Second Favorite Sports Team

Recently, The Moose (now 7) asked me to name my second favorite baseball team. I replied the San Diego Padres, he said oh, and that was the end of our conversation.

His question got me thinking. Can you have a second favorite professional sports team per sport? Almost ten years ago (man, this blog is old!), I asked who you would choose if you are forced to cheer for a professional football team other than the team you currently support. This is a variation of that question. There is nothing forced here. You probably have favorite NFL, MLB, NHL, and/or NBA teams. That is the team you always want to succeed. In many cases, there is unconditional love and loyalty involved (and the teams know this which is why they sell so much merchandise and can require season ticket holders to purchase personal seat licenses). Anyway, my first question is can you have a second favorite team? This is a team that you want to do well but who you would never support over your favorite team. My example from the 2008 blog post was the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins. I'm always going to support the Steelers, but I like the Dolphins since they employed Pittsburgh legend Dan Marino as well as two people that went to my high school, Jason Taylor and Lousaka Polite. (Yes, everything comes back to Pittsburgh for me.)

In case you're wondering, the Padres are my second favorite baseball team from my time living in San Diego in the late 90s. I got to watch Tony Gwynn, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, play regularly and followed the team as they reached the 1998 World Series, including attending a NLCS game against the Atlanta Braves.

Although they are now division rivals with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Columbus Blue Jackets would qualify as my second favorite hockey team. This has more to do with history rather than the current team as I lived in Columbus when the team first came into existence. I saw many games during the team's inaugural season while working as a beer man roaming the upper level. Geoff Sanderson, Ron Tugnutt, and Espen Knutsen for life!

Please note that I'm leaving college sports out of this discussion since there are so many schools and affiliations. For example, I support the University of Pittsburgh teams and remember going to football games at Pitt Stadium as a kid. I also attended graduate school at The Ohio State University, so I root for the Buckeyes. My brother is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, so I was all in when the Rams were in the men's NCAA basketball tournament last month. (I could go on here about my affiliations with George Mason University, San Diego State University, Duquesne University, and others, but I'm getting off topic.)

So can you have a second favorite professional team, and if so, who are your second (and first) favorite teams?


Photos by the Miami Dolphins and Getty Images.

Hanson Brother Runs NHL All-Star 5K

The National Hockey League and the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the NHL All-Star 5K Race on Saturday since apparently the city of Columbus and the NHL thought that holding a 5K in mid-January was a good idea. I mean, Columbus regularly has 60 degree days in January, right? Anyway, tt seems like folks had a great time including this guy (who happens to be a good friend of mine) dressed as one of the Hanson brothers.

Fortunately, he didn't dress like one of these Hanson brothers since that wouldn't have made any sense.

Actually, the hair looks similar!

NHL Player Websites

Watching the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL playoffs, I was reminded of my visit to Joe Louis Arena during the second year of my annual hockey road trip. Specifically, the Red Wings encouraged attendees to visit Henrik Zetterberg’s website. With the Red Wings advancing to the Western Conference finals, I thought I would revisit Zetterberg’s website to see what he thought about yesterday’s game against Chicago as well as the exciting game 7 victory over Anaheim. Here’s what "Hank" has to say:

We did it! Mission accomplished

It was trully a team effort and now that we have it, we arent ready to give it up. Stanley is just going to have to stay in Detroit! Of course, a great thanks to all of my fans that gave me the energy to go all the way last season. I hope that you will be there to support me and the team again.

I hope that you will enjoy both my website and webshop as well as follow me and the Red Wings this season!

This headline and message have remained unchanged for months. Plus, apparently that is how truly is spelled in Sweden.

Fortunately, the top of the page (and the top left of the page for every NHL team page – such as the Pittsburgh Penguins) shows three drop down options: Team Sites, Affiliate Sites and NHL Player Sites. Let's see what other NHL players are doing.

For example, what does Rick Nash think about the Columbus Blue Jackets reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history?

The page cannot be found.

Amazing insight!

San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo must be disappointed about the team's early playoff departure. Here's the picture from his website:



Cheechoo is more attractive than I remember. The rest of the website includes the headline "Welcome to jonathancheechoo14.com." and contains related searches for jerseys, games, cars, Calgary Flames Hockey and more. Basically, it appears that someone didn’t renew their website, and this possibly evil woman took it over. This same woman is also prominently featured on Boston's Michael Ryder’s website.

Although the websites of Martin Brodeur, Mike Modano and Ryan Miller and several other players look legit, even if they aren’t regularly updated, the NHL should be embarrassed. While I am sure that they do not administer these websites, they do promote them on every team page. Does anyone at NHL Headquarters ever look at their website?