Everybody is passionate about something.
For some it’s cooking; for others it’s flying, and for those who don’t get out of the house too often or still live in their parents’ basement, it’s usually Dungeons and Dragons. (Those are also the same people standing outside for tickets to the new Star Wars movie — bring on the hate mail.)
Like I said, everyone has a passion.
But for a lot of sports fans, it’s more than just a passion.
Take those damn Cub fans for instance.
Note: I’m a Cincinnati fan, and any allegiance to the Cubs would be almost as bad as saying something positive about Cleveland.
Every year I have to hear about how the Cubs are going to turn their season around because of their great pitching staff (who, mind you, has never been entirely healthy) or over-hyped lineup.
And every year something goes wrong, and the Cubs fall apart, blaming injuries, sports announcer Steve Stone (who was their best commentator, giving it to fans straight) or their own fans (i.e. Steve Bartman getting in the way of a foul ball in the playoffs).
But the one thing I got to respect about Cubs fans (and I hate saying this) is that they are loyal.
No matter how many games out of first place they are or how bad the team is, the Cubs
always get fans in the stands, even during their day games.
And get this, even though it wasn’t a classy or a real human being thing to do, poor Bartman had to go into hiding and avoid death threats at work, because these fans so desperately wanted to win.
While baseball is my passion, arguably this country’s most popular game is football.
Plain and simple, football fanatics are crazy about their teams.
Take Green Bay fans for instance.
These people wear chunks of cheddar on their skulls and call themselves Cheeseheads (I know Wisconsin is a big cheese-producing state, but why they started putting cheese on their heads is beyond me).
At historic Lambeau Field, some of the fans go without shirts during the frigid Wisconsin winters and look like they are about 15 minutes away from hypothermia.
The worst part is, Green Bay fans aren’t relegated to Wisconsin. They seem to be everywhere, and I have no idea why. There aren’t a lot of
people in the state of Wisconsin, yet the abundance of people with green and yellow jackets with giant Gs on them amazes me.
But who am I to talk? My favorite football team is the Cincinnati Bengals (don’t hurt yourself laughing). This team hasn’t had a winning
season since the first Bush administration.
But the Bengals (please don’t call them the Bungals; they have gone 8-8 in each of the last two years) are my passion, and I will stick with them to the end.
No matter what.

[email protected]