Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

It seems I always surround myself with the wrong kind of crowd. 

In college, my best friend was a Yankee fan; my roommate, a Giants fan.  Once out of school, I moved to DC, but always watched games with a Jets/Rangers fan. 

I even married a Capitals/Redskins fan!

I think it's an inherited trait—seek out the antagonists and keep them close.  It's always been a friendly rivalry, although my wife and I got into it pretty good during Game Seven of the Flyers/Capitals game!

But it also may be a learned behavior.  For eight years I lived in Redskins territory.  Some of my fondest memories of Washington was sitting in the upper deck of FedEx field with my brother, sporting the Eagles jerseys and belting out "Fly Eagles Fly" at the top of our lungs every time the Birds scored.  Yes, there were plenty in green there.  But there were more sporting the burgundy and gold.  And they usually didn't appreciate our serenade.

So as Dallas Week descends on Eagles Nation, I'm thinking of inviting my neighbor—the Cowboy fan—over to watch the game.

He's a good guy.  We get along well.  We play poker together.  Our kids play in the driveway together. 

But he's one of them. 

Not only is he a Cowboy fan—he's a Braves fan.  For those that still live in the Delaware Valley, it's probably not nearly as common to find the mixed-allegiance fans like my friend here.  I know it fascinated me when I went away to school when I met a guy who was an Eagles fan—and a Yankees fan. 

That just doesn't compute to me.

Down here in the south where you don't have as many four-team cities like Philadelphia, I find allegiances can be all over the place.  Of course, here in Knoxville, college football is king and UT stuff is EVERYWHERE.  But for those who came from elsewhere, like myself and my friend, we bring our childhood allegiances with us.

So as Monday Night Football approaches, the question remains:  Enjoy the game alone or extend the invite and let the games begin?

It's tons of fun when you're winning—but taking abuse from a Cowboy fan in your own home is downright intolerable.