PopcornKnife Favorite Teams

by Matt "PopcornKnife" Malher

Just as Ryan, I have many favorite teams. I think I probably even have more than him. I’m not going to lie, I probably have too many favorite teams. However, I love sports. I could spend all day watching them and over the years I have learned that having a team to support while watching these sports is a lot more fun than just watching it willy-nilly without caring who really wins. I’ll break it down in sports. Those sports being: NBA, NHL, MLS, NFL, FIFA/World Soccer, MLB, and NCAA. Skip to the bottom if you want just the teams without explanations.

NCAA

Indiana Hoosiers – This one is pretty simple. It’s my alma mater. I graduated from this university in May of 2012. I support every sport from this university. I bleed cream and crimson and will for the rest of my life.

Michigan State Spartans – Now, this is where it starts to get complicated. I get a lot of heat from my friends for supporting another Big Ten school when I attended one. However, let me explain. I grew up a Purdue fan. I was born in Lafayette and my father had graduated from there. I even went to Gene Keady Basketball Camp (as my Purdue friends love to remind me). I was too young to know better, but at the age of 10, I was impressionable and Purdue wasn’t that great at basketball back then so I decided to find another team to cheer for. I decided on Michigan State because they had just won the National Championship in 2000. I became a die hard Michigan State fan, even having my dad paint my room forest green and painting their logo on my wall. For a long time, I thought about going there but eventually decided against it because I can’t stand winter, and my friends were all going to Indiana. Now-a-days I cheer for my Hoosiers first, but I still have and will always have a place in my heart for my Spartans.

Florida Gators – This one, like Ryan, is mostly because of Tim Tebow. I’ll cheer for Florida basketball, but mostly it is a football thing for me. Even when Tebow was there, it was more of a cheer by friend’s association kind of thing. Ryan loved Tebow and his influence on me was great, so I followed his lead and decided to cheer for Florida. And every time I think of Florida football, I think of Ryan and watching the National Championship game at his lake house with him and some of our friends so it always brings back good memories.

MLB

Chicago Cubs – This one is also pretty simple. It is the closest baseball team to me. Of course there is the White Sox, but I love the idea of the Chicago Cubs and the nostalgic feeling of their field. I, myself, have never been to Wrigley, but I hope to change that fairly soon. It’s hard to follow a losing team, but I still check the standings every now and then just to see if maybe the Cubs are edging closer to not being last in the division. With the Astros leaving the division, I was scared that we would but the Brewers are terrible this year so that makes me happy that hopefully the Cubs won’t finish last. I now live in Illinois and once again they are closest team to me and I hope one day they can be a winning ball club again.

Baltimore Orioles – This one is a funny story, and a bit embarrassing, I guess. Last year when watching the MLB playoffs, Baltimore was playing the Yankees. As most red blooded Americans outside of New York, I hate the Yankees so naturally I was cheering for the Orioles. However, I had trouble pronouncing their nickname and it eventually became a running joke to call them by my new nickname for them  because I couldn’t pronounce it, the Oilers. Yes, the Oilers. Now, I looked up the pronunciation online and have practiced it. My friends will tell you I still struggle with it, but it is getting better. I’m not going to lie; it is also nice to have a baseball team that is half decent. I also love their colors. Orange and black! Always reminds me of Halloween, and who doesn’t love Halloween? Chris Davis is a beast and hopefully we can win the pennant this year.

FIFA/World Soccer

USA – I’m American. Enough said.

ACF Fiorentina – This is my world club team. Most people like to follow EPL, but I decided to go with Seria A. I went to Italy when I was a senior in high school and fell in love with the city. I even bought a sweatshirt there that had the same colors as ACF. It is hard to follow the team because of the time difference and not as much coverage as the EPL, but I have the table for the league on my desktop and check it periodically to see how they are doing. One day I hope to follow them more whole heartedly but at a distance for right now is enough.

NFL

Indianapolis Colts – Born and raised in Indiana, this is the closest team to me. When I finally started getting heavily into sports, I love watched my Colts every Sunday and was so happy when they finally won it all. Can’t wait to see the future of this franchise with Luck at QB and even though I live in Illinois now, I’ll always be a Colts fan.

Arizona Cardinals – This one is mostly because of Larry Fitzgerald. I watched him play at Pitt and when he got drafted to Arizona, I started to be a fan of them. I was heartbroken when they lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl, but with Palmer at the helm, maybe my Cardinals can make it back into the playoffs.

MLS

Chicago Fire – Once again, the closest team to me. It is a lot easier to follow MLS because of the time. I know it isn’t the greatest soccer league in the world, but I like soccer a lot so the convenience of watching it at a decent time made me like this time. I have yet made it to Chicago to watch them play at their home stadium but I did watch them win against Sporting K.C. in Kansas City and lose against ManU at Soldier Field.

NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins – I had never really watched hockey until my Senior year of high school. The first game I watched was the Winter Classic with Pittsburgh and Buffalo in Buffalo. It was an awesome game and I wanted more. My friend, Matt Hamas, was already a big hockey fan because he was from Pennsylvania and they actually have a team in state. I decided to like the Penguins directly because of him. It is always more fun when you have someone to cheer on the team you like with, and that’s how I became a Penguins fan. Malkin is my favorite player in the league and in my opinion, the best player in the world. I’ve been to Pittsburgh to watch a game, thanks to my girlfriend, Taryn, and it was great. I’ve visited Pittsburgh a few times and love the city and that adds to my love for the Penguins.

Chicago Blackhawks – The closest NHL team to me. I now live in Illinois and have Comcast Sportsnet. I can watch every game and go to a bar and have other people cheering for the Blackhawks with me. I adapted them as my team shortly after I started watching hockey with the idea that if I wanted to go to an NHL game, it wasn’t that far away to see one. I’ve been to United Center for a game and it was a great experience and I hope now that I’m closer to Chicago, I can see them play again.

Montreal Canadiens – Yes, I have three hockey teams. Maybe you say that is too much but I have my reasons. Hal Gill is probably my 2nd favorite player in the league. I even bought his player shirt when he was a Penguin and I was in Pittsburgh with Matt. Shortly after I bought his player shirt, he got traded to the Canadiens. I was heartbroken at first but then I started to watch them play and fell in love with them. They are my Canada team. Side note, I also got a player shirt for Talbot when he was at Pittsburgh as a gift from my girlfriend, and then he got traded to the Flyers. I don’t wear that one as often because I HATE THE FLYERS, but none-the-less, I don’t buy player shirts anymore because I don’t want them to get traded away.

NBA

Indiana Pacers – I’ve been a Pacers fan my whole life. I have countless number of Reggie Miller cards, and growing up I had posters, and even a Miller jersey. Just like every other Hoosier in the state, I was in love with the Pacers as a kid and was heartbroken when they lost in the Finals. These past playoffs were great, it was so nice to see them make that deep of a run again. I just hope one day I can see them win it all.

The next section is for players I am a fan of but not necessarily a fan of the team they play for:

Any Hoosier in any sport – I limit this to people I watched play or have played since I graduated. So for instance, I like Eric Gordon, but I don’t follow him as intently as I will Victor and Cody because I didn’t watch him play.

LeBron James –I don’t really consider myself a Heat fan per say, and before he went there I wasn’t a Heat fan at all. I’ve liked (like a lot of people) LBJ since he got drafted into the league. I still like him even after he left Cleveland. It is just like when a coach leaves a program for a better opportunity. Sure, he could have stayed and kept on trying to make it work in Cleveland but it was easier for him to just go to Miami and that decision paid off. I know a lot of people like to give him flack for his ESPN show “The Decision” but that show helped raised more than $2 million for various Boys & Girls Clubs, and personally for me that outweighs the way he approached it. He’s a great basketball player. MJ is the greatest, and always will be, but LBJ is still a lot of fun to watch and will be for years to come.

Amar’e Stoudemire – I only recently got into watching NBA a lot, and I needed a favorite player. I researched and watched I wanted someone good and someone who plays like I would if I was really tall and in the NBA. Amar’e fit that profile perfectly and he was a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, injury lately has plagued him. And he is also plagued with Carmello Anthony being on his team. I have his signed jersey, thanks to my girlfriend, and love watching him play when he isn’t injured. I hope he can play a full season next year. I don’t really like the Knicks, but Amar’e being on their team (And Mike Woodson being the coach) makes me like them a bit and I wouldn’t mind seeing them win it all.

I think that about covers everything. Hopefully after reading this you have a better understanding of why I cheer for which teams I do. You may not like that I have so many teams, but I do because it makes it a lot more likely that I’ll have some emotional investment in any game at any time. As Ryan did, here is a recap of the teams I like if you decided to skip the beef of this.

MLB: Cubs, O’s

NCAA:  Hoosiers, Michigan State Spartans

NFL: Colts, Cardinals

NBA: Pacers

MLS: Fire

FIFA: USA

World Soccer: ACF Fiorentina

NHL: Pengiuns, Blackhawks, Habs

Players: Amar’e, LBJ, any IU alum pass 08’

Hoped you enjoyed reading. As Ryan said, we'll be putting together a YouTube show or a blog or something for the coming NFL season packed with picks, crude humor, and I'm sure plenty of arguments.