I Always Bet on Black, Black Jack, I'll Pay You Back

Besides the NY Times, Washington Post, and Facebook, one of the websites that I peruse each day is ESPN.com. Knowing that I am a college-male in a sports-crazed nation like America, this is probably yawn-inducing news. I must note, however, that I do not peruse ESPN simply for the latest sports scores, but for the writing of Bill Simmons.

I have written about Simmons before, but his writing is what keeps me coming back to ESPN each and every day, just so I can see if he has written something new. Like that child who walks out to the mailbox, each day in December looking for that package slip, I head to ESPN to find out if the Sports Guy has given me another gift.

Today, Bill continued an interesting new feature called "Curious Guy" by interviewing Chuck Klosterman. You can read more about Klosterman here. I would like to focus on one of the particular points that Simmons and Klosterman discuss, that of sports loyalty based on geography. You can read their points here, but I will also offer mine.

Klosterman's argument that geography does not necessarily obligate sports fans to support teams in their area has some validity, but by in large I have to disagree. Part of the joy in supporting a team is being part of a community that supports that team. Perhaps Klosterman's argument only applies to professional sports, but I know there is no way that anyone in Texas could support a high school football team from another town over their hometown team.

In the college ranks, there is just something special about supporting a team from your home state against other states, simply because all of you live in a common space. All of those people who live in Texas and support ou during the Red River Shootout are the obvious exceptions to this rule and I have no way to explain their seemingly delusional behavior.

If any of you are able to further contribute to this discussion, please do. I hope I'll see all of you at "Football Armageddon" tonight.