30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The Impossible Question

Today will be a monumental event in my personal sports history.  For the first time in the history of the NFL, my two favorite teams... the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks... will face off in the NFC Championship Game.

As expected, I've been asked numerous times over the past seven days... who do you want to win?

My response is it's an impossible question to answer.  Seriously... it's like asking a parent to pick which child they'd save from a burning house.


I completely understand that many fans out there think it's immoral for me to root for two teams, but that's how things played out when I was younger.  I've been a fan of both teams since Dickey and Zorn were tossing balls to Lofton and Largent.  Back then Seattle was in the AFC and there was order to my football fandom.  Then in 2002, the NFL realigned the league and the Hawks entered the NFC West.


Two favorite teams in the NFC.  Oh well... depending on your point of view, it's not exactly a terrible problem to have.  Yes... in a few hours one of my team's season will be over.  But the other will be headed down to Arizona.


Personally... I think the Hawks will win.  I've watched both of them play all year long and it comes down to this.  Green Bay has a better offense than Seattle, but the Hawks' defense is a lot better than the Packers' defense.  And the 12th Man definitely won't make things any easier for Green Bay.


That doesn't mean that I don't think the Packers have a chance.  It's the NFL and you can never count any team out... especially when that team has the best quarterback in the league slinging the ball around.


Actually... it would be an epic moment in Green Bay Packers' franchise history should my prediction be wrong.  Injured Aaron Rodgers marches the Green Bay Packers into CenturyLink against the best defense in the NFL and some of the loudest fans in the league... then emerges victorious.  It's the kind of story where legends are born.

Whatever the outcome... I just hope that neither team has any key injuries, both teams respect the game and their opponents, and hopefully there aren't any controversial calls by the officials.

What about you guys?  I know must of you guys are baseball fans... but...

Are you rooting for any of the four remaining football teams?

And do any of you have two favorite teams in the same sport?  Does one get more love than the other?

Okay... only a few more hours until the big game.  I hope all of you are enjoying your three day weekend.  Happy Sunday and sayonara!

21 comments:

Zippy Zappy said...

When it comes to football (both the American football and the rest of the world's football) I don't have a favorite team. Usually I go with one of the two New York teams by default but they were eliminated a while back. Even though its tough to choose between two teams you like, at least you can take solace in the fact that the two teams you like managed to make it this far ;).

And in North American baseball I like the minor league Yankees (I'm lumping every MiLB Yankees affiliate into one entity/team) and the major league Yankees. If they were to ever face off I hope the minor league Yankees beat the living tar out of the major league Yankees.

The Prowling Cat said...

Denver Broncos fan so no team left in the playoffs. Grew up in Utah, and the Broncos games were on all the time so I ended up being a fan of the team.

In baseball I have two teams. My first is the Colorado Rockies due to my loyalty to teams from the area of my youth. I was living in Oregon by the time the Rockies became an MLB team, but still made them my favorite team. The second due to living in Oregon is the Mariners. When you talk baseball in my part of the world all anyone cares about is Seattle. Due to this I have become more, and more fond of the team to the point I claim them as my number 2.

Tony L. said...

A simple answer to question 1: Um, yeah. Go Pack!

Question 2: The closest I can come to having two favorite teams in the same sport is that I like both the US and the German men's national soccer teams (especially since Michael Ballack retired from Germany). Perhaps it's college basketball, where I want both Georgia and Vanderbilt to do well. That might be it.

Otherwise, I really don't have a sport where I cheer for more than one team. It's Brewers (MLB), Packers (NFL), Bucks (NBA), Manchester United (English Premier League/soccer generally), and Georgia Bulldogs (College Football).

night owl said...

I do not like the Patriots or Seahawks AT ALL, which of course means both will win.

I don't have two favorite teams in the same sport; that doesn't make much sense to me. But at least Packers and Seahawks makes more sense than, say, being both a Red Sox and Yankees fan, which I've seen.

Anonymous said...

I grew up a Mets fan and married an Orioles fan, so the Orioles became my other team. Even though the Mets will always be my team, when the two teams play each other I just hope for a good game... if one team dominates, I start to feel bad for the other team and it takes all the fun out of it.

Baseball Nut said...

I grew up in NYC so there were lots of teams to choose from and it was an unspoken rule that you had to pick no more than one in each sport. Even if the cross town rival made the playoffs you had to be supportive as a New Yorker, but show little interest. The exception was if they were playing a team from the Boston area and then you could cheer, but more for a loss by the opposition than a win for New York. As the saying goes "my favorite teams are the Yankees and any team playing the Red Sox."
My first official team was the Yankees and the natural progression would have been the Giants, but I wound up with the Jets because my father worked with Joe Namath and got me an autographed football. I've paid dearly for the mistaken allegiance ever since.
When it comes to basketball and hockey I let the one team rules slip a bit. I blame it on my move to Los Angeles. When I left New York, the Knicks had long since transitioned from working as a team to an ego driven mess. This was also the time the Lakers were starting to explode and perfecting "Showtime." Now I long for what the Knicks used to be but mostly cheer on the Lakers. In hockey my blood is still red and blue for the Rangers, but my love for the game has made me a regular at Staples so I do consider them a second team. That made last year's Stanley Cup very difficult to watch. Pulled for the Rangers but had a feeling the Kings would take it.
As far as this year's Super Bowl it will probably be the first year I don't watch. I have to admit ever since Pete Carroll celebrated so hard after the replacement refs botched ruling that clearly stole that victory from the Packers, I lost a lot of respect for him. It put him in the same category for me as Belichick.
But to keep things consistent, I'd like to see the Seahawks win, or more accurately, I'd like to see the Patriots lose

BobWalkthePlank said...

