I grew up in a city that only had one national level sports team. I'm really not sure I would care had I not. But for as long as I can remember, I was taught to love hockey, love the Sharks, and hate the Ducks and the Flames. It's not like we were hurting for national level teams in the area. Two cities both about an hour north each had national baseball and football teams. The opposite sides of the bay were always in conflict with each other. But it seemed so far removed from the technology centered environment. How did the violent sport of hockey fit in any better then?
Somehow it worked. Even back in middle school drama class, when we were asked to portray a common occurrence without words, we sat down to watch a Sharks v. Kings game. And 90% of the class got it immediately. I can walk around campus during hockey season and I'll see someone with a shirt or keychain or hat of another team in our division and I'll high five them (or make some crack about they shouldn't bother trying to dethrone the team that's won the division so many years in a row, depending on the mood). It's like being a hockey fan is immediate membership to a secret club, and maybe that's what all the nerds loved about it. So hipster, liking something that's not cool. And it's considered foreign! Even better!
I'm not sure what it is exactly, but I have never bled the colors of any of my schools. It's always been teal and black. And now that it's getting to the last month of the season I am starting to hit my panic mode. It's not that the Sharks are doing poorly - they've actually quite turned it around since the mid-season slump. It's just what I do. This is when I start listening to every single game and start yelling at my computer and wearing my Sharks shirt on important game days. It doesn't quite fit with anything else I do, just like the Sharks themselves don't quite fit with anything else in their city. Yet a beloved part of the city they are, so yell I shall.
No comments:
Post a Comment