Ranking your fandom

Or is it fanhood? Fandemonium? Whatever. Happy Halloween all.

I was listening to the local talk radio show yesterday (Dave Glen on 850) and there was an interesting discussion on what peoples' favorite sports were. Everyone has their gut answer, but when you look at it from a different perspective, that can change.

The first deliniation made was are you a fan of a sport or a team? The question asked was this - if your favorite team was not playing, would you watch a game? This is the question that bothered the host, because he considered himself a huge baseball fan, but really he was a huge Phillies fan. The difference is very important. (I'll bring this back to hockey - don't worry)

For example, I'll only watch college basketball if either:
a) my team (NC State) is playing - I'm alumni
b) it's the ACC or NCAA tournament

I'll watch the high profile events and I'll watch my team, but I'm not a fan of "college basketball" as a whole. I won't watch the NBA at all, even the finals. So, with respect to basketball, I'm not a fan. I have a passing interest in the college game due to my school affiliation.

I've also found that there are certain sports I will watch in the playoffs (as the above example shows, with the tourneys) but not in the regular season. Despite the best efforts of ESPN to hype the hell out of it, I can't bring myself to sit down and watch a regular season UNC/Duke matchup. Good basketball or not, I have better things to do. Maybe the last five minutes if it's a close game.

So, my rankings of my favorite sports (along with reasons):

1. NHL - I'll watch anyone playing, time permitting, regular season or playoffs.
2. NFL - Again, I'll pretty much watch any game, although I tend to lean towards games where I have a rooting interest somewhere (whether it's the Panthers or some fantasy impact). Still, I love watching football. After the big two it's a bit of a dropoff.
3. College football - I'll watch NC State games and, if with friends who cheer for another school, the game featuring that school. I have a good friend who is a Florida grad, so I've watched some games with him while our kids play.
4. College basketball - I'm an NC State fan and I'll catch the post-season stuff (ACC tourney and NCAA tourney), but I won't watch anything outside of that spectrum.
5. MLB - My main problem here is I don't have a rooting interest in anyone. When I was younger I followed the Mets a bit, but I have a huge disconnect with them right now (location and family-wise). I'll watch the playoffs if I have the time, but I never watch the regular season.
6. International soccer - whether it's the World Cup or some international friendly (are any of them really friendly? Really?), I'll put this on if it's there. I'll watch non-US matches because usually it's a better product, and I've been known to go out of my way from time to time in order to catch a World Cup match during working hours. One of my best friends is a huge soccer guy though, so I end up getting dragged into watching more than I would normally anyway.

7+ (in no particular order)

• MLS - In passing, I'll watch this. I went to a Columbus/Salt Lake match a few months back with my friend (see #5) while I was visiting in Ohio.
• MMA - I don't really "follow" it, but I'll watch it if it's on and the kids are elsewhere.
• Tennis - I don't really like it all that much, but I don't dislike it either. It just sort of is.
• Golf - I don't care for it that much, but I've tried it and I can appreciate it a bit. My dad loved it and I kind of keep a special place aside just for that reason, but I'm not really passionate about the sport. Any sport where you play against the course and not your opponent is a little lesser in my eyes anyway.
• AFL - Arena league is alright, but seems to be to football as foosball is to soccer, for what it's worth.

Things I have little to no interest in:

1. NBA - there is nothing there that I care about. I see these highlight packages on ESPN and some dunk makes the top three and it's a 7 foot guy putting the ball in a 10 foot rim. BFD. If I was 7 feet tall I could dunk too.

• NASCAR - car go round and round and round and so on...
• Women's sports - I've been able to watch soccer, hockey, and volleyball, but that's about it. It's just not that appealing to me. Maybe that'll change as my daughter gets older - who knows?
• "Action" sports - Just seems stupid to me. Whatever.
• Olympics - Remember when the games used to mean something? Other than hockey during the winter olympics and soccer during the summer, this just doesn't hold my interest anymore. Gymnastics? Track and Field? Yawn.
• Boxing - if I want fixed fights, I'll play a video game.