Sports

COMMENTARY: The Embarassing Reason Why I Am Not A Giant Sports Fan

And how that reason came to be.

All morning I've been hearing people say, "How 'bout that sports weekend?"

And, even though I'm not a giant sports fan, I know what everyone is talking about with the Packers and the Brewers. Great stuff huh? But let's not forget about the Badgers too.

Seems like everyone is in a great mood and it's good to see. For me though, all of these games present an embarrassing challenge.

Find out what's happening in Caledoniawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That photo to the right was my living room Sunday. What you can't see is Mr. Denise in the lounge chair with the computer to his left that offered up his place in Fantasy Football. He's not real keen on being named or photographed in my commentaries, so I respect his wishes and write commentaries about him sans identifiable information.

But this time, I couldn't resist writing about my aversion to not watching sports all season.

Find out what's happening in Caledoniawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

My not-a-giant-sports-fan status is only tolerable to Mr. Denise because I don't fight the Sunday-is-my-day-to-covet-the-remote-control rule we have in our household. I don't mind it really. It's not the hill I want to die on and quite frankly; I love watching when the mood strikes me. There's only one slight problem with me being a fan-for-the-moment: I have a really bad habit of rooting for the wrong team.

I'm afraid I've had this problem for quite some time. I grew up with a dad who was so blessed to have three girls that he had to make one of us slightly sports minded. And I was that token girl in the sense that I sat with him on the couch during game days and asked questions about plays, players, and teams. Desperate to understand my dad's world, I often pointed out good plays and named them to show my dad just how much I had learned from the week before. And I would root for "the good play" at the same moment my father cursed them.

So the concept of rooting for one team was further exacerbated when we moved from northeastern Ohio to southeastern Ohio and back to northeastern Ohio in a four-year time frame. I grew up watching the Indians and the Browns for a while, then the Reds and the Bengals and then it was back again. My allegiance-issue was further challenged when Art Model pulled up stakes and went to Baltimore.

And that's when I moved from Ohio to Wisconsin. I have to admit, I'm still not great a rooting for the right team, but watching the games this weekend reminded me just how much I love living in this state. Your sports teams make me feel cool, like I'm not so much of a dork. And well, it warms my heart with cheesy goodness to know that I've got several more weeks of trying to sort out who I should be rooting for -- you know, Wisconsin... the COOLEST state in the union.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here