| As I sit down for my traditionally untraditional | | | | Being a supporter of the hometown team lets |
| Thanksgiving meal this year, I am faced with a | | | | you enjoy Sunday afternoon tailgates at the |
| conundrum happened across by many a | | | | stadium, allows you to read more than a one |
| vagabond sports fan. As is tradition, Thanksgiving | | | | paragraph blurb in the sports pages, and makes |
| is inundated with the sights and sounds of | | | | you feel accepted as you drive to work Monday |
| professional football. My dilemma, however, is not | | | | morning in the same good mood as everyone |
| what to watch, rather, it is a question of who to | | | | else on the roads because, "a W is a W no |
| be pulling for as mounds of turkey and stuffing | | | | matter how ugly that 12-9 win was." |
| are being shoveled into my extremely grateful | | | | Then, there is tradition and dedication. Tradition |
| face. With my traditional, "always leave room for | | | | like singing, "Bear Down, Chicago Bears" or |
| pie" sweatpants on, I am faced with a decision | | | | watching "The Super Bowl Shuffle" every |
| between hometown heroes and childhood chums. | | | | summer to remind you that hope is only 17 |
| Yes, it is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveling to | | | | weeks away. Dedication, like wearing cheese on |
| Dallas, Texas to take on America's Team, slightly | | | | your head all day long, strapping on battery |
| less known by the moniker, the Dallas Cowboys. I | | | | powered, heated socks to a playoff game in the |
| grew up with those Cowboys. In fact, as I'm | | | | snow, or cooking bratwurst in a hail storm |
| watching the pre-game proceedings, my mother | | | | because pork and mustard can cure any ill. Things |
| is rustling through a distant closet in an attempt to | | | | like that make you remember, they bring families |
| find my hand-knitted Cowboys helmet I donned | | | | together across generations. Dedication like that |
| as a tot watching countless Cowboy games. It | | | | gives fathers and sons who can barely be civil at |
| was the kind that came down over the ears, I | | | | the dinner table something to talk about, if only |
| suppose to keep my bulbous head warm during | | | | for a couple hours once or twice a year. Tradition |
| those severe Texas winters, however, more and | | | | and dedication like that strike deep in the soul. I've |
| more I am starting to believe that it was to | | | | seen these things, first hand, and know how |
| serve as a buffer between my infant ears and | | | | powerful they are. |
| the array of colorful language being spewed by | | | | So where does that leave me? Sitting here |
| various members of the family in between | | | | Thanksgiving, only my mother and I. The third |
| involuntary chants now and then of, "How Bout | | | | Thursday of November, and I am a man torn. |
| Them Cowboys?; another holiday tradition, yet I | | | | The Bucs are "my team". As a college kid looking |
| digress. On the other side of the field, however, | | | | for any excuse to over-do it, I tailgated the |
| were the Pewter Pirates a.k.a. the Tampa Bay | | | | Super Bowl at Ray-Jay , just to say I was there, |
| Buccaneers. I moved to Tampa straight out of | | | | regardless of if it was the Ravens against the |
| high school to attend college at The University of | | | | Giants. A year later I was knee deep in the |
| South Florida. Immediately I adopted the local | | | | pandemonium that swept the bay area after |
| sports teams, as having lived in Daytona Beach | | | | Chucky led us to the promise land. I mean, these |
| didn't offer me such luxuries, as there were no | | | | were the guys I listened to every week on their |
| teams to be found. I was always taught, and | | | | radio shows. But what about tradition? How 'Bout |
| believe to this day, that rooting for the | | | | Them Cowboys? |
| hometown team is a good thing for so many | | | | Perched in front of the television with a mound of |
| reasons. | | | | food waiting to be devoured, I had to make a |
| I moved around a bit as a child, from my | | | | decision. As a self respecting sports fan, I had to |
| hometown of Amarillo, Texas to the mean | | | | pick a side, and ride that pony hell or high water. I |
| streets of Minneapolis/St. Paul to the suburbs of | | | | wasn't going to be "that other guy" who is happy |
| Chicago, all along the way, adopting the time | | | | either way. That's not what sports are about. You |
| honored traditions of each community and its | | | | are either elated and obnoxious, pointing out your |
| teams. Rooting for the home team offers a few | | | | weekly dominance to anyone in earshot, or you |
| modest conveniences that make life so much | | | | are devastated and obnoxious, spouting |
| more enjoyable. The first, and foremost, is that | | | | obscenities to anyone in earshot (including the dog |
| you aren't "that guy" (ladies, I apologize because I | | | | who has learned the bathtub is probably the |
| know you're sports fans too, but you'll understand | | | | safest place on football Sundays). That's what |
| better once the title is explained). "That guy" is | | | | sports is all about. So, what's a guy to do? The |
| the one who just won't let go. He comes to the | | | | gravy is getting cold, and my mom has since |
| sports bar wearing his commemorative, 1983 | | | | given up on finding my crocheted helmet. It was |
| Philadelphia Phillies hat that looks like it had gone on | | | | decision time. So, with a conflicted heart, I turned |
| an epic journey, the likes of which Odysseus | | | | to my mom and said, "You know, I've rooted for |
| couldn't imagine. "That guy" trots proudly into the | | | | those Cowboys every Thanksgiving of my life. |
| stadium donning a Flyers jersey to watch the | | | | Helmet made of yarn or not, I'm going to root |
| Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Washington | | | | for those Cowboys with you in the name of |
| Capitols, all the while going on about his glory days | | | | tradition, and with Texan pride on the line." I made |
| back in "tha delphia" when he sat in the same | | | | that decision with a heavy heart, for it wasn't |
| restaurant booth that Phil Esposito sat in two | | | | easy to root against those Pewter Pirates. But, |
| weeks earlier, or making sure you know that his | | | | tradition prevailed this time, along with Dallas, and I |
| brother's girlfriend's uncle once knew a guy who | | | | dozed off on the sofa with stars (and those |
| has an actual loch of Mitch Williams' mullet. You | | | | famous cheerleaders) dancing in my mind. Next |
| know the guy. He has season tickets to every | | | | week, I'll still read about the Bucs, and will root |
| team in the area, but refuses to admit he is a | | | | them onto the close of what is already a |
| fan. He doesn't hesitate, however, to load up his | | | | disastrous season. But, for today at least, tradition |
| 1988 Oldsmobile as he heads to an autograph | | | | gives me a bond with my mother, a nostalgic |
| session with a duffel bag full of Wal-Mart sporting | | | | feeling in the only corner of my stomach not |
| goods and a kid in tow that is being trained in the | | | | occupied by pie, and a reason to feel proud of |
| intricate ways of being the absolute most | | | | where I came from. So, How Bout them |
| obnoxious human being on the planet, but he is | | | | Cowboys? |
| certainly not a fan. You know "that guy". | | | | |