bitterdiva

In the cusp

Being a sports fan in Connecticut is extremely difficult, especially when it’s often like being a schizophrenic. No matter what sport it is there are always several teams converging onto one point. If you travel a couple of towns to the west you rid yourself of Boston; if you travel over to the east you can kiss NYC sayonara. As a note, all stores carried both cities' teams merchandise, which is why I was confused when I came to NY and would only see Yankees, Giants or Jets teams.

Growing up I didn’t know for whom I should be rooting – Whalers (back in the day), Bruins, Rangers, or Islanders; Red Sox, Yankees, or Mets; Patriots, Jets, or Giants; Celtics or Knicks. The battle lines are easily drawn within a household and depending on that season, relatives could be strangers for a season or two or three or four depending up on the variables and rivalries among the parties.

For a moment, I almost forgot about the Whalers. Most of the population in Connecticut was a fan of the Whale. From what I remember they sucked, but at least Connecticut was unique, we had our own sports team and that alone made us content. Then they went away and now people with jerseys or hats like my ex-boyfriend and that dude at Brewstock will be among the elite but I digress.

The top two sports in the family were of course, baseball and football, both of these sports being played at family events. I have several reasons why I was a bigger fan of the pigskin than baseball – I’m a child of traumatic events and those are the ones that morphed me into who I am today. One memory sticks out about baseball, my uncle’s Memorial Day picnic where all the able-bodied kids and adults would gather upon the field behind the woods to battle it out. During this period, life was simpler and there weren’t the infamous cliques that plague the family today. The infamous incident (the starting point of my intolerance for my uncle) begins with this one memory of him being his typical self and yelling at me for standing on the plate - regardless of the fact that it was my first time trying to play baseball. I don't have many memories of my youth but that's one of them and it's horrible that it's a downer.

04:30 PM

Comments

Posted by: Kristian at October 20, 2003 10:17 AM

Posted by: Groundzero at October 20, 2003 10:29 AM

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