I'm going through a serious discernment: I am thinking of renouncing the New York Yankees. It's not due to anything like the occult self-hate of the triumphant class, nor is it because I lack good Yankee credentials; I was born and raised in a part of southern Connecticut that is solidly Yankee, I have lived in the Bronx, and have been to the Stadium many times.
Here's what it is: my jurisdiction of the Order is New York and New England, and I have a desire to opt out of the obvious rivalry. The drive to deal with conflict by either transcending or opting out of the binary context altogether is rooted somewhere deep in my personality, and isn't unrelated to my particular vocation.
Becoming a Red Sox fan doesn't solve anything in this regard. Besides, my New England ancestors were Boston Braves fans, and so despised the Red Sox, como Dios manda. Almost nobody grasps this particular protest against Red Sox fandom when I make it. Is it such obscure reasoning?
The problem: articulating intelligible and durable criteria for whom to adopt, if I should decide to apostatize. The Braves, given the ancestral connection related above? If that why not Cleveland, where my father is from, and where he has maintained his baseball allegiance? I've never been there, however. In fact, the only place I have ever lived with any other strong baseball identity was my year of novitiate in Wisconsin.
So some questions arise, for which I invite comment. First, ought I to pursue this inclination to convert? Second, if so, to whom, and by what reasoning?
12 comments:
Hmm. Here's an argument for goin Red Sox.
I was at a pro-life march and prayer vigil. I noticed some of the pro-life people were wearing Yankee items - shirts, caps, etc - and some others were wearing Red Sox items. I counted: Red Sox outnumbered Yankees about 2-1.
Based on my informal survey, I concluded Red Sox fans were more likely to be pro-life!
Oaky, it was informal.
And I was born in Boston.
(Guess what kind of cap I was wearing.)
You should become a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. Because it is the *right* and *just* thing to do. :p
FYI..voting has started in the Crescat's Cannonball Blog Awards...
http://thecrescat.blogspot.com/2010/05/unleash-hell.html
You are nominated...
You ought to root for the Detroit Tigers because Ven. Solanus Casey did and attained the heights of sanctity.
It's interesting that you're thinking entirely in terms of allegiance to ancestors or regions of the country. When I started rooting for the basketball team I like, it was solely because I respected the players and coaches. If they were replaced with jerks, I'd stop being a fan. It seems in my circle that women are more likely to root for who they personally like, and men are more loyal to the region they live in or came from. Just coincidence?
Also, very interesting remark about transcending or opting out. Can you completely avoid conflict that way, or do people argue with you that you're wrong for refusing to take a stand on one side or the other?
the 'transcending/opting out' thing can work for good or bad.
Well....
Given that you are a Franciscan, don't you think you ought to be a Pardes fan?
Their mascot is the "Swinging Friar"
That's got to mean something!
I am going to have to go with the NY Mets. First and foremost, because I am a Met fan.
Secondly, they are a New York team. And last but not least, they play real baseball, not that fake stuff they play in the American League...
I'm only going to say this once:
MARINERS!
Any questions!
Friends, something's up with comments...They are getting lost when I try to publish them...so don't be alarmed.
Chuck,
Obviously you've been waiting for me to weigh in on this serious matter.
Because you are something of a contrarian, it is obvious you need to opt out of the American League and get away from this Yanks/Sawx false duality and begin rooting for a National League team.
The Cardinals and the Braves are evil; they know they are evil and will lead you to a path of ruin.
The Mets have much to say for them, but (much to your surprise) I am going to recommend the Cubs. But my logic is flawless: God is pure mystery. It is pure mystery why anyone would be a Cubs fan. Therefore God is a Cubs fan. And you should be as well.
ThThe Cardinals and the Braves are
Phil,
Of course I was waiting. You do raise a point about my relationship to the American League; as someone with a tendency to purism, I have always wondered if I ought to go over to the other league. This brings out a larger point about my own spiritual practice; those aspects of my personality which are sometimes dangerous when combined with religious power, e.g. purism, pedantry, are easily satisfied by baseball, and nobody gets hurt.
The syllogism I will have to think about.
It doesn't really matter if you apostasize to another team or not. You were born into Yankee fandom and that is where you will have to stay.
Believe me when I say I know this to be true. I am old... I started as a Yankee fan as a child and no matter which team I might lean toward, I always sway back to the Yankees!!!
I hope you realize your destiny before it is too late! :)
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