Sports – Broken Chains

This post is the first in a multi-week series.

Not only are athleticism and mobility some of the least important traits for an NFL quarterback, but they are often detrimental. This sounds ludicrous. How can being able to run be a liability?

First, let’s just look at the quarterbacks who have won the last 20 super bowls: Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Tom Brady x6, Brad Johnson, Ben Roethlisberger x2, Peyton Manning x2, Eli Manning x2, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles, and Patrick Mahomes. How many of those would you describe as mobile? I’ll say 3: Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Patrick Mahomes. So that means that 17 of the last 20 Super Bowls were won by immobile quarterbacks.

I’ve always feared being labeled a bandwagon fan, a fan who shows no loyalty and conveniently roots for the best teams. Despite having rooted for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Chicago Cubs, I’m not a bandwagon fan, and despite spending the last nine years rooting for Boston’s sports teams, I’m not a bandwagon fan. But I don’t quite belong to any team. I’m a sports orphan.

My parents aren’t sports fans, so I didn’t grow up rooting for a team alongside them. My mom is from Chicago, and as a girl, she watched the Cubs, which was reason enough for me to root for them. But we never watched a game together, so despite growing up with a Cubs’ poster, my ties were shallow – I’d later become a Red Sox fan.

Growing up in Fredericksburg, over four hours from Houston and Dallas, I had few geographic ties to teams. The only nearby team was an hour away, the San Antonio Spurs. This suggests I should have been a Spurs’ fan, but because of my brothers, I rooted against the Spurs.