Rival

Sports are competitive by definition.

Whenever a major sport comes to its major competition of the year, be it the Superbowl, the US Open, the Stanley Cup, March Madness, etc. a lot of casual fans come out of the woodwork to cheer for one team or another. On Superbowl Sunday it is not uncommon to overhear someone yelling for "The Red Team" or "The Blue Team" to win the game. A lot of people root for the hometown team, or the team their dad likes, or maybe the team their ex-boyfriend hated. There are a ton of reasons to pick one team over the other.

Currently, we are in the middle on the World Series in baseball. For those who have not been following it, it's three games for the Yankees and two for the Phillies. I usually don't watch the World Series since any of my teams (Orioles, Nationals) don't exactly make it that far. However, I work with two big Yankees fans and that, combined with growing up with this area's sentiment of hating that team, I am all about the Phillies winning.

One day at work, on a daily note sheet, I wrote, "Go Phillies." When I came back the next day it had been marked out with black, permanent marker* and on the next day was written "GO YANKEES!" Instead of marking it out, I wrote "um, gross" and other people added to it things like, "Yes, I agree!" and "Phillies will come back...!" and "I'm dressing up as A-Rod's steroid dealer for Halloween" (that one made me laugh). Also in there was the delightful message, "F YOU ALL!" Wow!

Now, a day or two later, and to be honest I can't remember the details now, I came in to work and noticed that part of a note page had been cut out. Thinking that odd, I did a little investigating and found the crumpled up paper in the garbage**. I could see why it had been thrown out as it said something along the idea of, "PEOPLE WHO DON'T EVEN LIKE BASEBALL CAN SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"

Now, does that seem a little much to you? Because it does to me! How can you say I don't like baseball when I've been watching the entire series so far?

Let me tell you my thinking on sports: I love sports. I also like to have a life. Therefore, I don't allow myself to get obsessed with a lot of teams and sports. I limit it to tennis, exciting games, Redskins when I'm not working, and season-ending series. If I kept up with every sport it would be a job within itself.

I just find it so ridiculous and frustrating that people are getting angry that I want the Phillies to win. What if it was the Red Sox against the Phillies-would you Yankees fans be singing a different tune? So why is it so weird that I am against the Yankees after having grown up around Orioles fans. One time, when I was younger, I told my dad I liked the pinstripes uniform and he jokingly yelled at me. Another aside from my childhood-I did all of my projects on baseball for awhile because I wanted to have something in common with my dad and brother who were both very into baseball. I grew up with the game. Back when there was one TV in the house it was watch with dad or go find something else to do.

So let's get back to the point of all of this. It's about competition. One team will come out the winner and inevitably there will be people cheering on either side. That. Is. Completely. Normal. There is going to be a loser and I'm sorry if it's your team, but it will not be the end of the world. Does anyone remember how badly I wanted Andy Murray to win the US Open? Badly. And he didn't. He didn't even come close, but did I freak out? No, I kept watching and picked someone else I wanted to win.

So come on Phillies, bring it to the Yankees these next two games and shut up all of those annoying fans. And if hell freezes over and the Nats make it to the World Series next year against you, I'm sorry, but I'll want you to then lose. That's how it works. I'd also like to see the Cowboys lose the rest of the year and the Lakers to make it to the finals. And Caps? Just keep on.

Hi, I'm normal.

XO,
SVR


*To be honest, I can't remember the exact number of times, but for the sake of the story, I'm saying this many times.
**There was ONLY paper in there and the day had just started. It was not gross.