Go Canucks Go

Day before yesterday...the National Hockey League season started for my team...the
Vancouver Canucks...with an exhibition game against Edmonton. Notice I said "my" team.
Someone...free of this team identity thing so many take upon themselves...might well ask..."in what respect "your" team?...do you own this group of athletes?...are you related to them?". The answer...to such questions...is...of course..."no". So...what is it that lies behind a seemingly sane person...claiming a team...as "theirs"?. A lot of the time...it has to do with the sports team...that plays in the geographical area where you live...but I know of several examples where this is not the case. When you claim a team to be "yours"...you usually...it seems...get into an unbalanced view of them and their fortunes. Anyone who has attended a game has heard the deep...primordial bray of disapproval...that rises up from the home crowd...when the referee makes a call...against their team...regardless of how well justified it is. I've talked to other "sports fans"...who like me...lose their interest in the ultimate
outcome of the play offs...once their team has been knocked out of them...suggesting
that identification with a team...can come before the love of the sport itself.
I remember telling a young relative of mine...who was being vehement...about something
to do with "his" team...that one of the benefits of professional sport...is that
you can vent your prejudices...not in a way that is a human rights issue...but helps
you to blow off steam...in your one sided view of things...so that you don't have to
be prejudiced in real life. There may be at least a grain of truth in that
observation...which leads me to end this slight probing of what it is to be a fan...
with the totally objective call to arms for my team..."Go Canucks Go!".............. ..............Quester.