I live in Steelers country so I casually root for them. Overall not a big NFL fan. I tend to root for my fantasy team more than anything.

I'm a huge college sports guy as I'm a season ticket holder for WVU basketball and football.

Baseball it is Pirates all the way.

Yankeejetsfan said...

I have family up in Bremerton, which is 45 minutes outside Seattle, so I root for the Seahawks when my Jets don't make the playoffs.

I became a Yankees fan first wayyyy back in 1976 after watching Chris Chambliss homer the Yankees into the 1976 World Series. They were my only team I followed until my then best friend talked me into following the Pittsburgh Steelers, like he did. I actually liked the team and became a fan of Terry Bradshaw. But rooting for a team that wasn't a NY team didn' feel right to me, so I switched and became a Jets fan in 1980. That same year, after watching the USA Hockey team win an improbable Gold medal, I found my Islanders and they won the Stanley Cup that year. A couple years later, I was introduced to the Knicks.

And now you all know my sports fandom history :D

Comatoad said...

I know exactly what you're saying. I've been a Green Bay Packers fan ever since I was a little kid. They've always been my first and foremost, #1 football team. However, having lived in San Diego, I will root for the Chargers and consider them my "AFC Team." However, if the two were to play each other, I would defintely have to root for the Pack.


What's funny, however, is I lived in Denver for 6 years and could never work up a warm fuzzy for the Denver Broncos and John Elway, even though I was able to attend one game a year for 4 years, including a sideline pass during the 1988 AFC Championship game against the Browns.

GCA said...

I'm a Washington NFL fan (which has been a hard thing for years), so that turns me against the Seahawks in the last few years, even though I liked them as a kid when they first started. I can't stand Brady and the Patriots (mostly for the way all the sportscasters gush over anything he does), so I have zero interest in the Super Bowl. Would have liked to see the Packers vs. Colts.

I am an Orioles baseball fan, and have adopted the Nationals as well since they're about the same distance away, so they're both home teams. But I will pick the O's between them. So you could say I'm a two team baseball follower.
I'm also a Capitals hockey fan since Ovechkin showed up. That's getting harder too after several years of early playoff exits, and now the league restructuring so the NHL's favorite team the Penguins are in the division.
Never liked basketball, but last year's Wizards playoff run was fun to watch.

Fuji said...

That's a great idea. I'd love to watch the minor league affiliates face off against the major league team. I've always been a fan of exhibition type games.

Fuji said...

No shame in supporting Seattle. I quietly cheered for the Mariners (during the Ichiro years) except when they played the Padres and A's.

Fuji said...

I love the fact that you support the Brewers, Packers, and Bucks. There's a small part of me that regrets being such a rebel and going against local teams like the Raiders, Niners, and Warriors growing up.

Fuji said...

Most of my friends are in your camp. I get harassed all of the time for liking two teams in baseball and football. As for the Packers and Hawks... it's a good thing they're not rivals.

Fuji said...

The same thing happened to me a few years ago. My ex is a huge Warriors fan and I was a Lakers fan. Anyways she'd always give me a hard time about the Lakers buying their championships and it sort of sunk in. To this day, I'm not really a fan of basketball anymore. Part of it has to do with the regret I live with of choosing a team because of their talent. But damn... I sure loved watching the Showtime Lakers back in the 80's.

Fuji said...

Thanks. I'm a huge fan of the on-card autographs in Topps Archives. As for that game... simply insane.

Fuji said...

The Showtime Lakers were really fun to watch. Back then I followed the NBA almost as closely as the NFL and MLB. Today I don't really keep up... but I'm still root for Kobe. I've always admired the way he approached the game. I wish more athletes were as dedicated as he is.

Fuji said...

It's funny that you mentioned fantasy. I had to quit FF two years ago, because I hated it when one of my players were going against the Packers or Hawks. I'd always pull for my team... but what manager actually hopes his players struggle?

Fuji said...

Very cool that you're an all New York fan. Unfortunately when any New York team starts playing well... they usually end up being public enemy #1. Well... at least in my household.

Fuji said...

One of my buddies is a lifelong Chargers fan, so I'll cheer for them whenever they don't play the Packers or Hawks and he'll usually pull for the Packers when they don't play the Chargers. He absolutely hates the Hawks though.

Fuji said...

I think it's cool that you're an all-Washington fan. I've never had any issues with any of those franchises... unlike certain New York, Boston, and Dallas franchises.