Loyalty

It's true. I generally don't get "into" professional sports. I mean, I'll jump on the chance to get cheap tickets to games, but I won't watch the regular season on television. There are too many teams, too many games. And nowhere near enough time.

But when a team I have some sort of affiliation with — be that a team in a city/state I once resided, the team I grew up rooting for via my father's loyalties, or a team from a region that's home to a good friend — I'll turn on my 19 inch Magnavox and watch if (and only if) one such team makes the play-offs.

In which case, I wholeheartedly embrace my status as a fair-weather fan. I pay attention at the end of a season when a team I like is doing well, in which case a great many a' Super Bowl games have gone completely unwatched by me. And whereas I may cough up the $20 to go see the occasional baseball game, I haven't the cashflow to afford the $80 a seat football tickets.

Truth is, I really only care about two teams. But in the right year and when watching with the right people, there are about five teams total I'll pay attention to. And this year, of those five, four made it into the play-offs. And three of those four played last night.

And of those three, my top two — I mean the two I'd most like to see win — will be playing each other in the final game.

I'd like to think I can count it as a victory regardless of who wins, and I can't really imagine I'll "choose sides."

But I do think it'll be interesting to see just where my loyalties lie, once the game begins.