Brian's thoughts on sports

I am a major sports fan. There is no team that is more important to me than the Red Sox. I have been a fan of them since I was 7. Seeing them in the World Series last fall was incredible for me, an experience I'll never forget and probably won't top in my life (I saw them win game 3 in Denver). I am such a fan of the Red Sox, that the night of game 7 against the Yankees in 2004 (the sports miracle of all miracles) I couldn't watch. Instead I played basketball at the church. If they had lost that game it would have been extremely painful for me (Aaron Boone is still giving me nightmares).

Next I am a major fan of the Cougars. I have been since I was a kid. My goodly parents instilled this in me. Thanks Mom and Dad.I am a big fan of the Giants as well, or at least used to be. I love watching Barry Bonds play. Sure he may be juiced, but so was every other slugger during the late 90's and early 00's. The thing is that Barry was the best of the juiced, which counts for something. Whatever the case he was just plain wonderful to watch.

Kobe is the best basketball player and MVP in the NBA and has been for some time now. We all know the NBA is an individual sport, so it doesn't make sense to me to root for a team unless they have players you like. Thus I am a Lakers fan (until Kobe gets traded).

I'm a Penn State Nittany Lions fan.

I can't quite explain this but I dislike everything about the NFL. I have no favorite teams and I pretend the league doesn't exist. College football is where it's at period.

The Utes are a team that I love to hate. I'll never forget the football game in 2001 of BYU vs. the dirty playing Utes (SportsCenter ran a segment of clips from this game to point out all the dirty plays the Utes made in this game). We had 50 yard line seats about 20 rows up (thanks Uncle Lynn). If you've forgotten this game see this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHARVLfkva4

I'm not sure which I like to see more, the Red Sox win or the Yankees lose. I can't stand the Yankees. the ALCS in 2004 will always be remembered. The Yankees are so last century!

Now for my thoughts on sports:

1. Bandwagon fans - I can't understand what's wrong with being a bandwagon fan? There are no rules about being a sports fan. Being a sports fan is all about enjoying games and cheering on teams. How can you do this if you're team is the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals (sorry Alex), or the LA Clippers? I respect a fan's loyalty to a team, but will never understand it. In my opinion, there are only two reasons why someone makes fun of another sports fan for being a bandwagon fan, 1. they are selfish and can't share their team, or 2. they are jealous because their team stinks.
   
2. Salary Cap in Baseball - Baseball needs a salary cap period. I know the Red Sox pay out the second largest salaries in baseball, but the Yankees have abused this aspect of baseball to no end. This is why the Yankees are the only true evil empire team in all of sports. People may claim the Lakers, and the Dallas Cowboys are evil empires, but at least those sports have salary caps. Players just want to play for the Lakers period, does that make them evil?
3. The MVP award - Shouldn't this award be given to the Most Valuable Player? Instead in nearly every case (except, thankfully, in baseball) it is given to the best player on the best team. If that were the way this award should be given then it should be renamed to be the MVPOTBT. The MVP is the player any teams would want to select first to build a team around.
4. Worst NBA players - Allen "Brick" Iverson, Tracy "Hey at least I make the playoffs" McGrady, Bruce "Shh I'm a cheater" Bowen, and Manu "Floppy" Ginobili (he's so bad at flopping that the NBA is considering making it a technical foul to flop just because of him, and because of his predecessor Flop Flop Vlade Divac, by the way did you ever hear that song called "Flop Flop Divac" to the Vanilla Ice tune of "Ice Ice Baby"?).