Showtime Favorite Teams

by Ryan "Showtime" Velasquez"

Iwant to set the record straight on a subject that is honestly very dear to myheart. Also, this is very long so be patient. If you can't, at the bottomhas the recap of my favorite teams. Now, before I continue any more, I need to lieout some parameters. One, I am drinking and will continue to throughout thisnote. Second, I am holding word responsible for all of my spelling andgrammar considering I am watching game two of lord Stanley Yelnats's cup. 1-1in OT by the way. Third, I really don’t care what you say about me or myopinions, and those who know me know that I don’t, unless it’s my friendsquestioning me. In that case, I will argue to the best of my ability.Anddddddddd, loko drink. Ok, to the point. The definition of a bandwagon fan,in my opinion, is someone who likes a team because they are good and for thatreason only. Then, once the team settles back to mediocrity, they pick a newteam. With my explanations, you will see that that is not true for me. I lovesports, probably more than I should. Ok, side note, paused the game becausereally got into this note. Put on backstreet boys, blame this is the end. Greatmovie. Ok, favorite teams and my love of sports. My father is a great athleteand got me into sports. We would watch all the time on TV and go to every Purdueevent we could. Those days were the best and times I wouldn’t trade foranything. Not even sex. Yeah, I know. It was that fun to me. Anyways, I lovesports, sports teams, and watching games. Recently though, I have gotten shitfrom people about the teams I root for. So, with this post, I am going to setthe record straight. 

There are teams that I bleed: Notre Dame Football, ButlerBasketball, Saints Footballs, Lakers Basketball and so on, teams I like for theplayer: Florida Gators (Tebow), Washington Capitols (Ovie), New York Red Bulls(Henry, pronounce On-ray by the way), and teams that have grown on me that I will from this day on bleed for as in New Mexico Lobos. 

Every faceoff, I drink.Glad its not game one with all those icings but I just took like three drinksin six seconds. So, I will separate my teams into the different sport categories:NFL, NCAAF, NCAAB, NBA, NHL, MLB, and even MLS and FIFA. Wow, I sit down withmy soup to watch this game and Boston scores in OT. Fuck me right? Anyways,guys its book of secrets for me.

 Ok, to start it out simple, I will pick thesports I really don’t care about. Yeah, you guessed it, soccer. Besides thegoals, nothing is that cool. Oh what a great slide tackle. Bleh, boring. But, Ilove Thierry Henry. Why, simple. Soccer is not that exciting unless you areoutside the US. And, growing up in my time, it was Ronaldinho, Henry, Beckham,or Ronaldo. I chose the Frenchman and 3-time FWA footballer of the year Henry.Josh DePew and I played FIFA for hours one night with me as Henry and him asRonaldinho.  That might have been thetipping point but who really cares. He got me into the Red Bulls, and the factthat I love the drink. As for FIFA, I am an American with Mexican heritage. Ifso facto, I root for USA and Mexico. Soccer: Red Bulls, USA. Mexico. Now thatsoccer is out of the way, let us go to MLB. I am a cub’s fan that is it. Nowbaseball, with all of its 162 games and made up statistics such as WAR, I can’tstand it. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I would trade for a game atWrigley, but the day to day is too much for me. 100 wins is an awesome season.But that also means you lose 62 times. WHAT?!?!?!? Yeah I said 62 times. Myheart nor pride can stand 62 loses. With that said, I follow the Cubs abouteveryday and always look to catch a game when I am in the area. MLB: Cubs. 

Letsget to the collegiate level. Baseball first because football is, no matter whatpeople say, is America’s sport. For basketball, I have gotten caught up inthree trends: heritage, heart, and location. First is heritage. This aspectalso relates to football and may be the greatest factor in team choosing. Mostof my family, mom, dad, uncles, aunts, cousins, and even siblings have gone to Purdue.After graduating high school, I was a week away from going to Purdue. I haveloved Purdue since I can remember. I will get into that more in football, butmy dad used to take me to basketball games all the time. My mom even got meinto the locker room and a ball signed by Gene Kedey. I love the team. My heartwas broken when the lost to VCU. That was the year I thought they could takeit, if it wasn’t for an injury to Robbie. Next, the Lobos. Now, I know what youare saying, “You never went to UNM, just moved there, how do you like them?” Myresponse is, “You never said a word about (whatever college you went to) beforeyou got to campus.” Well, I fell in love with the Lobos when I set foot oncampus. No, I have never enrolled or attended a class. However, being stationedat Holloman AFB with nothing around, going to the games made me feel like I wasa part of the team. I even felt like I was more than a student with the heartand soul I put into the team. To be fair, I never made it to a basketball game,but I watch as many as I could on CBS Sports Network (a little Mountain WestPlug), which is over 20 games. I was with them through the ups and downs.  I love the Lobos. I was crushed when Alfordleft and even more so when they lost to Harvard in the first round. In my opinion,they had the easiest route to the final four and I thought they could win itall. But, that is the madness. However, with leading scorer Kendall Williams(46 point performance against Colorado State), and point guard Hugh Greenwood,the Lobos look to continue success next season. Finally, and my favorite, isthe Butler Bulldogs. You could say it started when Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard,and Shelvin Mack lead the team to back to back national title games (minusbabyface on the second championship). That would not be the case. Little dopeople know, my grandfather used to play for the Bulldogs. Yeah, I know, suckthat dick. Who can say that about their family? Wait till I tell you about wheremy dad played as well. Anyways, the mixture of captivating play, familyheritage, and just the Indiana work ethic that goes into bulldog basketball,its easy to see why they are my favorite team in NCAA Basketball. NCAAB,Butler, UNM, Purdue. 

