I'm From......So I Must be a Fan of.....Does it Really Matter?

Just from the sheer fact that I was born and raised in Virginia I am expected to be a Washington Redskins fan, a UVA fan, a Nats fan, and a Caps fan according to many individuals out there in the local sports world today. Let me counter that by saying I am a Giants fan in football, a Virginia Tech Hokie, George Mason, and UNC fan for all college sports, an Atlanta Braves fan, and don't really care for the NHL (but if I had to choose a team I guess I would say the Caps). Family has a lot to do with these decisions that I made to become fans of these teams. I didn't say "Oh, well I was born in VA so I have to root for the Redskins and all other DC teams." NO! I was raised in the Virginia Beach area of the state so there was a big fan base down there of Panther and Falcons fans as well for the NFL. I also did not decide to choose to root for those teams because they were "geographically" closer than any other teams.

These assertions that where you were raised is directly related to what teams you should and should not root for is utterly ridiculous. I was raised a Giants fan because my family raised me that way. It also helps that my grandfather and family before me were raised in New Jersey. I have been to the NY/NJ area a couple times in my life-time but just because I was not born there does not mean I am not allowed to root for them. My whole dad's side of the family has always rooted for them and that's the way I was raised. When I started understanding sports I made the decision to continue to be a Giants fan and always have been since that day and always will be.

I am a Virginia Tech fan simply because my entire dad's side of the family went to school there and I pretty much grew up on that campus for a lot of the first part of my life. I was raised to be a fan. Enough said. I will always be a Hokie fan no matter how much crap they get from the critics about being over-rated and whatever.

I became a Braves fan for a number of reasons. To keep it short, one of my best-friends as a kid was a huge Braves fans and their minor-league team was stationed out of Richmond and a family member of mine had always been a Braves fan. Now, I'm not a huge fan of baseball but as a casual fan I decided that I wanted to start following the Braves (This was WAY before the Nats were even a idea). It's always stuck with me even when the Nats came to DC. First of all the Nats have always been a crappy team. They just now might start a very slow rise to a mediocre team. The Braves will always be my team when it comes to the MLB.

I really could honestly care less about Hockey. But when i do catch the occasional game or what not I must say because I do live in the DC area now the Caps are the only team that I am rooting for in the "area." With the NBA I have weirdly enough always been an Orlando Magic fan. This one is simply because I acquired it from a childhood friend and it has just always stuck with me ever since. Plus the Wizards are horrible why would I ever want to be associated with them.

Look, here's the deal. I respect people who have been born and raised in VA or the DC area and have always been a Skins fan, etc. That's awesome. My girlfriend's entire family pretty much as always been Skins fans because they had been born and raised one as well. But just like her being a Giants fan has been passed down from previous generations as well. I could have decided that I wanted to be a Skins fan because I was born in VA but I stuck with family and will continue to root for the Giants as long as I live. I respect the people who root for the Nats and other VA related teams. What I don't respect is "DC-ers" who ridicule people for not being Skins fans, etc. because they live in the DMV. Listen, the DMV is one of the most DIVERSE areas of the nation. People come from all over the world and set up residence here. Their "fandom" may lie somewhere else like Pittsburgh, Philly, New York, just to name a few. So CHILL OUT! People move around all the time and are raised different ways. Not every single person in the DMV is gonna be a Skins fan, etc. So let it go and live with that fact.

Now there is a difference between being a "true fan" and a "bandwagoner" and believe me there are some bandwagoners around the DMV who just like to root for the team that's the most popular or winning. Or there are fans who just want to root against DC teams just because they can. So those people can just suck it. I'm gonna wrap this up.

Bottom line is, people are all raised differently. People move around constantly. People have the ability to make their own decisions about who they are a fan of (wow, crazy concepts, I know). I have a right as a human being to root for whoever the hell I want to whether it's a team from the area that I live in or not. If tomorrow I decided I wanted to be a Seattle Seahawks fan (even though who would want to be, haha) I could make that decision. Even though they may be on the other side of the country, if I wanted to root for them and become a fan I could do that. So get of your high horse DC fans and realize that you aren't the only people that live in the DMV and their are gonna be people around that aren't fans of your sports. SO WHAT! DEAL WITH IT! That is all.

-R.N.N.
@ryannnelson87
rnelson0187@gmail.com