Go Pro

It sucks when your team has to fight it out in the best division in the respective sport. As a Jays fan, I get to watch Boston and New York fight it out every year now. And watch Baltimore spend absurd amounts of money to try to compete with them, kind of like the Dodgers.

As a hockey fan, the Avs are in the best division in the NHL most years against the likes of Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. The new NHL has brought them all even closer together. In the old NHL I grew to accept that the Avs started slow but made ground up quickly in the second half, but with the closeness of all the teams now, it looks like the playoff spots are going to be even closer a competition than ever before, and the usually 'meaningless' games in November seem more essential.

In the NFL and NBA....well, forget them both. The 49ers aren't gonna be fighting ANYthing out any time soon, except whether to take a running back, wide receiver, or all new offensive line with the first pick in the 2006 draft. The Raptors have to add some spice and polish to the new batch of rookies before they will compete seriously, and they don't really fall into the topic of discussion anyways, as I openly admit that the West is best overall in hoops.

And finally, in NCAA Football, I've grown to be a Michigan fan through the years. Early on I figure it started from their kickass nickname, and my Marvel comic collecting. What Saturday-morning cartoon-watching kid wouldn't love a team named and modelled after the rough, deadly Wolverine of X-Men fame. And as I grew up I started to follow them a little bit more, and saw more of them on TV being the closest 'big' American college team (at least by road) I fell into their following. And soon recognized what has been well emphasized this year. They are in a perennially competitive conference with Penn State, and Michigan State, and Ohio State, and Wisconsin being the ranked big guns on the field this year. And every year they play most of their games against these guys. Every team beats up on the other, and at the end attrition picks the best of the bunch to win the conference and get to go to the most prestigious of the alotted New Years bowl games.

I suppose in the end though it makes it all the more exciting as a fan to get to watch something competitive than watch a team walk off something like the Yankees of the past 10 years, or the Lakers up until last year, or the 90's Bulls; you see what I'm saying.

Sports writers have a sweet gig. Travel around, meet famous athletes, pay attention to every score, stat, storyline and whiney overpaid bitch you can, and write on it...and they'd pay you! Sure being the actual athlete is more glamourous, but there's also the distinct lack of real pressure. Like a roadie for a rockstar, sure you gotta make sure that guitar is tuned up on time, or that there's water at the ready, and all the gear's accounted for, but you're still gonna get the girls, and travel around to the most storied bars, arenas and stadiums in the world. The exact same I would have to think holds true of sports writers.

If I had a bit more writing talent, and the ability to pull more random facts from memory, and could shed my typically overwhelming bias, I'd give it a shot. Instead, I piss people off with harsh (although often true commentary) on other teams, and spend what little writing I do right here. I'm too old already to consider the pro athlete route as the fantasy career, so I suppose I'm left with rockstar, and superstar sports writer, unless blogging eventually truly breaks through to mainstream media and there are some openings in the blogstar department.