Conversion

My Penguins gear tends to raise some eyebrows around here.  Everyone wants to know why would someone living in Rochester, NY be a Pittsburgh fan?

Rather than monologuing about how worthy they are, every time I declare that I'm from western PA.  That seems to be my answer to most questions these days.

Just yesterday my dental hygienist and I were discussing the Super Bowl, and she admitted to being a Bills fan.  Despite the team's current condition, she can't help it, because it's how she was born and raised; she's a product of her environment.

It may go without saying, but which team you follow has a lot to do with where you're from.

When I went to college, I tried to change that.  I knew I wouldn't be able to follow the Penguins like I always had--meaning if a game were on, I was watching it.  I was determined to become a Sabres fan instead.

Needless to say, it didn't happen.

I traded being an NHL fan, except for at playoff time since the stations would broadcast the Penguins games, and started doing statistics for the college team.  I would record where all the shots were taken from, would put together sheets of scoring leaders for the team, and would travel along on road games (even one time to Neville Island).

I also joined the college newspaper's sports section since writing (and reading) about sports was, and is, my passion (Better give credit here to my Journalism/Mass Communication major roommate Brooke, who asked me to go with her to the initial newspaper meeting!).  I wrote beat stories on the cross country team, features on swimmers and divers, unveiled the new school mascot and even interviewed the school's only NBA player since Bob Lanier before starting his first game as a freshman.  But the hockey beat was already taken by a senior.

Eventually, I had the leeway to write any story I wanted for my editorial, and I chose hockey as my subject.  The gist of it was this:  this school has a great hockey team, which it takes for granted because it is so preoccupied with basketball.

Not surprisingly, nothing happened.  Not even the slightest change.

Olean and St. Bonaventure will always be a basketball town.  Just like I can't convert to Sabres fandom.  Just like Miss Donna at Dr. O'Connor's office will always be tortured by her loyalty to the Bills.

There are simply some things you can't change:  where you come from and who you love.