First Diagnosis, Part II

So, I had a column idea in mind for today that involved the World Series being over; as I type this the Phillies lead 3-1, so it could end as early as tonight, or as late as Saturday night. Personally, I'm hoping for a Phillies win tonight, so that I can write this column (among other reasons, more on that in a sec), but I guess I could use a few more baseball games before shifting completely to the last half of college football season, the NBA, and counting down for college hoops.

There were some things I meant to type in my "First Diagnosis" column that I inadvertently left out, and now would like to correct. Basically, I just want to tell you a little about my likes and dislikes as a sports fan, so that if I sound to biased a certain way, someone out there can give me a good, swift kick in the pants (verbally speaking). I love a certain ESPN Sportswriter to death; his work has a lot to do with my decision to do this for a living, but I don't think I want to be as one-sided with my teams as he is with the... let's call them the Austin Bed Rocks, just to keep up the illusion of anonymity. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then please continue to read this column regularly, and assume that all instances of bias are merely coincidence and/or unintentional.

If I had to compile a list of favorite sports, it would go something like this: Baseball, college basketball, college football, NFL Football, NBA Basketball, Tennis Majors (Wimbledon, the French Open, the US Open, and the Australian Open ONLY), the NHL, Soccer, Olympic Sports, horse racing, soccer, UFC/MMA Fighting, and golf. I'm sure I left a few out, but if I did, then I probably wouldn't ever reference them anyway. So looking at this list, you'll see that if I have a choice between writing a baseball column or an Olympic column... baseball is probably going to win. That being said, I will try to keep my columns as varied as possible, because no one wants to read two or three columns a week about baseball all written by the same guy. Not even me.

Also, on the issue of gender... you'll get coverage of the Women's College Basketball tournament (because I watch it), but not the WNBA (because I don't, and also because my spell check recognized "NBA" as a word, but not "WNBA." This is not my fault). I want to cover sports here, and that includes the ladies. That being said, there will most likely be more male sports-based columns, if only because they get more media coverage (and therefore make me more likely to watch them). Plus, I don't care what anyone says, Kevin Durant is more exciting to watch than Candace Parker. I'm sorry, but it's the truth.

So now you'll know if I'm being biased in my column topic selection, so let's move on to individual teams, so you'll know if I'm being biased in my columns themselves. As far as being a die-hard fan of any one team, there's really only one: the Detroit Tigers. I love the Tigers, which is why I just can't stomach the idea of seeing the Rays win a World Series before I see the Tigers win one. The Tigers are probably the only team you'll see a direct bias towards; let me know if it gets out of hand a la Sim... er, that guy who writes for ESPN. In the other sports, I have teams that I like and follow, but mostly I just watch the games and bounce around from year to year. Which reminds me, I'm looking for an NBA team to follow this year. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I'm completely OK with being a bandwagon fan, and if I select your team, they will probably get a little (but hopefully not a lot) of bias in this column, along with another fan (if only for the year). No Lakers, Bulls, or Celtics requests, please.

Next time: Hopefully, my World Series Column. If not, probably 10 Reasons Why I Love the BCS (And no, that's not a typo).