Wow, this thread has caught on! Thanks for all the different views, guys. I actually really enjoyed Anchorhead's initial post on this, and it did make sense. Not enough to make me a sports fan, but... ^_~
Anyway, I do have a question for Warbler. If it seems like I'm picking on your posts, I'm not. It just seems you say the things that make me want to start a discussion. It's about the whole "supporting a team because you live there," thing, which I admit is something I've never really gotten either. Yes I can certainly see where you're coming from, especially given the mentality of "the team represents me." Maybe it's just because I see sports fans as being big into stats (not to mention winning) and pulling for their team, that it makes more sense to me to get a good idea of which team in the league you truly consider to be "the best" and root for it. Just rooting for a team because they're in the same general vacinity almost seems lazy to me (not that I'm calling you lazy, but that's just the way it's felt to me). I say this particularly because I consider a team representative of the individuals who make up that team. If a team has long since lost all the players, changed managers... are they the same team anymore? If you admit that the team you're rooting for sucks to the point that you don't even like them anymore, or that the players make you want to throw a brick at your TV, while all your favorite players from your home team have been traded to a different team...? Well, I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. I know you're using hyperbole and don't really mean it, but to label someone a "traitor" for daring to like a "foreign" team just seems silly, especially considering the high possibility of people living in different regions of the country throughout their lifetime. Are they supposed to just give up their previous team and start rooting for whatever team they happen to live near at any given time?
And I certainly see how watching the Olympics you take a bit of satisfaction in seeing America do well. I rarely watch the Olympics either, but maybe I'm just more of an individualist in that sense. If I see an athlete I like, think is really good, or just somehow hooks me, I'm not going to care what country they come from, I'm going to root for that athlete. After all, it's just a game!