My Football Fanhood on the Line this Weekend

The reason we watch pro sports isn't just for a love of the game, it's because we all find rooting interests in certain teams. Sometimes you almost have to invent a rooting interest because your favorite teams aren't involved in the game, but it's rare that you'll ever watch a game and legitimately not care who wins. Sometimes you pick a team based on their colors or mascot, sometimes you pick a side because of a certain player that you like or dislike, or a coach, etc. In the end, we always find someone to root for because "rooting for a good game" just loses its appeal rather quickly.

I have a personal rooting interest in five NFL teams. I know that seems like a lot, but there's a very specific hierarchy for these teams (that I will get into in a later post) that dictates who I will root for when any of them meet. Suffice it to say my rooting interests fall in this order: Broncos, Texans, Vikings, Saints and Dolphins. Since I moved from Denver to Houston, the order of the top two is slowly shifting, but it's not quite there yet. It certainly doesn't help that I, like most other Broncos fans, am becoming jaded with the Broncos lack of playoff success and even playoff appearances since John Elway retired.

This weekend, four of my five teams play in games with significant playoff implications. In two of these games, my favored team is an underdog according to oddsmakers, and in the other two no line has been set because the games are too close to call. Let's take a look:

1. Denver Broncos (+9) at San Diego Chargers - This game should have been meaningless. The Broncos have had seemingly countless chances to wrap up this division once and for all, and failed at every turn. Now they are 9 point underdogs on the road with the playoffs on the line. Forgive me if I don't exactly have confidence that the Broncos will even cover, much less win. Prove me wrong, Broncos. Please prove me wrong.

2. Chicago Bears (No Line) at Houston Texans - While the Texans are officially out of the running and coming off an embarrassing loss at Oakland last week, they can help me out big time by beating the Bears. The Vikings need either a win (see below) or a Bears loss to clinch the NFC North, and while it looked like the Packers were going to pull it off last night, alas the stubborn Bears persevered and now we have this situation. Lousy Packers.

3. Minnesota Vikings (No Line) at New York Giants - Yes, the Giants have nothing to play for and yes, everything is on the line for the Vikings. But after the way the Giants played in last year's "meaningless" finale against the unbeaten Patriots, and the way it propelled the Giants into the playoffs on such a high note, there is no doubt in my mind that they will be playing all-out on Sunday. And that does not bode well for a Brad Childress-coached team with a penchant to choking.

4. Miami Dolphins (+2.5) at New York Jets - The Dolphins are a great story, and usually stories like these end with success, but going on the road in bad weather against a division rival with the division title on the line sounds kind of scary. It could also be a fairy tale ending waiting to happen, but Vegas (i.e. the betting public) doesn't appear to see it that way. I've hated Brett Favre since his Packers faced my Broncos in the Super Bowl in 1998, but the least he can do for me is throw away one last game before wavering obnoxiously into the sunset. Please, Brett?

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the blog, please post below or I can be reached at chrisf884@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.