The confusion of being a very loyal sports fan

I was born in Chicago and moved away from there when I was 10 years old, back in 1972.

My parents wanted to get out of what they referred to as “the rat race,” in the big city. So, they moved us to a town of 11,000 people in Central California, just an hour and a half from Oakland and San Francisco. Now, you would think as a kid, I would automatically become a 49ers or Raiders fan in football and a Giants or Athletics fan in baseball, etc. I don’t think so.

My Chicago sports roots run very deep, Cubs, Bears, Bulls & Blackhawks.

I never stopped being a Chicago fan, in fact I learned to dislike the Oakland teams and hate the San Francisco teams, especially those Joe Montana and Will Clark/Barry Bonds teams of the 80’s and 90’s.

My policy when I move to a new state has always been the same. I’ll root for the local pro teams, as long as they don’t play one of my Chicago teams.

So, this weekend, when the Cowboys played the 49ers, I was 100% in on the Cowboys. I wanted them to curb-stomp the 49ers and it was a painful ending for me, I can only imagine what it felt like for true Cowboy fans. That last play will be debated by fans for many years to come.

Here’s where the confusion enters my life. The only thing I hate more than the teams I grew up around, are the division rivals of my favorite teams. My disgust for them runs so deep, that if a player from one of my teams, signs with a division rival, they become dead to me. I’m speaking in sports terms of course, not life, so don’t take my words literally. I’m speaking as a sports fan.

This coming weekend when the 49ers play the Green Bay Packers, I’m basically forced to root for the 49ers, because the Packers are the arch-rivals of my Chicago Bears and I could never, ever, ever, never cheer for them, for any reason. Are you seeing my dilemma?

I know that NFL Hall of Famer and former Packer great, Forrest Gregg, graduated from Sulphur Springs High School and if he was still playing, I might cheer for them, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2019 at the age of 85, so thumbs down to the Packers.

This is why I don’t play fantasy sports. I would lose all the time, mainly because I wouldn’t pick anyone from a division rival. In football, I wouldn’t pick anyone from the Packers, Lions or Vikings and in baseball, I wouldn’t pick anyone from the Cardinals, Brewers, Pirates or Reds. So, I’d basically be throwing my money in the garbage and for that reason, I don’t participate in fantasy sports.

Both my daughters have the exact same philosophy when it comes to sports. They are both diehard Chicago fans across the board and both very knowledgeable when it comes to sports. When my younger daughter Nicole decided to major in Sports Management in college, I told her that if she ever got a job with one of our division rivals, I would be proud of her, but I would NEVER wear any of their gear, hats, jerseys, etc.

Right out of college, she worked as an intern for four sports teams in Arizona, simultaneously. She worked for the Cubs in Mesa, the Suns (NBA) and Mercury (WNBA) and then the Coyotes (NHL). The Coyotes finally hired her on full-time and she gave up the other positions. Now she works for the Seattle Kraken, the expansion NHL team in Seattle and I have a Kraken hat that I wear and I cheer for them, until they play the Blackhawks, then I don’t.

I know what you’re thinking, especially if you don’t follow sports like I do. “Dave, you’re crazy, it’s just grown men playing games, why take it so seriously?” I wish I could answer you, but I can’t. In 2016, my Cubbies finally won a World Series. All I asked God for was “one before I die,” and he granted me that wish. And during that baseball season, I went and got a Cubs logo tattooed on my upper left arm. I like all the other sports, but I’m a diehard Cubs fan. I only have three tattoos on my body and they are of things that I will forever love, my daughter’s names, my late-niece’s name and the Cubs.

Sports are something that can bring us all together. In today’s divided world, it’s so nice to be able to sit in front of a TV at a sports bar and high five other people and not have to think about what political party they support or if they are vax or anti-vax, etc. Sports can bring people together like nothing else and that’s one of the things I love about being a sports fan. And if you can be loyal to your sports team, it tells me something special about you as a person.