Could you date someone who's a fan of your rival?

Last Monday, I went on over to Sherlock’s in Arlington to take in my favorite radio show, Galloway and Company, in person. See, they have shows every now and then on location, and this was one that allowed fans to hang out all day long. Sherlock’s had Mike and Mike up there, Ben and Skin, Cowherd, and ended with Randy Galloway, Ian Fitzsimmons, and Matt Mosley.

Anyway, after about 15-20 minutes or so, I looked over my left shoulder and saw an absolutely amazing woman standing not too far at all. I mean, she was bad. Nice hair, bright eyes, and an amazing smile. To see her as a sports event was a plus, because it just made it that much more of a lay-up to holla at her. However, as my eyes continued to look down to check the rest of her out, they shrieked with disgust at the name, colors, and logo on her shirt. The woman in a predominantly-dominated Dallas Cowboys crowd had on a New York Giants t-shirt. Just like that, my infatuation with this fine woman was gone.

As with quite a few things sports-related, I sent out a tweet of this unfortunate event and asked a follow-up question to the masses, which went as followed:

Question for the homies: can any of y’all date a woman who is a die-hard rival of your team?

What followed was a stream of answers, some which were too explicit to repeat on this post. What began with dudes sending their responses ended up with men and women chiming in, saying how some have, some would, and how some absolutely refuse to entertain the idea of dating someone whose favorite team is their bitter rival.

I won’t even lie; as a Dallas Cowboys fan, it would be hard, if not impossible, especially right now, for me to date a woman whose favorite team is the Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, or the New York Giants. With the season my Cowboys are having, the last thing I need to do is hear from someone I’m dating how bad they suck. It would most likely lead to me cussin’ her out, and if we end up breaking up over it, well, I won’t care. She shouldn’t have been kicking me and my team while we’re down. As a Sooners fan, I’ve dated a female or two that are UT fans, and we never really had problems, until the Red River Shootout, and even with that, that’s always a week when my Longhorn friends and I have an understanding that we don’t speak much to each other until after the game anyway.

And let’s just be for real here. How many times have you seen fans of rival teams date each other that are still together now? I have family members and friends who dated someone who was the bitter rival of their team, and none of them are together anymore. Seriously, they all broke up, and as far as I know, they’re not friends to this day. Now it may be a stretch to suggest they broke up because the rivalry got the best of their interaction, but I’ve seen people break up for many a reason that can be seen as petty, and with that, it wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest the rivalry could have played a factor. Shoot, the more I think about it, it's actually pretty funny.

The NFL season is nearing the halfway point. College football is getting closer and closer to bowl time. The NBA season just started, and college basketball is right around the corner. Folks know Dating 101, when it comes to asking the generic questions when you're getting to know someone. While you're at it, take that extra effort and ask them who they root for. It may be the difference between winning and losing.

Be easy.
-K. Masenda
www.edthesportsfan.com
P.S. As a reminder, checkout the livest sports talk (and hopefully on the radio soon) show around, "The Unsportsmanlike Conduct Show" as we are live Wednesday's at 9pm Eastern at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/edthesportsfan! Download our podcasts if you missed the live show as well!