to be. There's one voice which tells me that liking both the Giants and Dodgers is baseball's equivalent of blasphemy. Another voice tells me to lighten up and enjoy life, no matter how many curveballs come my way.

Comments

# 1 XXstormmXX @ May 16

I feel your pain, I'm a fan of the Patriots and Jets(and the 49ers even after what they did to the Pats a couple years ago.). I'm from NJ so I can't help but to like the Jets but I've also been a Patriots fan since forever and I could never pick a team.