Rules for Sports Fandom...

     Before I start this post, let me make this very clear:  Sports is about your entertainment, you should feel free to like whatever teams you want.  If you want to sit home and root for the Yankees and the Red Sox at the same time, by all means be my guest.  The problem occurs when you go hang out with your buddies, or go to work, and talk about how great all your favorite teams are, then you are subject to the rules of sports fandom.  Most of the people I talk to about sports break at least one of these rules, including myself.  Some offenses are worse than others, but multiple offenses has the potential to severely hurt your credibility as a sports fan.

Offense #1- Claiming allegiance to sports teams for no reason.

     People who talk about sports get very defensive about why they like the sports teams they follow.  By default, local teams are automatically acceptable as a favorite team.  The further you get away from where you live, the more questions you need to answer about why you like this team.  This rule is mentioned often in sports conversation, and everyone needs to have their backstory ready whenever anyone is called out on sports allegiances.  You especially need to be ready in case this team happens to be doing well at the time. 

     For un-biased and full disclosure purposes, I will admit that this is the one sports fandom rule that I break.  I was raised as a Baltimore Orioles fan growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, right on the Virginia side of the Maryland/Virginia border, and close to Washington, DC, which at the time of my sports fan birth, was Orioles country.  At a very young age, I made a decision that my favorite team was no longer the Orioles, and from then on, it would be the California Angels.  This happened so long ago, that I can't remember why I made the switch.  I recently asked my brother Donnie, a year and a half older than me, if he could remember why I made the switch.  He thinks it had something to do with the release of Billy Ripken from the Orioles.  Billy Ripken was never an above-average baseball player, but like me, he was the little brother, and I think if you ask around, many DC-area little brother sports fans had a connection to Billy Ripken.  I can't remember if that's exactly the reason I made the switch, but I feel like that would be a reasonable reaction.  As for why I chose the Angels, I think it was a combination of thinking Chili Davis was a funny name, and that they were the first team to appear in my Sega baseball video game.  Somehow, the Angels stuck with me into adulthood.  All of the other teams I follow are the local sports teams of the DC area in each sport.  I hope that this single offense hasn't completely ruined my credibility with my soon to be captivated audience.

Offense #2-  You have a favorite college football team, and a different favorite college basketball team.

     In my opinion, this is by far one of the worst sports fan no-nos.  There is nothing worse than someone who gets real annoying on how great Ohio State football is, and then in November they start bragging to you about how great Duke basketball is this year.  As far as I'm concerned, if you want to brag about Duke basketball, you have to suffer through Duke football

Offense #3-  You woke up one morning, looked at the standings, and your favorite team in every sport was the best team that day.

     I don't think this annoys most people as much as it does me, but this is my blog, so it's going in as a rule.  I have several friends like this, and they all have different crazy reasons for why they like each team.  Your favorite teams are the Dallas Cowboys, the Atlanta Braves or New York Yankees, Jeff Gordon, and Duke Basketball?  You aren't fooling anyone buddy, we know what you did, and you should be ashamed of yourself, and you should be forced to keep your sports fandom to yourself.  At a conference basketball tournament a few years ago, I saw a man wearing a Duke jacket, and New York Yankees hat.  From the  encouragement from a few buddies, and a few beverages, I asked the man if his favorite football team happened to be the Dallas Cowboys.  He glanced at all of his apparel, noticed he was not wearing any Cowboys clothing, and with a puzzled look on his face, he asked me how I knew that.  I told him that I just had a good feeling about it.

Offense #4- You have multiple favorite teams in the same sport.

   The best part of having friends who like sports, is rubbing it their faces when your team is doing well, and by far the worst part is when your buddies rub it in your face.  This is increasingly difficult when your friends claim to like Tennessee, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State football.  Two of those teams are bound to win on any given weekend, how are you ever supposed to brag on how good your team is?  One sport, one team, that's now officially the rule.

     One rule I think one people subscribe to is that you should only like a college sports team if you went to that college.  This is not a rule.  Getting accepted into a college with a top sports program is as hard as ever.  You should not have to have a 4.0 in high school to enjoy college football.  I recently signed up to be a small-level athletic booster for my favorite college team, and the director of the program told me that 40% of the donors were not alumi of the university.  I promise they enjoy the donations of their non-alumni supporters.

     So, here are my big rules.  Have a look at them, and decide how much sports fan credibility you still have.