Well, howdy hoo to everyone.  I just want to say that although I haven't been writing as much as I have in the past, I come onto the blog site and read people's blogs often.  I felt so out of the loop, that I decided to take the time out and (gasp!) write a new blog of my own. 

Since the AFC and NFC Championships are upon us, I've been doing a lot of thinking as of recent, mainly because of the situations that have happened to me.  So I decided to write about it.  Below are the things that irk me the most when it comes to people and sports (again, this is all in fun.  If you are offended, then my bad.  But that probably means it applies to you).  Like to hear it, here it goes:

When My Team Isn't In The Playoffs:  Okay, I am a huge football fan.  But I'm sure all of you can agree that if your team is not in the playoffs, it gives the games less meaning.  It's like having fried chicken without the fixins to go with it.  It's still good, but something is missing.  What's even worse is when your division rivals are in the playoffs.  Then you become angry and start to beg for defeat.  It's not a good feeling to have, but it does happen.

Fake Fans:  Okay, I don't know if many abide by this, but there's an unwritten rule in sports.  If your team doesn't go to the playoffs, you don't cheer for anyone else in your division, let alone your division rival, if they are still in the thick of things.  If I did a survey today, asking Cowboys fans if they rooted for the Redskins while they were in the playoffs, I'm willing to bet my whole paycheck (which isn't much) that 99.9% of them would say, "HELL NO", along with some other choice words that won't be so nice.  The .01% of the population probably cheered for them because they bet on the game.  Ask Yankees fans if they were happy that Boston finally won a World Series, and I'm almost certain they would not be.  Hell would freeze over before these rivalries die down. Even though your rivalry may not be that serious, it's still a rivalry.  That's what makes sports fun.  By loving one team and hating another.  And I don't wanna hear, "Well, I like so-and-so on the (team inserted here)".  So what.  We all like at least one player on teams we don't like, but that doesn't make us an honorary member of their fan club, either.  And if you live in a city with a major sports team, root for them, people.  If you don't support your home team, then who will???

Bandwagon Fans:  Okay, just so you know, there is a difference between fake fans, and bandwagon fans.  Fake fans are just people that pick who they know to win in the playoffs, which is usually someone in their division.  Bandwagon fans are totally different.  Now, hopefully I'm not speaking about or offending anyone directly, but when I first starting writing and reading these blogs, there were a quite diverse group of people in the blog community.  Pretty much, most teams were represented in one way or another, but it was pretty balanced on what teams people cheered for.  That was during the regular season.  Now, it's the postseason, and out of no where, when I read the blogs, I've seen so many new bloggers, it makes my head spin.  And all of them want to talk about how much of a Steelers or a Panthers fan they are.  Some of them have page names, dedicated to their teams, like "Broncos2dabowl", or something crazy like that (FYI, I just made that up).  I'm just wondering where were these people in December, when everything was still up in the air in the NFL?  Not calling you a bandwagon fan, just wondering were you been since the contest started.  My co-worker that sits next to me, I never knew he was a Redskins fan until they went to the playoffs.  One day, he just came in with a team jacket that looked like it was from 70's and a coffee mug with the logo on it.  He even admitted that this was the first time in years he's worn the old thing.  That's a bandwagon fan for you.

Sore Losers:  Okay, I'm sure you know that the distance between Baltimore and DC is about a hop, skip and a jump.  I have a lot of friends in the DC area, all of them are Redskins fans.  Last Saturday, we went to a restaurant, not too far from FedEx Field.  We watched the Skins-Seahawks game at the bar.  When the game was over, I just sat there in silence, and took a sip of my beer, with an expressionless look on my face.  All of a sudden, one of my friends started yelling towards my direction, "Well, at least we went to the playoffs.  What did your team do?"  Now, although she did really have to yell at me because of all the noise in the restaurant, I was flabbergasted.  I mean, I gave her no ammo for her outburst, yet she comes hollering at me.  Once that happened, a big group of Skins fans started hassling me, because they thought I was a Cowboys fan.  Although I'm a fan of neither team, I pretty much had the finger pointed at me all night and being labeled as the "Cowboy fan".  Folks, hateration is not a good color for anyone to wear (unless you are playing against your division rival), so just because your team loses, don't be a sore loser.  It's so humiliating.  Ask the girl from American Idol on Tuesday.  You know, the one that thought she sang better then the other girl, and started belting out her song on camera......................

Poor officiating:  I've read everyone else's blogs about this subject, so I'm not gonna really get into this.  Although they are human, some calls (or lack of) are just too unneccessary.  Question, where are the good officiating crews, like Ed Hockuli?  He's has one of the best crews in the NFL.

People Who Take Sports WAY Too Far:  Okay, we all know we saw the interception that Polamalu had on Sunday.  And the last time I checked, Pittsburgh won the game, right?  So, why on earth did people vandalize the ref's house because of a bad call?  Okay, this is where the line needs to be drawn.  While I'm just as passionate about sports as the next person, There is no way I am thinking about trashing someone's home or harrassing their children because of human error. If sports have become that serious for you, then please, get a life, and some anger management classes.  When you feel like you want to destroy someone's property or heckle them, take a deep breath, relax, relate and release it.  Take some Karate or Boxing lessons and learn how to work that anger off in a positive way.  Do anything that doesn't make us good fans look bad.  And I leave you all with the philosophical words of Jay Glazer, "Sports is escapism, nothing more, nothing less."