So what kind of gas mileage does your bandwagon get?

     You know, the thing that is really great about being a sports fan is it is one of the few things in life where you truly CAN have it both ways.  I can cheer for my team through all of their wins and losses in a given year and if we are lucky enough to make it to a championship game, whether they win or lose, I can still get up the next morning and everything is exactly the way I left it.  I didn't lose my job, my fiancé didn't leave me, my dog didn't die, etc.  Everything that makes my life wonderful remains a constant despite whether or not my team let me down.  My favorite sports teams have no control over that.  And I know disappointment because I am from Cleveland. Yes, I know you are sorry about that. Thank you for your condolences. 

     Now I have to admit, I have "alternate" teams as I call them. I like the Utah Jazz due to my family in that state. I like the Falcons due to my time in Atlanta.  I like the Buckeyes because I live in Columbus even though I went to Akron. 

     My philosophy is you can all support whatever team or teams you choose. You can pick 20 random teams and pull for them all. You can pick the El Paso Polytechnic State Fighting Banditos because you like their helmets for all I care.  But when you start emotionally latching on to teams in a championship game which you ordinarily do not support simply because they are in the same conference as your alma mater, you look a little desperate.  Especially when you spend the entire regular season loathing them as a conference rival. Now suddenly you want to share in their glory when they earn a title.  It wouldn't be so annoying if you didn't pump your fist in everyone's faces telling them how awesome you are because a team in your conference won the title.  I mean I suppose I can follow the same logic and just pull for the AFC North all of the time since I am a Browns fan by birth.  Or better yet, I'll just pull for the AFC as a whole. Or better yet still, I'll just pull for the entire NFL. That way no matter who wins I can run around the next morning at the office that "my team won another championship" pretending everyone cares.

     I mean there is an expression for people that latch on to winning teams at the last second. 

     They're called "front runners". 

     I know this will insult a few friends and I apologize for that but I'm not sure why some of you spend quality time thinking that if you went to Georgia or Arkansas or Vanderbilt that you somehow get to celebrate Alabama's  title as if it were partly yours.  It's not. Do you think LSU was pulling for 'Bama after the Sabian slap-in-the-face? I don't think so. Would the Buckeyes pull for Michigan? Hell no. Nor vice versa. 

     I mean just about everyone watches these championship games and picks a team for whatever reason they feel. Sometimes they don't even know why.  Regardless, you cheer a little when they score and smirk a little when they fail. But when the clock expires on the game, so does our emotional connection to it. I really didn't have a favorite team for the championship game. I have people in my life from both schools and I wish they all could have been happy with the turn out. But I see people all over the SEC shouting "We have another championship!" to people from conferences who were not represented in the game last night.  And they really don't care. It's not a contest of conferences but rather individual schools.