How to Cheer for Not Your Team

The MLB playoffs started last night.  And if that game is any indication for the rest of the postseason, we are in for quite a treat.  Kansas City beat Oakland in twelve innings.  Very exciting game.  There are lots of story lines to choose from.  Kansas City in the playoffs for the first time since 1985.  Oakland choking away three leads in the game.  How about Brandon Finnegan?  Age 21, pitched in the college World Series for TCU THIS YEAR and came in and pitched two and a third innings.  Cold.  Blooded.  Because Detroit wasn't playing in the game, I had a chance to cheer for a different team.  I cheered for Kansas City for a couple of reasons, and I think that it can be applied when watching a game that your favorite team is not currently playing.

Kansas City is in the AL Central, the same division as the Tigers.  This division is looked down upon as a weak division, yet have two teams in the playoffs this year.  It is no longer a one team division which is great for the sport, but not so much for their fans.  I like to see the division of the team I cheer for do well (no matter what sport) unless that team is from Chicago.  Fuck all of those teams.  The same can be applied to college sports.  Except Ohio State.  Fuck them.  I also watched a lot of Royals baseball living down in Wichita for six years.  So to see a team that struggled improve over the course of those years, it's cool.

I know not everyone likes to cheer for divisional opponents, even when they aren't playing your favorite team.  Some people are like that.  I am not.  I have teams that I never want to see win (see:  Chicago, Ohio State), but I always like to see the division my favorite team plays in do well.  Whether it is baseball, hockey, or football, as long as the team isn't from Ohio or the city of Chicago, and they are not playing a team from Michigan, you will see me pull for them.  I won't sit down and watch the entire game, but I will check in frequently and if they do well, I will give the team their due and think 'well, good for them'. 

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