Sunday, November 09, 2008

Loyalty...

I've written lots about my concerns about children and religion - but somebody pointed out that there's something far more important that children are introduced to at an early age in America.

Team loyalty.

In many ways, the process of finding your designated religion and your chosen NFL team are very similar. Just like most people from the Middle East wind up Muslim and most people from India wind up Hindu, most Americans end up supporting an NFL team purely because of geographic location.

For example, in New York, it's a choice between The New York Giants and The New York Jets.

But when it comes to choosing between the two... Well, then it gets tough. It's like deciding whether to be a Catholic or a Protestant.

For most people, you follow the same route you did with religion and join the same denomination as your family. For others, though, there are more important spiritual considerations to.. erm... consider.

I mean, do you support The Giants because of their astonishing Superbowl win earlier this year?

Or do you support The Jets, because they recently recruited legendary quarterback Brett Favre to their team?

Or do you, like most people, pick between the two based on the color of their uniforms (clear win for The Jets here, since they sport something close to British Racing Green.)

In the end, though, the NFL team one supports is as personal a choice as one's religion. That's why I left it up to Martin to decide for himself. And this was his answer:

"Jets? Sure, I'm a fan of The Jets. I like the Boeing 747 especially."

2 comments:

Expat mum said...

We have the Cubs/Sox thing here. Every time we drive past Cellular Field my kids almost spit out the window!

The Chemist said...

Too true. I used to support the Panthers back when they started in North Carolina, and the same when for the Hornets. At the time I lived in Charlotte.

Now though, since those two teams have since moved away from my childhood home, and I live in Atlanta, I just started supporting the Brave, Hawks, and Falcons. I even managed to get mad at Michael Vick for bringing shame down on us here.