Saturday, January 31, 2009

I root for losers

As I sit here, late on the eve of the Arizona Cardinals playing in the Super Bowl, I take a closer look at the teams that I am a fan of and realize that I only seem to root for losing teams and organizations. Take a look:

NFL: Cincinnati Bengals - mediocrity doesn't begin to describe what this franchise is mired in. The Bengals have not been relevant since 1988. They did make the playoffs in 2005, only to see Carson Palmer blow out his knee on the first pass play. I, like many others, bought into Marvin Lewis being the next coming of Sam Wyche. Hasn't happened. The Bengals and terrible. I wish Boomer would leave CBS and come back to backup Carson Palmer.

MLB: Cincinnati Reds - losing season after losing season. I do vividly remember being at Game 6 of the NLCS in 1990 and then waiting in line for hours upon hours to get tickets to Games 1 and 2 of the World Series. My brother Doug and I waited in a line that wrapped all the way around Riverfront Stadium. Which would have been fine if we had had enough money to purchase 2 tickets to each of the first two games when we reached the ticket office. We didn't. But out of the goodness of someone behind us's heart, we were given the money to purchase the tickets. The Reds went onto win the World Series in a sweep of the previously thought unbeatable Oakland A's. Thanks the person behind us, he truly paid it forward.

NBA: Don't care.

College basketball: Indiana University. If we wipe the Mike Davis era out of our heads, which we all should do, they haven't been to a Final Four since 1992. That is sad. One of the greatest and most storied programs in all of the land has been marred by such people as Miles Brand and most recently Kelvin Sampson. I am a believer that Tom Crean can bring the program back to prominence. It will take a couple of years.

College football: Indiana University. Enough said.

The one thing that I have going for me right now is that golf is my favorite sport and I live at the same time as Tiger Woods. The things he can do, and does, on the golf course makes us up for the disappointments of the above mentioned teams.

Tiger, if you are reading this, thank you.

My hope remains that if the Cardinals can do the unthinkable and make it to the Super Bowl, than so can the Bengals. If the D-Rays can make it the World Series, than so can the Reds. If George Mason can make it to the Final Four, than so can the Hoosiers. Here's to hoping that one of those things happens again in my lifetime.

Against my wishes, but with my better judgement, Lleyton will be a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, the Butler Bulldogs, and the Florence Freedom.

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