The NFL Draft and Changing Loyalties

I'm not normally one that pays attention to the NFL draft, which as anyone how glanced at the sports page of a newspaper undoubtedly knows happened over this past weekend. With the exception of a few outstanding high-profile college players, I don't need to know who went where at the end of April. I'm not going to see the vast majority of these guys on a field consistently for at least a couple of years. But the draft, and it's seeming insignificance, was brought home by the fact that the trade of a 10 year veteran between the Raiders and Patriots could overshadow the whole thing. Of course, I'm talking about the Randy Moss trade.

Now this trade poses a problem for me. I live in Patriot country, actually within hearing distance of Gillete Stadium if the wind is right and the amps get cranked loud enough. Why is this a problem? I don't like the Patriots! I grew up just north of Denver, and if you have ever met a football fan from there you know there is only one team in the NFL we are ALLOWED to like: The Broncos. I am an Elway fan. I like Shannahan's coaching. And yeah, I wish Elway would somehow come back from retirement!

Trouble is, I haven't lived in Denver for damn near 20 years. I have been on the east coast and my solution to this is that while the Bronco's are my team, I pick individual players that I like to watch from other teams. This meant that when I couldn't get the Bronco game on TV here I would watch a game with one of my favorite players. This is how I got to like Randy Moss. He is in my opinion the best wide reciever in the game now, and a very close second to Jerry Rice all time. This was great while he was in Minnesota. I didn't have to worry about wanting to go see a game so I could see him. He's good, he's not worth a two day drive. The last two years he spent in Oakland was a bitch, since of course he was in the division with my beloved Bronco's. But Art Shell predictably made it easier on me by not knowing how to coach. But now, Randy Moss is going to be here, which brings to light another trouble spot.

I picked individual players, but football is not an individual sport, which in turn meant that invariably I would end up rooting for the team they were playing for. Minnesota worked because of being the perrineal underdog, even Oakland worked since they were the "bad boys." But the Patriots? I liked them better during the early 80's when they couldn't win a game if the other team stayed on their buses. At least then they weren't a threat to the Broncos. Maybe it is time to change my loyalties from childhood, and just stick with the individual player thing. It seems what the NFL wants me to do with the whole free agency thing. I can live with that.