To be honest, I don’t know where I went wrong, but I’m glad I did. I stumbled into the Boston Red Sox because all of my friends in seventh grade liked them. Growing up, I loved baseball as a whole but hadn’t found a particular team to follow yet. It made sense to like the Red Sox because they’re not the Yankees.
I became a New York Giants fan because I needed something to watch in the baseball offseason. Football wasn’t as important to me as baseball but it was easy enough to pick up on. It made sense to like the Giants because they’re not the Patriots.
When I tell people I’m a Red Sox and Giants fan, they look at me like I have two heads. “You’re a what?” “You can’t like those teams!” and my favorite: “You live in New England!” Just because of my location doesn’t mean I have to like the teams around me. Take my dad, for example. He grew up a street over from where we live now in Connecticut, and the man is a Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Vikings fan. He started following both teams when he was younger, and it just stuck. It makes for some fun when his teams play mine in our house, though.
There’s no written rule anywhere that says if you like one team, you have to like this other one. I’m perfectly happy being a Red Sox and Giants fan. When I first started following them, I was rewarded with a World Series and Super Bowl win. Of course I heard “You only like them because they won!” but it was just a coincidence (I’m not complaining).
My love for the Red Sox only got stronger after the 2007 season and so did my hatred for the Yankees. The Evil Empire was one to despise, and being friends with Yankees fans didn’t help. Teachers who knew I was a Red Sox fan would give me a hard time after a loss in a Sox/Yanks series. The team was something I could rely on when things got rough, and although they’ve broken my heart a few times, nothing will beat the night they captured the 2013 World Series as I cried on my couch hugging a pillow.
The Giants became a second team I could rely on, and I looked forward to games every Sunday. My mom started to follow the team with me, and to this day I’m still explaining to her why they have to punt on fourth down. Patriots fans mocked me with the duo of Brady and Belichick because my duo was Eli and Coughlin. But my two favorite moments as a Giants fan came in the 2007 Super Bowl as my boys in blue took down the Pats’ undefeated season with “The Catch” by David Tyree, and then again in the 2011 Super Bowl with a last minute touchdown run by Amad Bradshaw to win, 21-17.
Sports play such a big role in my life, and the first thing I define myself as is a Boston Red Sox fan or a New York Giants fan, depending upon what season we’re in. I’ve experienced heartache, comebacks, tough losses, and those once-in-a-lifetime moments. I’m proud of my alliances, and it always makes for a good conversation starter.
