I personally have never played a sport in my life. Not because I didn’t want to, but because my parents would have never introduced me to a sport where they would have to commit to taking me on weekday nights for practice and probably weekend games. I was raised in a very strict home so sports were never really a thing in my home except for boxing. Oh, boy did my dad love boxing.
When I turned 16, I met my boyfriend and my future x-husband. He was a diehard Chicago Bears fan. He bled Chicago Bears. Since sports, specifically football had never really been introduced to me, he made me a Bears fan. He began to buy me the Bears jerseys, the jackets, he even bought me logos to put in my room. I found it so funny how much a person could care about a team that they didn’t know. He loved them because his dad was from Chicago, although he had never even been there.
Nonetheless, I am now a Chicago Bears fan. Although my x-husband and I have not been together for over 15 years, the Bears are still in my heart. It used to be so fun to ride with him to games and tailgate for our teams. Once I left him, I found myself all alone. I knew no friends that were Bears fans. I was constantly having to learn the sports information in order to defend my “Bearshood.” I struggled with becoming an outsider to new social groups that were no longer his. I realized that all of my social relationships that I had with him were gone and I now everybody differed from my own.
I have spent years defending my Bears and have had several boyfriends throughout the years try to buy me their team gear, but I have always refused. I am no trader. It’s funny how now I look back at what I used to think about him, and how crazy he was about them and I now defend my Bears in the same manner.
Recently I was at a bar and a guy was there in a Bears hat. I gave him a high five and a “Go Bears!”, next thing you know he was my best friend. It is true that sports find a way of bonding you socially to people you don’t know. It brings you together and allows you to feel some type of familiarity with that unknown person just based on a specific sports team. It’s actually kind of cool.
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