My Second Team

Starting with the 2010 Major League Baseball season, I am officially rooting for two teams. Of course, I have unwavering love for my beloved Boston Red Sox. But there is now another franchise in my life. And I don’t think there is any problem with that. 

As a bit of background — which I think I gave around this time last year — I used to be a casual Dodgers fan. My brother, and Dram contributor, Randy is a rabid Dodgers fan. It’s easy to root for a team when your big brother does. And it certainly didn’t hurt that the first year I actually sat and watched the World Series was 1988. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Orel Hershiser.

Then I kind of fell away from baseball for a little while. I went from casual fan to a very lazy fan. It just wasn’t that important to me. The Dodgers did little in the interim to help the situation.

As you may already know I then married into a die-hard New England family (on both sides of my wife’s family!) that love the Sawx. It was the Summer of 2004. And you know what happened that Fall. The Sox reversed the Curse. They won it all and thus solidified my fandom. I was meant to be a Sox fan if they won their first series since 1918 the year I started following them. It was fate! I am set as a fan with the Sox. I don’t even mind the crap years too much… It helps get rid of the fair-weather fans. I’m sticking with Boston. But, I’m adding another team as well.

I have never felt any particular need to root for a home team that was based 2 hours North (meaning Washington). I root for the Bears over the Skins. The Sox over the O’s. And I don’t follow basketball or hockey (Though I hear the Caps are good. I really have no idea.). But having been to a Nationals game at Nats Park (they lost) and seeing what great underdogs this horrifically bad team make, I was smitten.

The Nationals are the perfect second team for me. Being the home team I can watch every single game, every pitch — in HD — and actually get to know the players. And it’s not too much of a hassle or too high a cost to actually go to the park and see a game. Nats Park really is a great ball park, too. It is the polar opposite of Fenway in just about every aspect but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to see a game there. 

Rooting for the Nats is just a different experience from rooting for the Sox. The Sox have wicked bats and a young, talented pitching staff. The Nats are by most metrics the worst team in baseball. The Sox push the 100 game threshold just about every year. So do the Nats, on the other end of the spectrum. Every game is a new struggle for the Nats. Each win is that much sweeter for being the more rare occurrance. 

Starting this Opening Day, I’ll root just as hard as ever for my Sox. I think they’ve got a real good shot at the AL East title and the Series. The Nats have a decent shot at 60 wins! So, I’ll be pulling for the underdog home team, too, because they’re just fun to cheer on. Let’s Go Sox and Let’s Go Nats!