I believe it is NHL time. This one is pretty simple to meand may be the easiest to point out. The Avs have always been my favorite.Never a minute of wavering. I lived with my mom for the first part of my life,up to grade 4. The last three years of that time, I lived in Michigan. Whilethere, I played ice hockey and fell in love with the game. I remember watchinggames until the am and making a replica Stanley Cup with a coffee can,Tupperware, and tin foil. Those were the best days. Anyways, being in Michigan,you would think I would be a red wings fan. FUCK THAT SHIT. I hate them andalways will. For some reason, I fell in love with the Colorado Avalanche, withJoe Sakic, Patrick Roy (my favorite player of all time), Peter Forsberg, andothers. I watched, and still do, as many games as I can. They were just theteam for me. As for the Capitals, I love them because of Ovie. I liked him eversince he was the drafted first overall to the Caps in 04. The three-time HartMemorial Trophy winner is hard not to like, besides his Leborn like ability tonot perform in the playoffs. With him on the the team, the Caps are a team Iroot for. NHL: Avalanche, Capitals. 

NBA, I suppose, should be next. In my earlydays, I was never much of a basketball fan. However, once I really startedwatching it in middle school, I began to love it. Naturally, I startedfollowing the Pacers. Being an Indiana team, they were an easy team to rootfor. Having Reggie Miller didn’t hurt either. I remember when they had astacked team with Jermaine O’Neal, Stephen Jackson, Metta World Peace (then asRon Artest), and others. Before the Malice at the Palace, they had a team builtfor a deep playoff run. However, one stray beer ended all of that. Recently,the Pacers have drafted promising young players to once again be a strongplayoff team. Though coming off tough back-to-back series losses to the Heat,the Pacers have the players to finally get to the finals and bring a title backto the home of basketball. Now, the Pacers were the obvious choice, but beingan impressionable kid, I was drawn to greatness. Enter Kobe Bryant and the LosAngeles Lakers. The Lakers were a dominant team with dominant players. The flashyplay, strong playoff performances were captivating to watch. Seeing Kobe andShaq play was a great show. I couldn’t get enough of it. Even now that Shaq isgone, the Lakers still have gone to the finals three times in a row, winningtwo of them. I watch as many games as possible. I remember watching them playon TNT at 1030 ET. The games wouldn’t even get over until around 1. With workthe next morning at 430, watching the games was somewhat of a feat. I didn’tcare. I loved watching the games and would be glued to the TV. The Lakers maybe the one team I follow the most intently. Now, being a fan of the Lakers fromIndiana, people have suggested that I am a fair weather fan. Think what youwant, but I put my heart and soul into the team. I watch nearly 60 games aweek, listen to the rest on the radio, and follow the team’s blogs. Can all ofyou Heat fans out there say you have even watched 10? I don’t think so.  Ask yourself this though, why would I stick bythrough the 04-05 season when they went 34-48 and missed the playoffs? Or thenext two seasons when they lost in the first round of the playoffs both times?I may have started out as a fan just because of the greatness of the players,but you have to start somewhere. Now I am an avid Lakers fan and always willbe. NBA: Lakers, Pacers. 

