FanPost

Why I'm a fan of the Indians

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The year was 1995. The setting was an elementary school gymnasium in a rural town in upstate NY, in a suburb of Syracuse. Roughly 18-20 kids gathered in mid-October for what was supposed to be an ordinary 3rd grade gym class. The gym teacher, a clean-shaven 40-something fellow, decides it is time to play a fun little game with the class. A whiteboard gets wheeled in, as the kids stare at each other in a mix of bewilderment and anticipation. With a red Sharpie, the teacher writes 'INDIANS' on one side of the board, and 'BRAVES' on the other, with a thick, divisive line between them. He calls on each member of the class to write their name on the side of the board with the team that they think will win the upcoming fall classic. Plenty of the youngsters not well-versed in sports stare in bewilderment, wondering how to make such a selection. The wager is that anyone who writes their name for the eventual losing team will have to perform an undisclosed number of push-ups in front of the rest of the class.

The hero of our story, who shall come to be known as "RabbiHick", has enjoyed watching and playing baseball in his youth. He has played for the "Tigers" in his tee-ball league, but has not developed an allegiance to any particular major league team at such a young age. He has developed a mild disdain for the New York Yankees, thanks to this father's love of a certain team from Boston. During the playoffs, he has enjoyed watching these folks from "Cleveland", with their energetic crowds, great pitchers like Orel Hershiser, and stars around the diamond, in particular Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Kenny Lofton.

Our hero watches the first few people go up to the board. Confident in their selections, they choose the Atlanta Braves. It's now his turn and, walking with a swagger that would intimidate no one, he writes near the top of the board, under the Indians moniker, leaving plenty of room for his classmates to sign before returning to his seat. The next student returns to the Atlanta side of the board, and our hero starts to wonder about his pick. One by one, the rest of the students approach the board on the Atlanta side, and at this point it becomes evident that some students are doing this just to antagonize the lone Tribe supporter. At the end of this tense standoff, there remains just the one name on the Indians board, and names are crammed in every possible space on Atlanta's side. Our hero, a rather pudgy youngster, prays that night that he will not have to embarrass himself in front of the class, and proceeds to watch the World Series with an extra level of stress.

It's around 2 weeks later, and gym class is in session once again. In a move that might be grounds for a lawsuit in 2017, our poor hero is forced to do 10 pushups in front of the class, as all the Braves "supporters" look on in a combination of mocking and amusement. Pity or sorrow are nowhere to be found in the room. Winded, our hero retreats to the back of the class to resume his normal routine of staying under the radar, rarely drawing attention to himself. He was proud of the effort his Indians put up, and decided then and there that they were "his team." For a number of years, he is only able to watch them when they play the Yankees on the local affiliate, or when they are featured on ESPN's national broadcasts, but finally later in high-school an interesting new world is unleashed, known as "MLB.TV." He is among the first to sign up for this mythical creation that will somehow allow him to watch his Indians as often as he likes. It's not without its lag and growing pains at first, and occasional anger from family members for hogging the lone computer in the house for hours at a time, but he has found his place in the world, watching the best sport at places like "The Jake" nearly every night. His father had since passed on by the time he was able to venture to the stadium himself, but at the park for the first time, he raised a glass, whispered "Thank you for not raising me as a Yankee fan", and watched the Indians beat the Reds. He returns multiple times a year, still loving the team, and getting more and more fond of the city and its denizens surrounding it.

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