Pardon the Homerism

So, we never began this project with the intention of turning it into a polistic meditation on local sports teams, our individual hopes and fears, combined with a glaring distaste for divisional, regional, and historical rivals. In fact, the original intent was to be as anonymously mysterious as possible as to our whereabouts, affiliations, and orientation. We were to utilize this literary platform as an outlet to express our opinions, realize our creative capacities, and in some instances, just blow off some steam.


However, it seems that the playoffs bring out the animal within us all, forcing our passions to the forefront and bumping the balancing tendencies of our wisdom to the back of the bus. Our victory-starved attentions are devoted strictly to the prize at hand and we cannot be concerned with the menial details that often command our excitement-seeking minds, that are so easily led to wander during the stillness of the pre-elite season.

But the question is begged, does this apparent bias necessarily impact the quality and output of the project at hand, specifically the material put forth on this blog? The blogosphere is rife with sites devoted specifically to local coverage, and while some are crass exercises in over-the-top, manicheanism, specialization should not be dismissed outright. After all, while proximity can certainly restrain one from seeing the big picture, it can also produce a valuable microscopic viewpoint that allows the casual viewer the insight into the details that make a team or individual support-worthy and/or worthy of disdain... or even indifference.

What is more, is it easier to present a less biased scope of material if you happen to reside in an area, or if your support rests in an historically unsuccessful region? It is an absolute rule, that when your hometown team is not performing, your interest, and interest at large, declines. Call it being a fair-weather fan, but this phenomenon is completely natural. Sure, you still love your team, but in order to maintain a heightened interest in your sport of choice, you latch onto different aspects of the game. Maybe you begin closely following just one player from your team (In 2006, I became an early Rondo advocate in lieu of the C's dreadful performances) players from other teams in the league (the year prior I became a big Nash fan). It is almost as if your love of the game, while not allowing you to continuously support the floating turd that is your home team, pushes you toward something positive within that game. For the positive force of pulling for something, is so much greater than the negative energy of pushing against something. Generally, speaking.

On the flip side, and forgive this, but if you live in Boston where the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics have been having great success in recent years, the positive is provided to you without needing to hit the road in search of a new object in which to invest your passion. Therefore, your passions are occupied with something familiar, which you have essentially been trained, and even brain-washed, to love throughout your entire life. And so, you enjoy talking about it, and you are capable of doing so, and therefore, you do so. And if you are good at it, well then maybe you open a new minds in the process, or at least spur some healthy debate.

I am not saying that this validates the noticeable turn in content on this site. However, I am saying that there is a reason, which is at the very least is debatable, and should not be dismissed in this case. We will strive toward the objective more and more in the future as we mature, but allegiances will be apparent regardless of our best practices, and biases will be presented no matter how hard we fight against them. However, unless these tendencies lead to a clear and demonstrable reduction in quality of content, then all normative judgments should be left aside... and/or to yours truly.