A Change of Allegiance

   Mascots are a funny thing. Not funny in that laugh out loud way, but I guess some of them are that too, but what I mean is funny, in that strange, hard to explain way. I have a feeling that boys will understand this post a little more than girls will, but hopefully everyone will. It is really more about a feeling than something that is tangible.

    I feel that most of us have been taught how important loyalty is. Each of have talked to till we are all bright, blue in the face about acting unselfishly and how the "team" comes first. We have also been shown too many examples of the opposite of this and everyone telling us about these examples of disloyalty usually has on a very serious face and looks very disappointed and saddened. We have all been told that and made to believe that there is no "I" in team, but then we are patted on the back and told to, play our best, or, run our own race, or, show us what you've got to contribute, and then thrown into the game. This is where things get a little confusing. Then we add age and experience and things go from blurry to completely murky. Let me try to explain using my own life.

  When I was brought into this world, there only existed three possible mascots, I was born a Yankee, a Sooner, and a Dolphin. I didn't exactly know this, but it was something I would grow to understand and the teams would become apart of me. Things were easy then, but everything was about to change. My understandings of loyalty and allegiances were about to be stretched, warped, and changed.

 When I was a wee lad, my first sporting experience was that I was on the Lions t-ball team and yet, I was also a Tavares Elementary Patriot. I could keep it straight then though. They didn't seem connected. I was a Patriot on Monday through Friday, but Saturday mornings were reserved for being a Lion. And this stayed the same for the next several years. During this time, I also was a Buccaneer, Raider, Athletic, Cardinal, a Philly and numerous other teams, but I could still keep it pretty straight because I was still a Patriot on the weekdays and the others on Saturday morning. However, I could tell things were about to get a little confusing because my brother attended the local high school where he was a Bulldog. So, I could still keep it straight, but my allegiances were starting to feel a little spread out. I was to be a Patriot on Monday-Friday afternoon, on Friday night, I was Bulldogs, Saturday morning I was a Buc (or numerous other teams), and on Saturday afternoon I was Florida Gator, and on Sunday I was a Dolphin. Then came my 4th Grade year and things began to get a little weird.

  In my fourth grade year, my parents took me out school, brought me home, and for the next nine years, I was homeschooled. On Monday-Friday, I was without a mascot, which was fine with me, but I still had my Friday night team (Bulldogs), my Saturday morning teams, the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners, and the Dolphins. And this scenario went on for many years and I got to feel very comfortable with my allegiances. There was only one major change and that was my older brother finished his time as a Bulldog and became a Baylor Bear. I lost my weekday mascot, and my Friday night team, but my Saturdays were full to the brim and Sundays didn't change. Then came the 9th Grade and I began my journey into the Twilight Zone of mascots and team allegiances.

  At the beginning of my 9th Grade year, the homeschool group my family belonged to formed a basketball team, adopted a mascot, and I tried out and became a Hawk. I know had weekday and night mascot. As a Hawk, I learned how to live and die as a Hawk . I learned about the glory of winning, the complete agony of defeat,  and the all-encompassing anger of a bad call or a selfish player. And I also learned that I was always a Hawk, not just at practice or during a game. However, at this time, I was still a Gator, Sooner, and Bear on Saturday mornings. On Sundays, I was still a Dolphin, but a rift was growing between my dad (my Dolphin connection) and Dan Marino, not a real one, but a problem of perception, which was so much worse. It was also during this time that Orlando added the Magic and I became Florida Marlin fan 9997. It was really starting to get complicated, I was starting to get confused, and the amount of fan paraphanelia was really starting to grow.

  I, then graduated and didn't stray far and became a Bear at a different school, but at least the mascot didn't change. My life became a little less complicated because my Sundays were freed up (Marino and my dad broke up), I left my Hawk days behind, Shaq lied to me (well, not exactly to me, but all of Orlando), the Marlins won the World Series, but then promptly sold its whole team, and my brother graduated and left me to be the sole Bear. I was still a Sooner, a Yankee, and a Gator, but on the surface, I spent the next four years pushing forward as part of the very vicious and competitive "Orange and Black" attack.

