Not THAT kind of Yankee

As I have occasionally mentioned, I'm a New England boy. More specifically, I grew up in Massachusetts and then spent high school in Connecticut. In other words, I was in New England during those formative years when a young man first begins to follow sports.

Now, to say I "follow" sports is something of a misnomer. I'm a long ways from being a fanatic. I like to hear about my teams, and if someone leaves the sports section out, I'll occasionally look through it to see how they're doing. It's rare, however, that I'll know without being told what's going on. I'm not really an active fan, but if I hear someone mention one of my teams, I pay attention.

So who are "my" teams? Well, as I mentioned I got my start in Massachusetts. That means anything New England or Boston; specifically the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Bruins, and the Celtics.

That was in the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parrish. It was an easy time to be a Celtics fan. It was also, briefly, an easy time to be a Patriots fan. One of my earliest sports related memories is of the Pats crushing the Dolphins on their way to Super Bowl XX only to be crushed in turn by the Refrigerator and the rest of the Bears. After that it wasn't such a good time to be a Patriots fan anymore.

Then there's the Red Sox. It was never a good time to be a Red Sox fan. They're sort of famous for it.

Or they were. It's good to be from New England again. The Bruins are holding pretty steady. The Celts have made some trades that look to really boost their performance and then there's the other two. The Red Sox made up for all the suffering with one beautiful series in 2004. They took the top spot again this year proving the first one wasn't a fluke. Then there's the Pats who have now racked up more touchdowns in a single season than any other team ever.*

I feel justified in maintaining my loyalty (as low key as it is) through several moves and despite (or perhaps because of) the strong feelings of several of my friends for other teams. I'm not a very enthusiastic fan, but I am a persistent fan. It took a while, but it's paying off now.

Go New England!


*P.S. Add "most touchdowns of any quarterback" and undefeated regular season to their list of achievements. Like I said, it's a good time to be from New England.