Curious Hair wrote:
College sports fandom too often fancies itself as something more encompassing than just liking a sports team, which is where it gets so ugly to me. I've never used a Blackhawks win to tell a Islanders fan that this outcome proves my superior intelligence, our divisional competitiveness, hotness of local females, drinking prowess, so on, so forth. (Besides, Long Island has some srs QTs if you're into that whole thing.) Et tu, Bee Won Jee fans?
I don't get into international sports for the same reason, especially international hockey, which really seems to rankle my fellow hockey fans who eat the shit up with a spoon. USA-Canada is the fakest-ass "national" rivalry around, as far as hockey goes. Most elite American players grow up in states that are more culturally akin to Canada (Minnesota, Michigan, upstate NY) than parts of their own country, then play their major-junior in Ontario or the Prairies, and wind up pronouncing "out" as "oat" like a hoser. Most elite Canadians play in a mostly American league and profit immensely from our tax system. Furthermore, many players have dual citizenship as children of Canadians born in America or whatever. It's cooked-up nonsense based on which side of an imaginary line your mom was on when she popped you out, if even that. Finkle is Einhorn. Sorry for the off-topic rant.
Keep telling yourself that pro sports aren't like that.