One of my friends mentioned that U of M (University of Michigan for those of you not from around my area) is playing this weekend. That got me to thinking about a question I had pondered once. How do people choose what team they support?
My understanding is that the most two common reasons people pick a team are based on what school they went to and/or who their parents supported while they were being raised (which is why I cheer for the Colts…when I’m aware there is a game, anyway).
The reason I root for U of M is kind of funny, though. I’m finishing up my thesis for a degree from BGSU in Ohio. While living in Ohio, I went to a church right across from campus. This past spring I went on a mission trip to Louisiana with the church. Most of the people there were Buckeye fans and spoke loudly against U of M. Only, you see, when people talk about U of M, they say “Michigan” and when they talk about MSU, they say “State."
I’m not a very sports-minded person at all! It all started while we were on the road. Some driver with a Michigan license plate proved that “Michigan drivers are the worst!” I begged to differ, citing Illinois drivers (particularly those from Chicago) as being far worse than us. They didn’t believe me and somewhere in our teasing argument their minds shifted to sports and they were making fun of Michigan the team, rather than Michigan the state.
I didn’t realize this. My mind doesn’t follow the sports cues very well, so I was still defending my home state, which had them assuming I was defending the wolverines. There came a point when I started feeling confused and realized that I was now defending a sports team I hadn’t really cared about one way or the other.
At that precise moment I had a choice. I could say, “Woah! Hold on!” and admit my cluelessness about sports then meekly say, “Go Buckeyes?” to which I was sure to receive a whole lot of laughs, hearty back slaps and cheers. Or I could silently adopt the wolverines as my team to cheer for and never admit to them that I had no idea what was going on for half that conversation.
Another Michigan bashing comment was uttered and my mind was made up.
GO BLUE!
