I want to start by saying that it's really out of character for me to write anything about sports. I have posted one article about sports roughly two years ago after the Broncos (my hometown team) won the Superbowl. It wasn't positive.

I never really cared about sports. I played a lot of sports growing up, but I was never a huge fan of watching them.

The exception was the Colorado Avalanche. I was nine years old when the Avs came to Colorado from Quebec, and I fell in love. I had never really watched hockey before, but here came this fresh, new team playing a sport that was unfamiliar to me and they were good. They won the Stanley Cup in their first season, and again several years later. Not only that, but my first HUGE crush that I can remember was on Peter Forsberg, my favorite NHL player of all time, and a stone cold Swedish fox.

Mmmmm.

Anyway, this isn't about my coming of age story.

I was hardcore into the Avalanche for a long time. I often even tell this really stupid story about when the Avs won their second cup in 2001. I watched the series at home by myself and because I was so used to seeing imagery on the news when a sports team won whatever championship of people out on the streets celebrating, I excitedly jumped from my seat when the Avs won the cup and bolted outside, ready to see neighbors and people all over the place celebrating, setting off fireworks, and having a grand old time.

Except no one was outside. It was, like, 10 pm and I walked around my neighborhood by myself, embarrassed that I just expected other people in the suburbs would care as much as I did.

As time passed and my favorite players from the Avalanche began retiring (with Forsberg being traded around a bit before eventually coming back to Colorado to play a final season here before retiring and returning to Sweden), the team just wasn't what it once was and has dropped markedly each year in the rankings. It has been heartbreaking to watch, but I eventually just stopped caring.

I'm jaded about sports in general. Football especially. People like to tell me it's because I don't understand how the game is played, and that's not the case. I understand precisely what's going on and it's still boring as h*ck.

But a couple of years ago, my significant other and I decided, for whatever reason, that we both wanted to rekindle our love for hockey and we purchased the NHL TV season pass so we could watch as many games as we wanted from as many teams as we wanted. We certainly tried watching the Avalanche first, but last season was garbage.

We ended up buying tickets to go see the Avs play the team from Toronto, the Maple Leafs (don't get me started on how the word "leafs" is the incorrect way to pluralize "leaf") and they absolutely wiped the floor with the Avs. It was difficult to watch my childhood favorite team get railed like that, but the Leafs were so entertaining. So we started watching all of their games. They even made it to the first round of the playoffs last season, and we've been hooked, watching every game they've played this season.

In the process of watching other teams besides the home team, I also fell in love with a few other teams. I particularly like the Nashville Predators, and probably my favorite player in the NHL is PK Subban.

He's effing adorable, y'all. And watch his interview with Trevor Noah if you get a chance.

The Vegas Golden Knights are also rock solid, and extra cool because they're a brand new team comprised of some of the best players in the NHL draft from other established teams.

So the point is, I have no qualms about rooting for teams that aren't based where I live, and I see absolutely no good reason why a person should.

I loved the Avalanche as a kid because they were a great team...when I was a kid. They're doing better this current season, but they're a long way away from the greatness the team once showed. And that's, of course, because the team is made up of completely different players. That's how sports work. The only constant is the name and location, and I see no reason to be loyal to that. Especially when you consider, looking at the Avalanche now, not a single player on the team is actually from Colorado, and very few are even from the United States. And that's totally fine! I get how building a team works. But if these men have no connection to Colorado outside of a contract, why should I have any obligation to care for the team?

It's amazing how people's faces drop when I say this. My own dad looked like I stabbed him in the heart when I said I was going to an Avs game on my birthday but that I was there to see the Maple Leafs.

It's going to sound cold and awfully callous, but I just don't see anything wrong with giving up on a team that sucks. It is really tiring and mentally exhausting to root so hard for a team that constantly fails. And it's for this reason that I have no problem being a fair weather fan. That term comes with such a negative connotation, but I really couldn't care less. If the Avs somehow end up in the Stanley Cup finals this year, I'll bust my vocal cords screaming with joy for them. And if anyone wants to give me hard time for showing up last minute, all I have to say is: I showed up when they showed up.

Look at any other profession in the world. If I went to work every day and really phoned it in, I wouldn't expect my boss to be thrilled and constantly be a cheerleader for me. At some point, he or she will get sick of my apathy and give up on me.

But we can't do that with sports teams who are failing? Give me a break.

So if I decide to be a fan of a team when they're doing better, that's...kind of human nature? To want to encourage things that are good? I don't know.

This doesn't mean I only root for the teams at the top. Watching a team effortlessly win constantly isn't exciting to me. I like watching the struggle and the rise in the rankings. I like watching a team hit a rough patch and pull through. If I only liked the "best" teams, I'd like the Penguins. But I'll never like the Penguins. I tried to, and then Crosby pulled the following stunt in the finals last year with my precious PK Subban and somehow didn't get a penalty.

He's dead to me.

Maybe this is all about me being jaded because, as a band geek in high school, I was required to attend EVERY Friday night football game and help hype up my school's team when they suuuuucked. They sucked so, so bad, you guys. I'm not kidding. My sophomore year, our team scored one touchdown...the entire season. And I had to show up every week and pretend to be all excited about a team that was an embarrassment to the sport.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say about that. Keep your loyalty to the home team if you want. I'm not here to draw anyone away from something they love. I'm simply trying to put another perspective out there.