after this, I swear I'll stop
Feb. 6th, 2006 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupYou know, I can understand why people are conservatives, or Republicans. They take the same set of facts that I have, and they just look at it another way. From a very different set of premises than the ones I have -- really differences in how they and I would define certain terms such as "freedom" and "democracy" -- they have a world-view that, while opposed to mine, I can understand. In their own warped way I think most of them want what they think is good and right in the world. They are tools of evil, but they don't want to do evil, and they would say the same about me.
Now, you take something meaningless like football, on the other hand. I cannot conceive of how anyone can root for any football team other than the Steelers. I know you will ascribe this to provincialism on my part; fair enough.
But inasmuch as I understand my own interest in the Steelers as a form of sickness, a random, contingent form of luck, it's just unfathomable to like some other silly team. I mean, their logos and uniforms are so cheesy, with all that gold and silver! Their owners and players have no connection to the city! The teams didn't even exist until, what, the 1960s or 1970s? And all that's for barely legit teams; don't even try to explain rooting for some team like the Colts or the Ravens that was stolen from some other place. I mean, maybe the Packers are cool because the city owns the team. I can dig that. But what, someone really could give a shit about the Tennessee Titans?
Just as it is incomprehensible to me that people could really like these strange ersatz other teams, it is bizarre to me that people could dislike my team simply because it plays theirs. Actually, almost as often as I've encountered Steelers fans far-flung across the country, I have encountered Steelers-haters. When you ask them why they sort of whine about nothing. Like, the Steelers beat them once or twice. People also hold against them the fact that they won so much in the 70s. But that makes no sense. They were good! I don't hate the 49ers or the Patriots for being good (though the Patriots logo is so hateful; if they'd stuck with the old one I would seriously like them better). I don't like teams that play dirty and "trash talk" and so on, like the Raiders used to, but beyond that... we're from the town with the great football team. Listen to the polka, people!
Anyway... so in the second quarter tonight I walk into this bar that the Post-Gazette website says is a "Steelers bar," and it has a Patriots decal on the door. And me and maybe one or two other guys are Steelers fans. Most of the people are Patriots fans, which is to say, they yell with glee at anything bad that happens to the Steelers.
Now it's one thing if you're actually some kind of Seattleite. I mean, that is the contingent sickness and I can recognize that, bizarrely misplaced though it may be. But some random Patriots fan? Why do you give a shit? You won the past three years anyway and you're not even in this. So I left after the third quarter so I could clutch my terrible towel in peace.
Anyway, this is all to say that as strange as it is for you to hear me going on about the goddam Steelers -- other people? Caring about their teams? Hi-larious.
Also, having lost so many times, I believe firmly in being a good winner. It's awful to be around gloating Republicans or Braves fans or what have you. So let me just say that the only possible reason I would "smack talk" (a phrase I loathe) you is if you specifically "smack talked" me, like in some kind of, I don't know, LiveJournal post. In such a hypothetical case I would be justified in mocking your incomprehensible latte-drinking, teal-wearing, Kwakiutl-worshipping team.
But I wouldn't do that. Because I am a better person than that.
Oh, and, uh, I don't need to because my team is better too.
*************************
The best part is that I get to not think about football for nine months. But when I do, I will smile.
Now, you take something meaningless like football, on the other hand. I cannot conceive of how anyone can root for any football team other than the Steelers. I know you will ascribe this to provincialism on my part; fair enough.
But inasmuch as I understand my own interest in the Steelers as a form of sickness, a random, contingent form of luck, it's just unfathomable to like some other silly team. I mean, their logos and uniforms are so cheesy, with all that gold and silver! Their owners and players have no connection to the city! The teams didn't even exist until, what, the 1960s or 1970s? And all that's for barely legit teams; don't even try to explain rooting for some team like the Colts or the Ravens that was stolen from some other place. I mean, maybe the Packers are cool because the city owns the team. I can dig that. But what, someone really could give a shit about the Tennessee Titans?
Just as it is incomprehensible to me that people could really like these strange ersatz other teams, it is bizarre to me that people could dislike my team simply because it plays theirs. Actually, almost as often as I've encountered Steelers fans far-flung across the country, I have encountered Steelers-haters. When you ask them why they sort of whine about nothing. Like, the Steelers beat them once or twice. People also hold against them the fact that they won so much in the 70s. But that makes no sense. They were good! I don't hate the 49ers or the Patriots for being good (though the Patriots logo is so hateful; if they'd stuck with the old one I would seriously like them better). I don't like teams that play dirty and "trash talk" and so on, like the Raiders used to, but beyond that... we're from the town with the great football team. Listen to the polka, people!
Anyway... so in the second quarter tonight I walk into this bar that the Post-Gazette website says is a "Steelers bar," and it has a Patriots decal on the door. And me and maybe one or two other guys are Steelers fans. Most of the people are Patriots fans, which is to say, they yell with glee at anything bad that happens to the Steelers.
Now it's one thing if you're actually some kind of Seattleite. I mean, that is the contingent sickness and I can recognize that, bizarrely misplaced though it may be. But some random Patriots fan? Why do you give a shit? You won the past three years anyway and you're not even in this. So I left after the third quarter so I could clutch my terrible towel in peace.
Anyway, this is all to say that as strange as it is for you to hear me going on about the goddam Steelers -- other people? Caring about their teams? Hi-larious.
Also, having lost so many times, I believe firmly in being a good winner. It's awful to be around gloating Republicans or Braves fans or what have you. So let me just say that the only possible reason I would "smack talk" (a phrase I loathe) you is if you specifically "smack talked" me, like in some kind of, I don't know, LiveJournal post. In such a hypothetical case I would be justified in mocking your incomprehensible latte-drinking, teal-wearing, Kwakiutl-worshipping team.
But I wouldn't do that. Because I am a better person than that.
Oh, and, uh, I don't need to because my team is better too.
*************************
The best part is that I get to not think about football for nine months. But when I do, I will smile.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Congratulations to you and your team!
Date: 2006-02-06 05:31 am (UTC)Enjoy your nine months! :-)
Re: Congratulations to you and your team!
Date: 2006-02-06 05:41 am (UTC)Re: Congratulations to you and your team!
Date: 2006-02-06 05:46 am (UTC)Re: Congratulations to you and your team!
Date: 2006-02-06 12:10 pm (UTC)Was the spelling intentional of "Saints" an intentional pun and why do you find the Patriots incomprehensible?
:-)
Re: Congratulations to you and your team!
Date: 2006-02-06 10:16 pm (UTC)I find the Patriots incomprehensible as I find any other football team, genetically engineered trash-talking freak crosses between robots and cows. I give them their due, but I can't imagine getting worked up over them. Thus my post. (Since first posting I did amend the point about the Patriots to include the fact that they do have a hateful logo. If they still had that old school dude on the helmet, I would like them a lot more.)