Sports.

So apparently the NHL playoffs are happening, and it's a supposedly a big deal. Yeah, so, that's exciting. Honestly I have been completely disinterested in this entire NHL season, and while I usually get into the post-season, in the very least, this year that hasn't been the case.

I feel like the main reason why I am generally disinterested in the NHL this year is because I do not have a "home" team. While, yes I live in the Greater Toronto Area and hence the Toronto Maple Leafs would typically be considered my "home" team, I don't consider them to be so because I don't have that feeling of connection with the team and the franchise that impels me to follow and root for them. If anything, I despise the Leafs solely for the inherent irony in the franchise - that irony being that the last time the team really excelled in the sport, and had a chance at winning the Stanley Cup (i.e. making the playoffs, I am not even talking about the last time they had a real of chance of winning the Cup, just the last time they had a chance for the chance) was during the 2003/2004 season, yet despite their lackluster results over the past few years,  they continue to be the most valuable and profitable franchise in the NHL.

I am not saying I don't find the sport of hockey entertaining. While I never played the sport in a league of any sort (with the exception of ball-hockey leagues my friends and I would set up in our youth), there have been moments in my life where I have been interested in the NHL and specifically the playoffs. Last year I became a huge supporter of the Montreal Canadiens as they made their remarkable playoff run, making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. I wouldn't consider myself a Canadiens fan - again I don't consider myself a fan of any particular team - but I get the entertainment value of the sport, and for those few weeks during last year's post season I was a Canadiens supporter. If anything, I enjoy hockey as a socializing tool, it's an excuse to go to the local bar on a weeknight so to watch the game and have a couple drinks with with your friends.

This season I just couldn't get into the NHL playoffs, and I blame this on my schooling. The end of this year has been brutal in terms of academics. Tough exams for courses I didn't pay enough attention to during the year, all spread out over three weeks; not to mention the many assignments that had to be done leading up to the exam season. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with the Federal Election, let alone a bunch of hockey games.

Again though, I feel that if I had that "home" team feeling/emotional-attachment to a team, I would make the effort to follow the playoffs, or at least care. My girlfriend, for instance, doesn't necessarily follow the NHL, but she is aware of the standings and is a Leafs supporter. She complains when they lose and is happy when they win, despite not being the most adamant fan. I just don't have this attachment.

This isn't to say I don't like sports at all. For instance, in recent years I have made an effort to get into the NFL. I always liked football, the dynamics of the sport and the epicness of the NFL, but I lacked that "home" team context. A few years ago I had one day flipped to a game on a Sunday and saw the Indianapolis Colts playing and - for some reason - I liked what I saw and I have been a supporter of them ever since. In the past season - and admittedly after having visited Florida - I became a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. The fact that I became a fan of this team only after I had visited Florida just further demonstrates my desire to want to have that "home" team attachment (my aunt and uncle own a place in Sarasota, which is relatively near Tampa, so I consider the Bucs my "home" NFL team vicariously through them).

I also generally like soccer. Soccer had been the one sport I played for most of my life, and I was fairly good at it (I like to think so anyways). Whenever the World Cup rolls around I get into it in a big way - the 2010 World Cup was huge for me, I've never watched so much sports in such a short period of time. What was weird about the World Cup for me is that I didn't support my typical "home" team of Italy (probably because I don't really identify with Italian culture, as my dad always says, "We're not Italian, we're Sicilian."). I instead opted to support the United States (as I considered them to be the closest-relative to Canada in the tournament) and a number of African teams - South Africa, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast being the main three. I have also played in basketball leagues, but for some reason I just can't get into the NBA at all. I think it's the culture of professional basketball that I have a detachment with.

Over the summer I plan to make an effort to follow both the Toronto Argonauts (CFL) and the Toronto FC (MLS). I have had success supporting and following both football and soccer in the past (as noted) so I hope that I can find that something that will attach me to these two teams.

But back to hockey, I think a main reason for my lack of hockey enthusiasm is that my household growing up was never a really "into" the sport. My dad is Italian and he is just not a huge sports guy in general - although he follows Formula One racing fairly religiously - and my mom just doesn't really care about sports at all either. However my mother's family loves the sport, huge hockey fans on that side. The thing is, they predominantly live in the Ottawa area so I never really got exposed to their fandom growing up and it never rubbed off on me. In contrast, the family I see often, my dad's side (as they all live in and around the GTA), generally follow my frame of mind with regard to sports - and actually I'd be considered one of the bigger sports fans in my NFL following.

While I have not yet gotten into hockey at a level where I could consider myself a true "fan", I have not given up hope. I am really looking for a team to latch onto and support. I have high hopes that this renewing of the Winnipeg Jets happens as it will provide me with an opportunity to be a part of a team from the very beginning, and hence I can grow my support for the team as the franchise grows. Maybe one day my kids will be Winnipeg Jets fans, as my influence rubs off on them. Of course this is all contingent on if the Phoenix Coyotes move up north and become the Jets, but again, I can, and do, hope. I generally find most sports entertaining and I realize their value in terms of being cultural and national phenomenons. However I feel that true support of sports teams and franchises is dependent on a specific type of attachment to those teams and franchises. This attachment makes the sport more interesting as you feel invested in the team and all they represent (essentially, their culture). This summer I hope to pursue this attachment in both the CFL and MLS and I hope to soon branch into the hockey arena as well.