A couple of words of introduction about the nature of this blog. I’ve been interested in writing on AmhPub for a little while now, and originally considered writing a blog about politics and international relations, which is my academic area of interest. However, a couple of things held me back. First, I already do that stuff for the Student, which would mean that I’d have to think up some more topics, which would be incredibly difficult. Second, I was concerned that, while many members of the Amherst community are well attuned to my strongly held but crappily researched opinions on politics, not nearly enough have been exposed to my similar range of views on sports.

In a nutshell, then, my basic sports biases, irrational hatreds, and many disappointments. Basically, I root for the bad New York teams and perpetually underachieving colleges. I am obsessed with the Mets and Jets. Therefore, even though none of you may care about the utterly woeful state of the Mets’ bullpen, or the fact that when any  two of Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado go on tears, it immediately signals the third to go 2-25 or something, I find topics such as these endlessly fascinating, not to mention hair-wrenchingly frustrating. In terms of pro sports, I also like the Knicks (casually) and the Hartford Whalers. I still deny that they ever moved to North Carolina, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. Five or so years ago, I shamelessly jumped on the Manchester United bandwagon. Given my other rooting preferences, I feel like I deserve one good team. In college football I like Michigan and UConn. One of my best friends growing up was a Michigan fan, and it rubbed off. In college hoops, its UConn all the way.

What this all means is that I hate Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Chelsea, and firmly believe that Bill Belicheck is the antichrist. Additionally, nothing good has ever come out of the city of Philadelphia. Ever. The Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers epitomize the term unlovable losers, especially when the Phillies actually have the temerity to win. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution ignored slavery, Rocky was clearly on steroids, and cheesesteaks aren’t kosher.

You may also notice that my tone in writing this blog is somewhat sardonic and angry. Consider what’s happened to three of my favorite sports teams in the past year. Last September, Michigan embarrassed themselves worse than any other major college football team in recent memory, by losing at home to Appalachian State, and then topped it off by giving up approximately 13,000 yards of offense to Oregon’s spread offense the next week. Later that month, my Mets coughed up a 7 game lead in the final 17 games of the season to lose the NL East lead, and a playoff berth, to the Phillies. Finally, in March, after being essentially gifted a place in the Sweet 16 when W. Kentucky upended Drake in the first round, UConn got beat by the Torreros of the University of San Diego, which snuck into the dance by getting hot at the right time in the WCC tourney. So, yeah, sports is not generally a topic that brings out my happy side.