Gettin' My Bandwagon On

Every year, I usually get a little bummed once March Madness ends; it's my favorite time of the year, and it's always sad to see it go, especially in years like this one, when I never want it to end. However, this depression only lasts a couple days, until I realize that baseball is in full swing, and then the Masters starts up, and then the NBA playoffs get going.

So now it's about that time of year when I shamelessly hop onto the NBA bandwagon and start actually watching games and ranting and raving like I'm a true fan. I follow the regular season pretty closely, reading a ton and forming opinions, but I probably only watched like 2 games start to finish, and one of those was when the Knicks lost by like 50 to Boston. Sweet.

Speaking of the Knickerbockers, I have grown disillusioned with the entire franchise to the point where I can't even really call myself a diehard fan anymore. I honestly don't know how to cheer for a team that is in such total disarray. The plus side to this is that over the last few years, I just become a fan of the league itself, enjoying individual rivalries, series, and players. It makes for pretty enjoyable viewing come playoff time.

However, I am finding myself cheering very hard for the New Orleans Hornets. Pro basketball is the only sport where I like multiple teams; every other sport is clearly defined by "my team" and "everyone else who sucks." I think this is due in part to the nature of the NBA, where individuals are easy to cheer for, making multiple teams attractive; and partly because the Knicks have been a travesty for 6 years now. In any event, I am troubled by the amount of love I have for the Hornets. I have never switched alliances like this before; it feels dirty already.

I'm not saying they are my new favorite team....yet. I don't know what this means for my NBA fan-dom. I've always been a diehard for one team and one team only, and I more or less sneer at fans who aren't the same way, but maybe this is the future for me and the NBA, just hopping around, not truly pledging myself to any one team. Obi-Wan Kenobi would be disappointed, I'm sure he would tell me, "You've let this dark lord twist your mind until now you've become the very thing you swore to destroy!" And I would have no answer for him. For now, though, I'm not gonna worry about it, I'll just enjoy watching New Orleans play. I'll deal with my newfound philandering ways after the season.

"I may be a bandwagon jumper, but have you seen Chris Paul play? He's unbelievable! And now Julian is getting prime minutes! And I LOVED Peja when he played for Sacramento, you've always known that! Tyson Chandler is badass, and I've liked David West since he was in college! All I know for sure, Obi-Wan, is that you're not....making me cheer for the Knicks.....ANY MORE."