Becoming a Cardinals Fan
I often wonder how baseball fans become baseball fans – not of the game in general (that I fully understand!) – but die hard fans of a specific team. Geography? Inheritance? Genetically predetermined alliance? Woke up one day and felt like being a fan of something?
How does a person turn into a crazed maniac, willing to jump, scream, holler and cry over a particular team. I’ve never understood, because its never happened to me.
I always wonder this especially when the fan doesn’t live anywhere near the team. My soon-to-be brother-in-law is a die hard Cards fan. He lives in Australia for heaven’s sake. How does that happen?!
In my own case, I’ve been living in some sort of baseball limbo for the past 5 years.
I grew up with a grandmother who was an extreme Cubs fan. But my parents are loyal White Sox fans. That meant I was a White Sox fan (notice I’m leaving out the word loyal here). We went to games as a family and religiously watched the Sox play on TV. But I never seemed to catch the Sox buzz the way the rest of my family did.
Then in 2006 we moved to the St. Louis area. Family members asked if we were going to be Cardinals fans now. I always said, “No, I don’t think so.” Who just moves to a different city and becomes a fan of its baseball team? The idea seemed very disingenuous.
But my loyalty to the White Sox had never grown strong enough and it just didn’t stick without my family around.
I was an un-fan.
A plain baseball fan. Sans team loyalty.
We went to Cards games, of course. Because baseball is baseball and its fabulous even if you are homeless in your allegiances. I even rooted for the home team, but not with the heart of a real fan.
People ask us about the Cards when we’re back home in Sox/Cubs territory. Whether they’re winning or losing – I’ve never claimed to be a fan. I don’t do that fair weather fan bullshit. Not having a team to love is a bummer, but being a fake fan is inexcusable.
And then. Last night. In the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 6 of the World Series, I began to understand.
This is how fans are made.
By the 10th, my heart was racing and I was on the edge of the couch.
In the 11th, by the time Freese cracked the ball into center field, I knew exactly what I would be telling our children when they ask why we are Cardinals fans.
Congratulations Cardinal Nation – you’ve converted another one.
For better or worse, till death do us part, I now pronounce myself a Cardinals fan.
And I’ll always remember why.
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