COLUMN: Straight From the Hog's Eye - Justifying my team loyalties

By: Charles Tomlinson | SCNOW
Published: February 04, 2010

I’m not known for having a great interest in sports; if I were, it would be for having only a passing interest. Every now and then I’ll watch the “big game,” and I’ll go through phases where I’ll keep up with a team’s progress for a few months. Inevitably, however, I lose interest.

This season, I planned to watch more NBA basketball, my main sports interest in middle and high school. But I don’t know if I can resume my loyalty to my once-favorite team: the New York Knicks.

First of all, I know none of the team’s personalities anymore. I watched in the heyday of Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Charles Oakley. Even back then, the team was mediocre. If the mid-1990s Knicks squad lacked something, it was clutch — the ability to pull through, make rebounds and score baskets when the pressure is the highest.

As former Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller made it clear when he put his hands around his neck during one game against New York: The Knicks would choke.

More recently, on Jan. 24, New York got destroyed by the Dallas Mavericks. The score was 128-78, the Mavericks’ biggest margin of victory in the franchise’s history.

This made Charles a frustrated fan. The Knicks would always show so much promise and squander it.

So why am I writing about basketball and the Super Bowl this week? Well, I suppose because it’s relevant — the Super Bowl is happening on Sunday, after all. The ho are playing the halftime show, so that’s also a plus. They’re one of the “classic rock” bands I idolized when I was in high school.

Other than that, however, I don’t really have a dog in this fight. The closest team to us is the Carolina Panthers, and I really feel no connection with them. So in this column, I’ll quickly talk myself into picking my favored team to win Super Bowl XLIV (or 44, for those of you who have no use for Roman numerals).

I guess it’s pretty lousy for Baltimore that they lost their team when the Colts were uprooted in 1984 and sent to Indianapolis. So that’s a point against the Colts. Of course, then Baltimore got the Ravens in 1996, when Art Modell moved his Browns away from Cleveland.

I guess if I look hard enough, I can find a reason to hate any team.

As with the Knicks, I really have no strong feelings about the personalities on either team. Even though it’s been years since Katrina, however, I think New Orleans can still use every little boost it can get.

So, having said all that: Go Saints.