Now its time for America’s sport: football. NCAAFshould be first. The Gators get a short little time because I only liked themfor Tim Tebow, one of the best college football players of all time. I followedhim very closely after his Heisman Trophy win. I remember watching them beatOklahoma in the title game up at my grandparent’s lake house. Good times. Nowthat he is gone, I keep up some with scores and primetime games. New MexicoLobos have a place in my heart for the same reason as the basketball team. Ihave never tailgated before until I went to a Lobos football game at the Den.It was awesome. Just partying and getting the whole parking lot riled up beforethe game was fun. The student section was super lame. It felt like the studentsdidn’t even care about the team at all. Lu, Strick, and I took it uponourselves to get the crowd involved. We would start cheers, raise hell, and weeven started the tradition of throwing girls up in the air for every pointscored, something they still do now because of us. We became honorary studentsand will continue to go to every game while I live here. I have already boughtmy season tickets. Purdue football will always have a special place in myheart. I feel like I grew up in Ross-Aide Stadium. Little do people know, mydad played for Purdue when he was at Purdue. He played along side Hall of FamerRod Woodson. My dad would take me to games all of the time. Those Saturdayswere the best ever. Whether it was Drew Brees hitting Vinny Sutherland for a 99-yardtouchdown pass or Kyle Orton hitting Taylor Stubblefield on a quick out andseeing him break off a 40 yard run, the games were magical. I couldn’t evensleep the night before. As much as the Boilers made me happy, they have equallycrushed all my hopes and dreams. Drew Brees not being able to get a win inPasadena, breaking the streak of bowl appearances, hiring of terrible coaches,and Kyle Orton fumbling away the chance at a perfect season against Wisconsinwhen he decided to do a Superman dive instead of sliding. Crushing. However,they will always be one of teams. 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish. My favoritecollege football team. I love the Irish with all my heart. Whatever I can getNotre Dame, I do. I have a jersey in every color, many t-shirts, sweatshirts,polos, a welcome mat, hats, gloves, and even a “Play Like a Champion Today”sign. Nothing gets me going on Saturday like the Irish. Now growing up aBoilermaker, liking the Irish was a decision I had to trouble making. I alwaysfollowed them because they were in Indiana, but I never cared much about themuntil that’s where I decided I want to go school. Since that day, and they wereterrible back then by the way, I was all about the Irish. I watched as BobDavie left the team struggling, Ty Willingham putting together the pieces,Charlie Weis taking them to back to back Fiesta bowls, and Brian Kelly takingthem back to the National Title game. I bleed blue, green, and gold. NCAAF:Notre Dame, Purdue, UNM, Florida. Saving the best for for last: NFL. There arereally two teams I like a lot and one I like for the player. We shall startthere. Peyton Manning has always been one of my favorite players. How could younot like him? Hardest working player in the league, similar to Kobe Bryant forthe Lakers. He is also a professional in all the he does. As a Colts fan, Iworshiped him. As he departed, I followed him to the Broncos. When he leaves, Iwill as well. Now, like the Pacers, I am a Colts fan by location. That,however, does not take away from my feelings. I still root for them, watch themevery week, and keep track of stats and such. I remember my grandfather takingme to multiple games. My favorite team however, is the New Orleans Saints. Likethem may be the most interesting way to pick a team. Back when I used to playmy Play Station original, I had to settle for Madden since they didn’t makecollege football yet. I used to play Madden 95. Since there was no college and Iwas a huge Purdue fan, I would play as the Saints. Same colors. Doing that letme know the players, coaches, and the overall team. From then on, I liked NewOrleans. Now, they were never any good, so I didn’t get to watch them playmuch. But, one glorious day, my favorite football team and my favorite footballplayer came together. I am talking about Drew Brees. With Brees game publicity,then came a Lombardi Trophy. Brees made the Saints a high power team, which iswhy people now accuse everyone who isn’t from NOLA a bandwagon fan. Not thecase here. NFL: Saints, Colts, Broncos. There you have it. All of my favorite teams,reasons, and rankings. I hope you enjoyed it and finally have a betterunderstanding on my love for them. Here is a quick recap for those of you whoforget or didn’t want to read it all.

NFL:Saints, Colts, Broncos

NCAAF:Notre Dame, Purdue, New Mexico, Florida

NBA:Lakers, Pacers

NHL:Avalanche, Capitals

NCAAB:Butler, New Mexico, Boilermakers

MLB:Cubs

MLS:Red Bulls

FIFA:USA, Mexico

Ihope you liked what you read and keep a lookout for more posts. I will try tokeep the others more simple and short. Also, Malher and I, and more people ifthey want to join, will be starting our own little blog/show of sorts. Nextfootball season we will be having previews and predictions of all the NFL gamesand more. Let me know of any ideas or topics you wish for us to write about andwe will.

NFL:Saints, Colts, Broncos

NCAAF:Notre Dame, Purdue, New Mexico, Florida

NBA:Lakers, Pacers

NHL:Avalanche, Capitals

NCAAB:Butler, New Mexico, Boilermakers

MLB:Cubs

MLS:Red Bulls

FIFA:USA, Mexico

I hope you liked what you read and keep a lookout for more posts. I will try tokeep the others more simple and short. Also, Malher and I, and more people ifthey want to join, will be starting our own little blog/show of sorts. Nextfootball season we will be having previews and predictions of all the NFL gamesand more. Let me know of any ideas or topics you wish for us to write about andwe will.