Wednesday, January 2, 2008

At the risk of Jinxing things tomorrow in Iowa...

In elementary school I cheered the Portland Trailblazers on to failure after failure in the NBA finals (thank you Michael Jordon and Magic Johnson)

I was a padres fan all growing up.

And a Charlotte Hornets fan.

In 1988 I waited with my dad for Michael Dukakis to show up at a rally in Portland Oregon. We waited and waited. He pulled up just after we left. We didn't see him, but we saw his limo. He never had a chance against Bush 1.

My junior year in high school I attended a high school football playoff game where our star player blew out his knee. We won the game but ultimately lost the state championship game (a game I attended, and at which I was, incidentally, but not entirely coincidentally, accosted and berated by an ex-girlfriend). My senior year I attended every game and, if my memory serves me correctly, we didn't even make it to the playoffs.

My first semester as a BYU student the football team was undefeated, until I sat down to watch my first game. That day they lost to Hawaii 45-72, and the next season--the season we bought allsport passes to every home game, the team went 5-7, then 4-8 the next year, and 5-6 the next year. It wasn't till 2005 that BYU went 6-6 (and it is worth noting that I was out of the country the entire season). In 2006 they did much better (though their win against Utah could arguably be contributed to my absence at the game, a game I could have attended), and in 2007, in a year that I have moved from Provo, they had an amazing year, and will likely be ranked in the top twenty at the beginning of next season.

I voted for Kerry in 2004.


I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if my history says anything, it says I have a tendency to jinx the teams I root for (Don't laugh. I have several friends who are really in to sports who have heard these statistics and suggested in all earnestness that I stop rooting for BYU all together, in order to do my part for the team). However, I have found that often I root for teams, not because they are worth rooting for, but because I can cheer for them without being accused of band wagon jumping (Note that I live in Ohio, but am entirely ambivalent towards both the Buckeyes and the Caveliers, though OU's basketball strikes my fancy). So with a desire to avoid being thought of as a band wagon jumper, even at the risk of throwing my jinxing powers into the mix, on this, the eve of the Iowa caucus I wish to procliam my desire to see Barack Obama come out on top. Not only do I think he is extremely worth rooting for, but I also believe, and hope there will be a huge bandwagon upon which many people will jump. So I'm climbing on early.

There are several candidates that I like. Romney, McCain, Edwards, Kucinich, to name a few, and I hope they all do well, but there really is something about Obama. His message is fresh, personal, hopeful, honest. I feel like change is what is needed in Washington and he is our best hope for it. As a friend put it earlier tonight, you'd have to be crazy to want to be president, but I think the problem is too many of the candidates want to "be President" more than they want to lead the country. I'm not much in to arguing politics, so I won't. I will just say that if there is a voice that will send a new message to the world in 2008, a voice of reason, reconciliation, bipartisanship, hope, help, if there is a person who can stand up with the world instead of trying to stand up to it all the time, if there is a voice that can unite our country instead of dividing it, that voice is Mr. Obama's.

Now, the Franklinchronicle endorsement is not likely to cause the same commotion as the Oprah endorsement, but we'll have to see. And who knows what will happen tomorrow, but for what its worth, Good luck Barack.

4 comments:

The Goob said...

I'm already on the bandwagon, Joey. I'm glad you're on board as well.

Cari said...

Anyone but Hillary!!!! I haven't completely decided yet but this I know...
Hillary Clinton CANNOT win! Seriously.

Megan said...

I'm with Cari, just not Hillary! People are going to vote for her purely because she is a Clinton, and a woman!
Good luck, I have no favorites at this point, but I would like to see you break your streak.

nicolle said...

Hooray for Obama! I am glad that your jinxing powers were held at bay for this one:)