Found In My Basement: Sammy Sosa's 63rd Home Run

In September 1998, the sports world centered around Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and the single-season home run record. I lived in San Diego at the time and attended the Cubs-Padres game where Sosa hit #63.

The interesting part of the home run is that Sosa's grand slam basically won the game for the Cubs, the Padres were in the playoff race, and yet, the crowd went crazy. The scoreboard even flashed to celebrate the home run. (The Padres players were not happy about the scoreboard operator essentially rooting against the home team.) Of course, McGwire ended up winning the home run crown, Sosa won the MVP award, and the players never took any, um, unusual substances. The Padres won the National League title, but lost in the World Series. Stupid Yankees.

Blog post/credit to the San Diego Union Tribune.

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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.