Over the weekend I saw a lot people excited about Sunday’s big football game. I didn’t realize I had as many Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers fans as I did until I scrolled through Facebook.

What makes us become a fan of a sports team? I don’t think I’ve hidden the fact that I’m a proud Roughriders and Green Bay Packers fan. With the Riders, you can’t help but get wrapped up in the spirit and energy of the team and its fans, plus it’s your home team and the biggest professional team we have in our great province. I can’t tell you how many times I’d listen to a game on the radio while in the grain truck in the fall of the year. Sometimes I’d be cheering louder than the truck engine and other times I hit the steering wheel in frustration, because somehow it’s the steering wheel’s fault.

For the longest time I never followed NFL until one night when I was about 9 years old. I remember being out at a Chinese buffet restaurant that had a large TV inside. It was the Super Bowl of 1996 and the Green Bay Packers were playing in it. I was mesmerized by the quarterback at the time, the incredible Brett Favre! What a guy to watch I thought. The Packers would go on to win the game that year beating the New England Patroits 35-21…and I was hooked.

I would never consider myself a “super fan,” where I just have to follow the off season trades, where I have to talk about my teams relentlessly, or where I have to poke fun at the other teams my friends cheer for. I could not get into an intellectual sports conversation with somebody about my team, I just enjoy watching football and that’s all.

Whether it be football, hockey, soccer, basketball, or whichever sport you enjoy watching think about who or what inspired you to cheer for that team. Often we’ve been fans of a team for so long we forget what made us fans to begin with! Either way, good luck to your team this year.