     Four and a half years flies by when you are a Bear, and it is here that I learned that being a Bear was not just a four year commitment, but I was to be Bear until I passed from this life. It was also during my Mercer days, that I also grew into more of an anything Florida fan. I guess this was because Mercer was in Georgia and they hated all things Florida and loved all things weird and strange. So, I discovered that it was just nice to watch a Florida team win. It felt like I was winning, even when the Gators, Bears, Marlins, etc weren't.

   After graduation, I discovered, that what they had been telling me was true and that I still felt like a Bear. However, things were about to take a very complex turn. I got a job as a soccer and basketball coach at the now defunct Blue Lake Academy and I became an Eagle. I won as an Eagle, I lost as an Eagle, went into the home of an opponent and won, and had the reverse happen. But it was at BLA where I learned that you were always an Eagle, which made it weird because I was also still a Bear, but on Saturdays, I was still a Gator, and on other days, I was still a Marlin. Then things got very weird.

    I got my first teaching job and became a Providence Christian School Eagle, which was weird because I had been an Eagle already, but this was a different Eagle and in a much different place. And being a BLA Eagle was so much different that being a PCS Eagle, but I tried to make the best of it and not shout go BLA when I was supposed to be cheering for PCS and I succeded most of the time. And so, I spent the next three full years living and dying as an Eagle. There were weekday night basketball games, Friday night football games, and Saturday morning XC meets. I got my XC runners to cheer for PCS, run for PCS, and live for PCS. We conquered and soared over some courses and meets and then there were times when the eagle was shot down and we crashed, but we were always PCS Eagles. But I was also still routing for the Bears, Gators, Marlins, and many other teams and to make things more complex, I got married to a girl from Georgia who brought her team mascots with her and I, now through some odd connections was a Brave, a Bulldog (or Bulldawg as they say in GA), and a Hurricane. I was starting really wonder who I was really routing for and when I was suppose to be cheering for them. I thought that things couldn't get weirder or more murky, but boy was I wrong.

  My wife and I then moved to the Peach State and I became a Viking at a new school, which I never did understand. (Vikings were never "Christian" and are known for doing all things not popular in Christian circles.) Well, needless to say, I drank the Red and Black koolaid and left behind the Eagle life and fully became a Viking. I, once again had a whole week team. I, once again was told that I was always a Viking (or a Vic for those of you female types). I, once again had a XC and track team to train in the ways of Vikingness. And train the children in the Viking way I did with my whole heart and did so for three years. I bled read and black. I then got traded. That was last May. I kept my paraphnelia, but had to give it back because the red and black didn't bring me joy anymore. It just got too weird. I moved on and left the Vikings behind. I was to be a Viking no more.

   It was also during these three years that I gave up the Marlins. They had changed. I didn't recognize them anymore. We parted ways, we both needed our space. I replaced them with the Braves. My wife taught me how to tomahawk chop and who Chipper Jones was. She also made me glad that Javy Lopez was long gone. But I was also still a Gator, a Sooner, and a Mercer Bear.

    Two weeks ago, I started a new job and with that new job came a new mascot. I am now a Ram. I forget sometimes and things become a little awkward. Let me explain, last week my cross country was halfway through a speed workout and my little runners started cheering for the last ones coming in and they kept yelling, "Go Rams, finish strong Rams" and all I was thinking was, "Who the heck are the Rams, we aren't". but then I caught myself and realized that we were the Rams. I was a Ram. And then again, last Saturday, I counted to three and went to cheer with the team and I almost yelled, "FPD win", but caught myself and yelled, "CA Rams". I have only been a Ram for 13 days. so I'm still learning how to be one, but it seems like it is a good life to be a Ram.

  So, I say all of this to say that mascots are a funny thing. And I often forget who I'm supposed to be cheering for because I have held allegiances to so many different teams. Do you ever get confused? Do you ever wonder how you can cheer for so many different teams?

Learning to bleed red and blue,
David